Self appraisal

After receiving the unbelievable news that I made it to the second round in applying to School of Art and Design everything's been a bit fuzzy for me. Now that I have recovered from that AND the nasty flu that attacked me earlier this week I decided it was time to compliment myself and give me a present for a job well done.

I had decided this already when sending the application portfolio, but originally it was supposed to be something a bit smaller... But I follow this philosophy that says "When you know, you know" and so I ended up placing an order with Zana Bayne Leather. All those plain boring or too girly outfits are gonna get a kick in the ass when this one arrives.

Anyway, busy weekend ahead and after that something I could refer to instant death of creativity and ability to draw. But I'm doing my best not to panic here. After all, they already admitted that I'm not totally hopeless. Trying to keep that in mind.. yup yup.

Now go outside and do things, get inspired and enjoy summer y'all! Have a nice weekend :)

- Maria

Abuse

"Clean future city"

"Cleaner Helsinki"

"Carried away"

"Singing in the rain"

Now I'm gonna use this blog for a simply selfish purpose. See, I took part in this competition where you can get your own stamp published for the World Design Capital Helsinki -year 2012. The theme is "future cities" and I approached it in two angles: designin cities in a environmental-friendlier way, and "everyday design" that Finnish design is all about. There the idea is about how design can make everyday seem better and brighter. So I ended up with four stamps since there was no limit for the number of works by one participant.

SO NOW your task is to vote, vote, vote for all four of my stamps and get me to the next round.
And this is how:

1. Use Firefox/IE and go to www.futurecity.fi

2. Organise the works after "nimimerkki"

3. Scroll down to m and vote for stamps by "mariamoi" by opening them and clicking the thumb

4. Do this all by Monday 25 April and wish me luck :D

THANK YOU SO MUCH <3

- Maria

Spring inspiration

Lately I have finished my internship and returned to school, but mostly I've been motivated to draw and study something as important as spring/summer 2011 or pre-fall 2011. Here are some of my favorites for the spring. I'm loving the colors and simple lines (like pretty much everyone at the moment).

I can't name any favorite collections really, but the pictures in this collage are from Christopher Kane, Dries van Noten, Prada, Proenza Schouler, YSL, Gareth Pugh, Helmut Lang, MaxMara, Jil Sander, Loewe, Lanvin, Hermès, Celine and Dior. Some of my favorite designers dropped out from this list, but I know for the autumn they'll be back :)

-Maria

(pics style.com)

Helicopter

Hanging at my boyfriends work here in Rovaniemi. Next week we are off to Turku and Helsinki. Finally !! Can`t wait to see my friends and family, shop in Zara, enjoy some culture and I actually have the chance to dress nicely since it`s not so cold there. I miss my high heeled shoes!

- D

Prada Spring/Summer 2011 Video Campaign

Snow land

- D

furlicious

Fur and wool, propably the only two things that keep me worm here in north.

coat Marella, hat from furhatworld.com, scarf Mulberry

- D

Stuck with winter

There's been a perfect silence here in the blog I see, sorry for that. I changed from PC to Mac and ever since I've been a bit allergic to computers... But I promise I'll get used to this new fancy thing and start again with the blog-life.

Here are some landscapes of perfect winter days during the holidays in Jyväskylä and Levi.

And hey, I hope everyone has had a good start for the year 2011!

-Maria

Sometimes you gotta smudge

My art teacher used to tell us not to smudge the picture with our fingers when drawing, and ever since I have tried to follow her advice. But this time, after a loooong while, I slipped and I smudged. And boy, did it feel good :D I got myself a new sketchbook a while back and now I finally got it started with this picture that I drew from some old issue of Tush-magazine.

It's almost Christmas and I'm getting excited - hope you're having a nice pre-Christmas time as well :)

-Maria

Santa and I

Bought all the presents, saw the Santa, did the small Christmas elfs and ate some good cheeses with my bu.

