A Visit to Anu Pylsy's Design Studio

This summer I had the honour and joy to visit Anu Pylsy, a Finnish designer and craft entrepreuneur, in her design studio which is situated in Central Finland in Joutsa. Anu Pylsy prints textile products in a beautifully decorated old wooden school building, and I loved the place so much that I definetly want to present the place for all of my readers as well! Please be prepared for a long posting, there was lots and lots of beautiful details to see... You might also catch some interior design tips!

The History of Pylsy Design

Anu Pylsy's journey to a successful entrepreuneur is a touching story, the road to success has not been easy. Anu began printing her first products in a kitchen table in her and her husband's farm. The couple had moved to countryside year 1984, and Anu printed these first fabrics year 1988. The first prints were a bit more clumsy, and they were illustrated with sheep jumping over a fence. Anu sold the products in markets and noticed that they were a success. When they gave up the kettle, she established a working studio their former cow-house. But on June 12 2006 a tragedy happened: the cow-house was complitely destroyed in a fire, and Anu lost all of her works, all the designs and originals. Everything was burned from roof to base, nothing was spared.

Many would hace given up on a situation like this, when you have to build everything all over again. Luckily Anu Pysly is a strong woman. Like the Phoenix bird who rises from the ashes, Anu decided to re-build her company and designs all over again. For Design Pysy, this was a new beginning, and now we can see it was a turn for the better. After the old facilities were destroyed, Anu bought an old school, renovated it and established the new studio to a new place. The Pynnölä school, aka "Pynde", offers a beautiful place for the company. In the place traditions meets modernity, just like in Pylsy Design's prducts. The school is renovated respecting the origins of the building, and it offers a modern place for printing. The school building is big enough to offer space also for a design shop, and a small place for temporary living as well. Nowadays all of Design Pylsy's products are printed in the new atmospheric studio. Her prints are inspired by nature and historican Finnish rock paintings. The most reknown of her prints is "Hölkkäävä hirvi", "A Jogging Moose".

The prints gain inspiration from historical rock paintings...

...as well as nature

Print Studio Classroom

Anu Pylsy designs and prints texile products by herself in her print studio classroom.  Here are some pictres of the printing facilities where the procucts are born:

A carousel has six printing spots

Printing screen and a printed T-shirt

Once the image is printed, the colour pasta is fixed by heat in the oven

A product ready to be used

The Shop in an Old Wooden School

The shop is situated in a gym classroom next to the printing classroom. The assortment of the shop includes of course Design Pylsy's own products, but also matching products from other companies. As a speciality, some old school fixtures are being used in the shop to remind from the history of the building as well as to present the products!

Interiors and Exteriors of "Pynde"

The whole school building is beautifully renovated respecting the old sprirt from the 1930's. Old timber walls are being left in sight, and they are refreshed with white lightning panels for roof spots on some parts. What I loved about the place was that everywhere you looked there were new details to  be observed, and the space was full of indications for the building's past as an old school. Yet the place was not a museum, it was a cosy place with warm atmosphere.

I could not resist adding this picture: Anu told me that there lives bats in the attic of Pynde!

Back in time, the teatcher if the school had her own flat in the school building. Also the teatcher's flat is beautifuly renovated and it's been used for living temporarily. 

"Live well, laugh often, love a lot"

There was also a cute small sauna, which had served for several decades.

Anna Pylsy

Anna Pylsy is Anu's lovely daughter, and she has gratuated as textile designer from Kuopio School of Applied Sciences this year. Here are some of Anna's own textile designs:

Some News...

A rumour says, that there will be a shop opening in Helsinki soon, selling Anu's and Anna's products! The shop is being opened in the end of September or the beginning of October under a name "Lande" ("Country"), and it will be situated in Urho Kekkosen katu near Kamppi shopping center. Anna Pylsy will be working there as a shop manager. So Anu and Anna will bring with them a small piece of countryside to us in Helsinki. I can't wait to see the shop, after seing Pynde I have very high expectations... I wish all the best for Anu and Anna for their new store!

Find out more about the company in Finnish: http://www.designpylsy.com/