Kristina Isola

Textile designer Kristina Isola has followed in the footsteps of her mother Maija Isola. She made her first sketches for fabrics at the age of sixteen as an assistant to her mother. Between 1978 and 1987 mother and daughter designed for Marimekko under the joint name of Maija Isola/Kristina Isola. At present, Kristina Isola designs her own fabric prints and is also responsible for the new colourways of Maija Isola’s designs and the adaptation of their patterns to suit different products.

Kristina Isola, what kind of style do you follow as a designer?
My designs are delicate. I like to make small, quiet images. Sometimes, I want to challenge the printing process of the fabric with my images. It is an unbelievably fine feeling to be finally able to achieve the kind of image or colours as in the original idea.

Where do you get the ideas for your fabrics?
I observe my surroundings and listen carefully to what people say. I go around with a net and gather fragments that emerge as ideas. There is always some kind of inspiring idea in the air; you just have to hold on to it. It can be the branch of a tree taking the light in a beautiful way, or a certain combination of colours. A scene can be so totally wonderful or beautiful that one wants to pass it on.

What qualities are useful for a textile designer?
Self-confidence, independence, co-operation, perseverance and responsibility.

What is the best thing about your work?
The finest thing about it is to be able to work with other people and alone, which suits me. There is no repetition in this work. There is always something new being done. I enjoy being able

to make something of beauty, the fact that someone looks at my works and they make them feel good. If I watch the news on television, for instance, and I see curtains designed by me in the office of someone being interviewed, I might stop to think why that particular pattern was there. Did the person interviewed choose the curtains or was it someone else? My patterns are in a sense my own all the time, but the context changes when they become part of someone else’s everyday life.

What inspires you?
All kinds of activity inspire me; I can’t stand still and do nothing. I enjoy physical labour immensely, for instance chopping wood or other outdoor work.

What kind of professional legacy did you receive from your mother, Maija Isola?
The best one I could imagine, excellent fabric patterns to attend to and instructions for their care. She taught me that it is extremely important to be methodical and to plan one’s work in advance. It’s better to sit down and think, was her first rule. My mother also taught me that work is fun and not a necessary evil.

You’ve been with Marimekko now for over forty years? What is its role in your life?
Immense. Marimekko is an important, if not the most important, thing in my life.

How has the company changed over the years?
Compared with the 1980s, for example, the spirit now is similar to that of Armi Ratia’s time. The atmosphere is unique. People encourage and support each other.

How do you see Marimekko’s future?
I hope that the courage, strength and certain unpredictability typical of Marimekko will survive.