Saariston sylistä

Completely Finnish, plastic-free paints. Shades inspired by the archipelago. That was the brief from Virtanen’s team for creating the Habitare stand. I took Virtanen’s color fan in hand and headed to the archipelago to ponder which shades were inspiring right now. The Virtanen Lyökki blue used by our neighbor, Innolux, partly defined my selection as calm. The yellowish light shades of vanilla, sorbet, and sun-warmed tones have been inspiring for a while, and for them, I found shades picked from the moss on the rocks. I also considered how shades take on a new role on different surfaces – and brushed my favorite shades onto various flea market finds. How the shape of an object comes out differently when painted with one color. And how by juxtaposing shades with different pairs, each revealed a new side. I often do this at home and in my studio, moving an item to another place, next to something else to gain a new perspective.

Fair visitors also got to make collages. Combining shades with each other and discovering new, surprising pairs. The archipelago was also brought to the stand with other elements, scent and soundscape, stones and reeds. The good humor of Virtanen’s team made the atmosphere warm and easy to approach. The construction day atmosphere at Habitare is unique and I had missed it!

”Sisse listened very carefully to our wishes for the stand and immediately grasped the main idea; working with Sisse is straightforward and easy. The stand was very successful and functional, and we received feedback throughout the fair and even afterwards. The feedback has been exclusively positive. Sisse, as a doer, also rolled up her sleeves and grabbed a paintbrush. We also greatly appreciated Sisse’s contribution to building the exhibition stand on site. The beautiful exhibition stand still brings us joy because we were able to utilize the shelves, cubes, and carpet designed by Sisse in our own showroom. Even the gnarled pines ended up beautifying the factory yard” Anni Vinkki, Sales Manager, Virtasen Maalitehdas