Sanna Rinne
Sanna Rinne was a special quest in the event, presenting her fashion designs mostly made of cutting waste materials. All of the products are made of strips of fabric sewn together as a garment. Sanna told me that she sews all the products by herself! She has an education for textile design as well as fashion design, which makes the materials specially important to her. I personally found the products very impressive.Take a look at the shirt Sanna is wearing in the image below, isn't it gourgeous! You can find out more about Sanna's designs in address http://www.sannarinne.com/.
Beibamboo
Another guest in the event was Beibamboo, a company that has brought a whole new children's wear concept to the Finnish fashion market. Beibamboo does not only sell, but it also rents baby clothing for ecologically councious parents! The idea is to recycle clothing, instead of buying a product you can rent it and return it after the use. I can imagine it's a great consept for families with children as they don't have to worry about re-selling the used clothing that children have grown out of. As the name implies, the products are made of bamboo, a very ecological material that is well suitable to baby wear due to it's good qualities such as softness and good washing abilities (it can be washed in 60 degrees). It's also antibacterical and transfers moisture from the skin. The products are designed to be comfortable to wear and easy to put on a baby. All the rented products are washed in a professional cleaner and all the stains are removed before delivery. Nina Ignatius, the founder of the concept (see picture below), told me that all the products are designed and sewn in Finland. And the cost of renting? 1 € per one week. As the slogan of Beibamboo says: You can rent happiness...
Punainen Norsu
Another interesting ecological design brand is Punainen Norsu (http://www.punainennorsu.com/index.php), who's products has been seen on this blog before in the Turku Design Now -posting. Punainen Norsu's products are adorable retro-styled clothing mainly for chldren. Some of the products are made of genuine old retro fabrics, and they are sewn in Finland, except for the Hedgehog -series which is sewn in Estonia. Punainen Norsu is designed by Helena Opas, and she told me that as a novelty she had designed a border lining for the cartboard package of Finnish maternity aid packing, which can be used as a baby's first bed. Just take a look at these super-cute patterns:
Enne Design (http://www.enne.fi/) is also a company that designs ecological children's wear. Enne's products are made of organically grown cotton and printed and sewn in Finland. Enne Design's products look soft, sensitive and child-like.
Boutique Minne
Boutique Minne (http://www.boutiqueminne.com/) is a vintage boutique situated in Turku. They sell genuine vintage clothing, but they also sew new products and fix products to be made-to-measure. I loved the dresses and jewellery they had on display. Thake a look at the beige dress below, it had details e.g. from an old watch!
Humbugi
Humbugi has also been presented in this blog befor (see Lasipalatsi Design Markets -posting), but let's see what wonderful and new they had to offre this time:
These cute silver leather bags are made of material that has been used as an upholstery in an elevator of a hotel in Moscow!
A Speciality Product:
Ipanajamit is a children's wear boutique that sells many ecological brands on address www.ipanajamit.com. I payed attention to these colourful bags by Coll.part. I found out that they are made of recycled materials and produced according to Fair Trade's standards. The products are made of plastic bags used by fishermen all over Cambodia! The plastic bags find a new life as hats, bags, purses, baskets etc. All the products are made by Fair Trade organisations in Cambodia. The aim of the company is to support social development projects and to produce first quality products. On of the projects supports women in need of help ofering them professional education and a possibility to their children to go to school, too. The other project helps the victims of mine fields and polio patients. The artistic manager of the colourful world of Coll.part is Nina Raeber. A purhase for a good cause, I would say!
About the event
The event was a very warm-spirited, and I enjoyed very much learning about new ecological design brands. What I liked about the display in the event was that all the companies had equal fixtures for display. The desks were made of used cartboard boxes, and the racks were made of birch branches painted white. The ecological philosophy was present in the fixtures as well! I also liked the fact that the companies had carefully selected the products they wanted to present, and the displays were OK because they were not too full.
The event was not only about selling the products, there was also an espresso bar and photo shootings that people were able to watch in a "behind the scenes" -kind of way (see the picture above).
About the assortment of House of Eco, I payed attention that many of the companies sold products for children, but hopefully in the future there will be more ecological products for fashionable women as well. I also hope that the event was a success for the companies that attented it. I didn't see any advertisements about the event anywhere, so I do hope that the crowds foud their way to the world of ecological design products!
