I write in margins

Rudolf Koivu (1890 - 1946) is one of the illustrators which has affected me most. Even if Finland's most known illustrator died already in 1946 there is no one which has escaped Koivu's sensuous lines, magical creatures from childrens' stories and Christmas cards. I claim, Koivu is for Finns the same than Carl Larsson for Swedes or Mucha for Czechs. Or perhaps even more than that. Last summer I visited an exhibition full of Koivus drawings to different Childrens' stories. It blew my mind out. Pictures to the stories by Grimm, Topelius, Andersen were all presented. Thinking of the fact that the world was not full of images Koivu's characters, trolls, sceneries and mystical creatures were amazingly original ones. Unlike today's illustrator who has grown in a world full of images, Koivu had to bring these creatures from his mind. That is a thing which often has been neglegted. My first memories of Koivu, though I did not know that by then, were the sensuous cov...

The City During the holidays I visited Cambridge, my daughter's home city for a year. Everybody knows the town for its university, but surprisigly few have visited there although it lies only 80 kilometres to North East from London. A train takes you there from The King's Cross Railway Station in 50 minutes. One way ticket for four persons (from which one is a junior) costs around £75. It pays back to reserve an off-peak ticket in advance. Cambridge seems much smaller city thinking that it has 130,000 inhabitants. It's a beautiful city with old pictoresque houses. It can easily be experienced in a short couple day weekend holiday. You can walk all the major spots within a day and everything is close to each others. Our Hotel I had reserved a Queen Size room for us. The hotel, Double Tree by Hilton, proved to be an excellent hotel with outstanding service. We arrived to the city later than expected, because the queue for the Lond...

Selasin Englannin matkaltamme ottamiani valokuvia. Huomasin ottaneeni monia kuvia perinteisistä - ja uudemmistakin - englantilaisista puhelinkioskeista. Mieleeni muistui uutinen Norjasta vuodelta 2007: paikallinen museovirasto ja Telenor sopivat sadan jäljellä olleen puhelinkioskin suojelemisesta jälkipolville esimerkkinä 1900-luvun kaupunkikuvaan olennaisesti liittyneistä rakennuksista. Kioskit sijaitsivat eri puolilla Norjaa. Olen näköjään kuvannut puhelinkioskeja aina jossain päin matkatessani. Puhelinkioskit, kuten postilaatikotkin, kuvastavat mielestäni hienolla tavalla sekä maiden viestintähistoriaa että niiden muotoiluperinnettä. Norjalaiset kioskit 1930-luvulta edustivat vallalla olevaa bauhausilaista fuktionalismin ideaa, kun englantilaiset 1920-luvun kioskit sulautuivat edwardiaaniseen arkkitehtuuriin ja sulautuivat väristään huolimatta hienosti katukuvaan. Berliinistä löytynyt DDR:n aikainen kioski ei heijasta pelkästään itä-eurooppalaisen muotoilua vaan tuo meille muistum...

In no other place than in Britain you realise that the sports is a cultural thing. What we follow in the TV, what newspapers cover and mostly, what Intersport is selling to us defines us as an athletes. You do not find skates, ice hockey stuff, floorball equipment, skiis or Finnish baseball in a highstreet sports' supermarket in the heart of England in Cambridge. You find rugby, land hockey, darts and pool/snooker (+swimming) in the premier floor. But there's a one sports which unites as all: Football :-) And as a <3 of a game. It's fantastic!