<3

D

Inspired by Tove Jansson

One of my favourite books is The Book about Moomin, Mymble and Little My (Kuinkas sitten kävikään) by Tove Jansson. I got it for Christmas 1992 and at that time it felt exciting and a little bit scary. Now that I kind of found it again, I realized how great art it is: there are windows through pages that make the next/previous page part of the illustration, brilliant!

I got this silly idea to dress after the book's illustration and colors, and here is the first outfit. It was this vintage blouse that fit perfectly for the colour board and it has a knot on the collar, just like Little My :) The fur I had to add there because of the cold, and I think it takes the feeling to the 70's which is kinda funny. The lace-up shoes (typical to Little My) are vintage.

Have a nice weekend :)

-Maria

(The Book about Moomin, Mymble and Little My, Finnish translation published 1952 by WSOY)

Winter, snow, happy happy

View from my window today at 1 pm, the days are so short...

This weekend I've been taking it easy. Yesterday I went for a walk because of the perfect winter weather, today I made delicious apple pancakes for breakfast and then spent pretty much the whole day at the same spot drawing (finally!). I'll show you the final outcome later on :)

-Maria

Tokyo ry:n perinteiset joulumyyjäiset @ Lume

Today I visited a market with my talented friend Amanda (check out her blog here). It's a traditional event before Christmas where students of Aalto University - School of Art and Design Helsinki are selling their pieces of art: graphics, textiles, glass and ceramics, jewelry, paintings etc.

This is something I got: "Rapua rapua" -necklace by Pohatta Design. I really like the colour and the fact that the designer has found a way to make use of something that normally gets thrown away as waste.

If you're in Helsinki this weekend, I recommend you check this happening out. It's open until Sunday 28th between 9 am and 6 pm at Media Centre Lume (TaiK building), Hämeentie 135 C, Helsinki. You get there by trams 6 and 8 or buses 68, 71 and 74 for example.

Have a nice weekend!

-Maria

Nude silk/pre Christmas party

small pancakes with cava

I always tell everyone to follow they intuition when it comes to choosing the right clothes. When you get the "ooooooh I GOT to have that" feeling, you know that you gotta have that piece. When I saw this nude silk shirt I new rigth away that it was a destiny for us to meet. And yes, I had that WOW feeling right away after seeing the shirt. These pics are from few days back when we celebrated the coming Christmas in a cottage. Ate a lot, had a great laughs and enjoyed the company.

- D xx

We complete each other

Zara lookbook October: D's Cape and my trousers. We split the trends ;)

-Maria

I wanna be a Jedi Knight

Snow storm in Helsinki and all mental powers needed to stay awake and going. I think I'll need to cook me a cup of steaming glögi with raisins and almonds.

Today's inspiration took me to weird places and the result was something between a Jedi and Rick Owens... In my mind I had this photo from my inspiration-folder, found myself very jealous to this man for his unbelievable hair genes.

-Maria

(Soaked necklace Youth vs. Future, trousers KappAhl, scarf Zara, jacket Lindex and rings Weekday and by Merja. Pics by me and Stockholm Streetstyle)

a lost cat in the headlights

As you can see through the glass behind me, it is finally winter in Helsinki. I absolutely love love love winter - as long as there's snow. I'm afraid the rain and darkness are gonna come back sooner than I can prepare myself for, but at least today I got to wear my cat-beanie to keep my ears warm. Happy days, already getting myself into the Christmas mood.

Have a nice week everyone, hope you're having a winter weather to your liking!

-Maria

ps. At the moment I couldn't be happier about the outsoles the cobbler attached to these boots, I haven't been slipping almost at all on my way to work!

(beanie River Island, faux fur vest Vila, trousers Zara, jacket made by myself, Acne Pistol boots)

H&M/Lanvin couture show in NY

pics via http://jakandjil.com/, http://stylebykling.tv4.se/

- D