Archive for the 'Inspiration' Category

Jee!

Lumene is back with a loose powder, this time translucent mineral powder! I haven’t tried it yet but refuse to think that it wouldn’t be at least as good as the old loose powder. To my total surprise, I learned some time ago that Lumene had stopped making the loose powder, which I had used for years both in my private life as well as on stage. Occasionally, I tired other loose powders as well (Chanel, Dior, Blasco…), but always came back to Lumene. So I was shocked and didn’t know what to do. I tried Chanel, Max Factor and the latest try was Loreal but I wasn’t satisfied! So when I was in Helsinki, complaining to my friend Maija how badly the Loreal powder was doing the job, she later texted me that Lumene is back with a new mineral loose powder. So today when I quickly popped into town and Anttila’s second floor, I looked if the powder was there and yes it was. I didn’t hesitate for a minute. There was also a Lumene representative in the shop (wearing Nanso’s dress) and I quickly told her how devastated I had been when they stopped making the loose powder. Apparently, I wasn’t the only one as they had received so many complaints that now they finally came back with a new one. I’m not a total fan of Lumene but there are a few products I do like, for example the Time Freeze Instant Lift Serum. Today, inspired by the powder and the representative, for the first time I bought their Wild Rose Lipstick in a new wonderful vintage red color called Joy of Brightness. I’ve only tested it tonight but feels good.

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In Helsinki I met with my web master and discussed about updating the site. One thing I’ve been thinking a lot is whether I should remove the blog from the site and have it somewhere separately. He and few other people I’ve talked about it with, think that I should keep the blog on this site (we will remove it from the front page, though). They say that my life is my work and my work is often about the everyday, the observations about the everyday, the small and sometimes insignificant things that occur, happen and I come across. But it is exactly posts like this that I’m hesitating to post on this site! I’m very conscious of writing about my interest and inspiration of design –weather it’s about design of furniture, cutlery, clothes or shoes-, fashion, traveling etc. People have such strong views of high & low art although it is often exactly that boarder that my work also touches…

Anyway, in Helsinki I also had a heated discussion with one choreographer whether my work is dance. Maybe more about that in another post!

Johanna

Helsinki days

Shows of Acts of Clothing in the Ateneum theatre in Helsinki went really well. It was great to experience so many people being touched and moved by the work. It was also a real pleasure to be hosted by the producer Mika Väyrynen and the technical crew which was just great. I want to thank especially Timo who run all the shows. Everything went smoothly and well.

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Mika took me to the concert of Paula Koivuniemi which took place in the Huvilateltta. It was just great! And I became a fan of Paula Koivuniemi. So much that I sent my son today in the rain back to town to buy Paula’s Rakkaudesta cd.
In Helsinki I managed to have some business meetings, see some work and some friends, too. It was a luxury to stay in Töölö which is a very nice and central part of Helsinki. At last I remembered to return my Lustwear socks which I’d bought sometime last year but which didn’t suite me at all. Hammi promised me to change them but I don’t know how many times I’ve been in Helsinki and not remembered to take the socks with me… I changed the socks into a kind of scarf since there’s no way I could afford at the moment one of their wonderful coats… In Stockmann I found the new Shock Absorber run bra on sale so now I’m also a very happy owner of a new black running bra.
The only down fall was that I caught a cold which didn’t really effect my show last night but today I woke up in the middle of the night feeling just terrible. The train journey home was a nightmare and I’ve been feeling really ill and bad all day, mostly sleeping and sipping tea. I really would like to go to work tomorrow but I don’t know if I can.

Maybe more about Helsinki in the next post and about one rather disappointing performance I saw…

Johanna

Riga & Cesis & Helsinki

Last week I spent five days in Latvia. First I had two days off which I spent with Pekka in Riga and then we travelled to Cesis for the Cesis Art Festival and Care to Create conference where I gave a talk / discussion with Eric de Visscher.
The contemporary are festival was a great experience and I enjoyed both the programme and the conference a lot. And it was wonderful to meet so many collegues from Latvia, Lithuania, Russia and Iceland. The opening of the festival including the concert of contemporary music titled Joy was a real experience.

