Johanna Tuukkanen

Jee!

Johanna — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 17:51:10 +0000

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.

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

Johanna — Wed, 25 Aug 2010 19:14:44 +0000

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.

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

upcoming shows on Acts of Clothing

Johanna — Tue, 17 Aug 2010 04:15:11 +0000

I’m so excited to perform Acts of Clothing on Saturday the 21st, Sunday the 22nd and Tuesday the 24th of August in Ateneum Theatre in Helsinki.
Reservations: ainfo@ateneum.fi or call +358 (0)9-1733 6401.

Hope to see you all there!

Johanna

Riga & Cesis & Helsinki

Johanna — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 17:17:58 +0000

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:

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

Cesis:

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

My glasses Dolce & Gabbana

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

Kuopio housing fair

Johanna — Sun, 18 Jul 2010 10:00:13 +0000

I visited the Kuopio housing fair (Kuopion asuntomessut) on the opening day. Over all, I must say that the fair was a slight disappointment. I’ve been running and jogging around the fair area regularly during the last couple of years, so I knew a little bit what to expect and not to expect too much. But still, I was left feeling very disappointed. Savon Sanomat wrote today that people are so positive about the fair and nobody has anything to criticize. Well, I don’t agree. The friends with whom I was there and the people with whom I’ve talked about the fair, haven’t been that impressed. For me the fair is boring. I didn’t see anything new, any new innovations whether good or bad, just the same kind of houses and architecture and furniture you see in any contemporary design magazine. Of course, some of the houses are built on stunning locations by the lake and the presence of the Finnish nature is very strong but the houses themselves didn’t really impress me.
I saw a lot of very narrow stairs (impossible for two people to pass each other), strangely large fireplaces dominating living rooms, some rather kitsch interior decorations and a lot of boring ‘safe’ design with the same lamps, same carpets, same sofas, boring kitches…
Two houses I liked the most were this passive house Kusti and this wooden house Aamunsäde.

Kusti:

Interesting windows

Aamunsäde:

From the outside this house was more harmonic and balanced than inside.

Here’s some other stuff I liked but don’t remember the exact houses.

An interesting contemporary front but inside was rather…

A nice loft with familiar furniture

An interesting tile made from recycled glass by Lasilinkki

Fair folks

Spot the nice chairs…

Maija enjoying the chairs by EcoFurn. They might end up in our garden or sauna one day from www.pintanikkarit.fi.

Off to some house building stuff now… It’s nice to be on holiday- more time for building projects and house cleaning!

Johanna

busy and sweaty summer days

Johanna — Sat, 10 Jul 2010 20:35:43 +0000

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.

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.

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.

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…

Birthday cake and muffins baked by her sisters…

Wishing you all beautiful summer days.

Johanna

On a rollercoaster

Johanna — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 19:59:13 +0000

Last weeks have been unusually emotional and tough. In the end of May and beginning of June I worked long days in the ANTI office with Kaisa and Gregg to renew and complete the festival printed brochure and website. Then on Monday the 7th of June, my partner called me and said that my father had tried to reach me many times during the day. I had forgotten to turn the phone forwarding on from my home number to my office phone and my father didn’t have my work number. I was still in the office at about 9pm when I called my dad who told me that I no longer had a sister. My little sister had died at the age of 31. Of course, everything turned upside down, I had to take some time off and we missed the outlined schedule with the brochure. I was forced to spend time with my family, my children, my mom and dad to deal with this unexpected tragedy that left all of us very very sad and full of unanswered questions.
My sister was buried in Hailuoto on the 17th of June in a small, intimate, simple ceremony. Although it was a really hard day, full of sorrow and tears, it also felt like a kind of completion and a really important ritual.

The next morning we drove back to Kuopio and I went straight into rehearsals and prepared for my performances on Sunday and Monday. I think I performed pretty amazing shows of ACTS OF CLOTHING and Physical Artistic deeds 1; Milk. Of course, I could have canceled them but I felt it was important for me to redirect my energy and put some of the very personal emotions on stage. Both of the performances were very packed, there was more audience that we were allowed to take in and we couldn’t fit everyone in to the Milk performance. I got so much positive feedback of the shows and people praised ACTS OF CLOTHING so much that I was all humbled. In the show I talked about my sister’s funeral and many people were very moved and touched about that. Although it felt like a really hard job to pull the performances together, I’m glad I did.
We also managed to get the brochure to the print and we’ll launch the ANTI 2010 programme and website on Monday the 5th of July! Exciting.
Last week I counted my work hours of the spring and realized that I’ve worked overtime more than 235 hours! No wonder I’ve been tired. So I’m desperately waiting for my summer holiday. My family needs my attention, our home and our garden needs attention but I also need to get my mind off from work. I’m trying to organize a long weekend or a small holiday with my children and with my mom somewhere…maybe in Greece, maybe Iceland… we’ll see. But I’m also really really looking forward to performing ACTS OF CLOTHING at the Full Moon Dance Festival in the end of July and in the Ateneum theatre in Helsinki in August.

Now, I wish you all very well.

Johanna

in loving memory of my sister

Johanna — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 17:14:53 +0000

johanna

first flowers in the garden

Johanna — Fri, 28 May 2010 18:46:11 +0000

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…

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

Johanna — Fri, 28 May 2010 18:21:05 +0000

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…

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