Riga:
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My hair pin from Akiko, sunglasses Ray-Ban Jackie Ohh, handbag LumiAccessories, T-shirt Paco Chicano

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Cesis:
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My dress Vero Moda ‘Very’ collection, handbag LumiAccessories, shoes Minna Parikka

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My glasses Dolce & Gabbana

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Right after returning from Latvia, I travelled to Helsinki to work with Gregg and Laura on the ANTI Festival. Despite the heat, we had a great time. By surprise, we also found Gregg telling stories about Bob Dylan in the exhibition in Kiasma! That was part of Johanna Lecklin’s Story Café which has also been shown at ANTI. There were actually quite a few ANTI artists in the exhibition; Antti Laitinen, Eeva-Mari Haikala, Seppo Rennvall, Marja Mikkonen…

Now I’ve been preparing for my ACTS OF CLOTHING performance at the Full Moon Dance Festival in Pyhäjärvi where I’m off tomorrow. It’s been rather sweaty – the all time heat record of Finland was beaten today, +37,2 celcius degree…

Johanna

busy and sweaty summer days

The last weeks have been crazy in the ANTI office. We finally launched the 2010 programme and new website on Monday and I thought I’m able to have some holiday… it didn’t really work out as something unexpected came along and I’ve been busy sorting that out. Oh well. I still have to go to the office on Monday but after that I will be on holiday until the conference in Cesis, Latvia. That isn’t much so I really have to try hard to get my mind off work but it might be a challenge as I have to prepare for my talk in the conference… But I’m really looking forward to spending a few days in Riga and Cesis! 

It has been a bit busy at home, too.

Many passersby on their summer holiday lodging for a few nights and my daughter’s birthday party. But today was a celebration as we finished the home made table for our roof terrace. So far we haven’t had any table and I’ve been complaining about that so much and just dreamed of being able to dine outdoors. Now we finally can and already did! So nice. The table might not be 100% perfect but I love it already. I didn’t do much, only some painting…

The Toy chairs by Philippe Starck, Essence Pitcher by Iittala, design Alfredo Häberli.  p1020633.jpg p1020635.jpg

It might be that Iceland is calling again…
Essence glass, wine is my new summer favourite Lindemans Early Harvest Semillon Sauvignon blanc, MacBook Pro, Mondo travel guide. p1020639.jpg

Although it has been really hot, I’ve tried to push myself to runs regularly. The running skirt has been excellent in this kind of weather and I’ve really enjoyed my runs. Acts of Clothing shows are coming up so I’ve also been motivated. My operated knee has been better but I’m not up for really long runs with it yet. But that’s ok.

Sunglasses Jackie Ohh Ray Ban, running top Nike Fit, running skirt & shoes Asics, footpod Polar, iPod suffle.    p1020622.jpg
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So yes, my daughter turned 8 and got this gorgeous bicycle as a present from the whole family including grandparents and great grandparents… She was so happy and I’m really pleased we can cycle more together. Her bicycle is Helkama Jasmine, mine is Aino and my son’s Jopo

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Birthday cake and muffins baked by her sisters…

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Wishing you all beautiful summer days.

Johanna

first flowers in the garden

I’ve been so busy that I’ve had no time to focus on the garden -and I’m not a garden fanatic like Aila for example. But still the first flowers in the garden bring me so much joy! My daughter got this idänunikko from Aila last year and it opened its first flower a couple of days ago. Also the japaninakileija in the background (small & delicate) is blooming – and it’s also from Aila…

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My daughter is working hard in the garden and it’s beautiful to watch how inspired and committed she is. We had such a lovely time a few weeks ago when we planted seeds of carrots, spinach, salad, peas and sunflowers…which are all growing already.

My weekend will be filled with rehearsals of Acts of Clothing, Milk and ANTI Festival stuff like EU excels… But today I felt inspired as I had a meeting with Sonja and a little chat about my upcoming work.

Johanna

weekend in Berlin

I spent last weekend in Berlin seeing exhibitions, walking around and enjoying the spirit of the vibrant and trendy city. I saw exhibitions in Martin-Grobius-Bau which I really liked. I especially enjoyed Olafur Eliasson‘s works -some were just stunning- and it was also great to see once again a retrospective of Frida Kahlo. I’m a bit over with my passion for Frida’s works (I was crazy about her in the 80′s) but I still enjoyed the beautiful exhibition. I think I’ve never seen so many photographs of Frida. What a beautiful woman! Very inspiring. Then I saw the exhibition in Hamburger Bahnhof which was also exciting. Lot’s of works by Joseph Beuys, many fluxus artists, Andy Warhol…
I was lucky to be able to stay in a friend’s place who also kindly drew the routes to walk and streets to hang out on my tourist map. Thank you Jochen! And I just loved the area of Prenzlauer Berg. Great walks, lovely breakfasts…

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On the way home, I met some friends at the Helsinki airport and we ended up wondering that why is it exactly that we live in Kuopio… Sometimes it’s hard to remember…

Johanna

days in Hamburg

I’ve been the last three days in Hamburg spending most of my time in the Live Art Festival in Kampnagel. We’ve had A Space Live for Art project meetings about both the artistic and administrational side and today I held a lecture/workshop about artistic interventions in public space to the network of Young Performance Art Lovers. I’ve also seen some great performances by Ivo Dimchev, Ivana Muller, Liquid Loft, Rotozaza and an installation by the Forsythe Company.

Kampnagel foyer with the Forsythe Company’s installation City of Abstracts on the background:
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studio where I gave my workshop today:
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A Space for Live Art meeting with Claire, Emmanuelle, Cathy, Anne, Jochen and Fabienne: 

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I look really strange, I know – I guess I’m just happy about my beautiful salad (and a glass of wine…):

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Rhododendrons blooming not only in the Kampnagel courtyard but all over Hamburg:

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A walk in town:
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Lovely pink rubbish bags on the streets:
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Tomorrow I’m off to Berlin for the weekend. How exciting!

Johanna

Unusually…

hot days. Moments of happiness in the garden with my daughter, planting carrot, salad, peas, spinach and sunflower seeds. A few days off and a chance to think about something else than the upcoming ANTI Festival. A nice evening with the neighbours including great organic white wine, grilled salmon, cake my son baked, the first mosquito bites and sun burns. Two new rhododendrons in the garden.
A hot run and no pain in the operated knee, wearing new Asics running skirt. Slow but steady.
Excited about the upcoming trip to Hamburg and Berlin this week. A bit terrified of all the work that needs to be completed before the trip…

Johanna

Morning coffee on the balcony: aamukahvi

The Mother’s Dat morning a week ago…with beautiful gifts, cake, pies, sweets, coffee….mothers day

Permission to run

I saw the orthopedist who operated my knee for the second time after the surgery yesterday. It has heeled remarkably well and has full mobility. This is quite amazing since it will be only 3 months from the surgery tomorrow. So the recovery process has gone as expected, only a little bit better. My orthopedist, Hannu Miettinen, said that I can pretty much start to exercise anything I want besides the contact sports where there’s a bigger risk of twisting the knee, slipping or ‘landing’ badly so these would be football, tennis, squash etc. But I’m allowed to start running again! This is wonderful news, I was so happy. Of course I have to start very gradually and slowly and listen how the knee reacts but if the surface is flat and even, I can run. You cannot imagine how that feels. So as soon as I got home from the doctor, I put on my running gears and went for an easy, short, slow 32 minutes run. There were definitely very strange sensations on the knee, more so below the knee, not exactly pain but kind of ache. It’s hard to explain. But I did run for 32 minutes. And I was soooo happy and relieved and it was a beautiful evening.
So now I need to start building more strength and co-ordination and learn to trust the knee again. Although it’s much better day by day, this part is difficult. I realize that I’m still a bit cautious and have questions like why did it happen, what did I do wrong, will it happen again? But Hannu said that I shouldn’t worry or start to fear as these things happen and sometimes it’s only a small twist into the wrong direction or bad landing from a jump that can cause the ACL to torn. And it’s slightly more common for women to tear the ACL… Anyway, for another month I need to be very careful as the ligamentation process is not completed and it actually goes on for at least a year or so. Hannu also said that I shouldn’t for example sit on my knees for about 6 months as it stretches the reconstructed ACL too much.

Anyway, it’s all gone well and I think I’ll be ready for my performances in June.

Johanna

busy days at the ANTI office

Last weeks have been so busy and I’ve felt pretty exhausted. I’ve been every morning by 8am in the ANTI office working with Kaisa on the programme details but of course there’s always something extra going on as well. I finished the educational live art projects around the Acts of Clothing and I participated with Kaisa in the ömeising reis event last Tuesday where I led a live art session for 150 students. I’ve also been trying to keep up my exercise routine but it’s been a challenge since I’ve been so busy. But I’ve done pretty well… walking, training on the cross trainer and an exercise bike…
Today I visited the Iittala outlet store in Hirvaskangas and was so inspired by the designs, the colours, the products! A few weeks ago I got obsessed with the idea of frozen margarita and after a sunny day I just had to go and buy these Essence bowl glasses and make my first frozen margaritas ever.
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By the way, the glasses were cheaper in the local Citymarket than in the Iittala outlet store. Strange. Anyway, I didn’t buy anything today but I fell in love with the pink Essence pitcher. But since I already have the turquoise one  I couldn’t buy it.
By the way, I noticed today that the Sagaform’s herb pot is on sale in Euromarket. I think I might go and get a few tomorrow.

Johanna