I added several gifts from Scandinavia or with Scandinavian influence in the Ultimate Holiday Gift Guide for Kids and wanted to highlight some of my favorites from the gift guide, and add a few others as well.

Scandinavian Clothes for Kids

Polarn O. Pyret Wind Fleece Bunting $87 Nordic moms know how to bundle their babies even on the coldest days. One of their secrets is Swedish Polarn O. Pyret and their high quality kids clothing. This fleece bunting makes a cute gift for any baby!

Snowflake or The Elk print mittens $21.50-$25 is another great gift idea from Polarn O. Pyret and follows the Nordic traditions. I got many pairs of mittens like this when growing up for Christmas – knitted by my mother.

Marimekko’s Lumikoja one piece for babies (top right picture) $79 Finnish Marimekko made the original Scandinavian stripe shirt already in the 1950′s and still sells stripes for everyone in the family. If Marimekko’s high prices are not appealing, also Polarn O. Pyret has their own line of classic stripes from socks to underwear to rubber boots.

And when talking about Scandinavian style children’s clothing… Let’s not forget our American alternative for Scandinavian style: Hanna Andersson. This year, check out the classic Swedish moccasins $14 (sale price) or the gorgeous Speaking of Sweden collection, my favorites are the hoodie romper for babies and the sweater dress for girls.

Scandinavian Classics

Scandinavian Suitcase Puzzles $26.59 This beautiful puzzle suitcase has two puzzles in it. You can choose from Finnish Moomin or Swedish Elsa Beskow’s Forest Children Puzzles, both beloved Scandinavian classics.

Maileg Little Brother/Sister Mouse toy Starting $25.75 This cute little mouse from Denmark lives in a match box.

ISAK Fika Cups set $34 Cute heirloom cups in a gift box. Modern and timeless design, perfect for toddler – or adults alike. The designer is originally from Sweden, and her design inspiration is clearly Scandinavian, even though her company is based in UK.

Gingerhaus® Ultimate Gingerbread House Kit $29.95 While this Gingerbread House isn’t coming directly from the North, baking gingerbread cookies is a Scandinavian Christmas tradition you should not miss. If making the gingerbread house from the scratch isn’t for you – this gingerbread house kit from Sur La Table is for you.

Favorite Furniture

Stokke Tripp Trapp Highchair $265 This Norwegian designed chair is worth every penny, and makes a great gift for anyone in the family. We own 3 of these, and all of my children still use them daily, now they have just moved from around the dining table to accompany the school desks. Perfect from starting 6 months old to grandpas.

DODO rocking chair by Oiva Toikka $229 This modern rocking chair is designed by famous Finnish designer Oiva Toikka and manufactured by Magis. Now, only if all kids toys looked like they came from modern art museum.

Angry Birds Gift Ideas from Finland

You can’t go wrong with Angry Birds gifts for kids this year. You may not know this but Angry Birds are from my home country Finland!

Angry Birds: Bad Piggies’ Egg Recipes $10.99 (sale price) This eggcellent cookbook is a must for budding chef at home.

Angry Birds T-Shirts $12.99-$19.99 If cooking isn’t his thing but Angry Birds are the hit in the house – check out the wide selection of Angry Birds t-shirts available on many stores.

Angry Birds: Knock On Wood Game $27.49 I know… you’d rather have your kiddo off the Angry Birds game and the phone.. No problem, there is an Angry Birds gift for that too. This Angry Birds Knock on Wood Game will be fun for smaller Angry Birds fans of the family.

BRIO & LEGO Toys

Two of our family’s favorite toys companies LEGO and BRIO are both from Northern Europe, BRIO from Sweden and LEGO from Denmark, and their toys seem just to get more and more popular in the US as well each year! The best about the Brio and LEGo toys is that they are heirloom quality and your kids’ kids will be able to play with mommy’s or daddy’s toys one day making spending the big bucks for these sets double worth while.

Brio Metro Railway Set $114.81 This Brio train set won several best toy of the year awards in 2011 in Europe, and it is already hard to find in the US and sold out in many places. This link works for now – but order fast if you want to make sure to get it.

BRIO Record and Play Railway Station $68.99 is another great holiday gift idea from BRIO.

LEGO Space Shuttle $30.02 is one of the most inexpensive yet most popular LEGO sets for this Holiday season. But if you think that your home is already filled with LEGOs and adding more building material is not an option, now worries, there are plenty of gift ideas for your LEGO fan that don’t include adding more chaos to the playing area.

LEGO sort and store storage box by Blip $29.99 (sale price) LEGO enthusiasts love this storage box. You can find it from Toys’r'Us and Target for the cheapest.

LEGO Star Wars Darth Vader Mini-Figure Alarm Clock $23.99 (sale price) is another popular gift idea for boys.

LEGO headlamp $11.50 (sale price) No explanation needed, all boys will love the LEGO headlamp.

Note: I use the term “Scandinavia” loosely, and ultimately wrong. Scandinavia technically only consists of Norway, Sweden and Denmark, and I refer more to Nordic countries including also Finland and Iceland. As a Finnish person though, I’ve always considered myself as “Scandinavian” and “Nordic” and with very little difference with the words.

Lumi Accessories is a Finnish design company with two brands, Lumi with accessories for women and Mhann with bags for men. The two brands are lead by two talented designers.

Lumi products are designed by Sanna Kantola, who also has designed bags for Ralph Lauren. Mhann product line is designed by Bruno Beaugrand, whose background is as an industrial designer and designed packaging for companies like Unilever, L’Oreal and Pepsi before joining Tiffany to create the Tiffany Watch Collection launched worldwide in 2002.

The bags are soft leather, the kind that just gets better by age. The styles are timeless, modern classics.

Available at ShopLumi, several styles now 30% off.

IVANAhelsinki POP-UP STORE OPENS IN NEW YORK CITY

IVANAhelsinki & Love Contemporary Magazine Pop-Up Store opened in New York City’s Nolita (238 Mulberry Street, between Prince & Spring) and I attended the Grand Opening on Friday. You can read more about the opening event at Skimbaco Home and see more pictures of the store.

IVANAhelsinki is one of the most spoken of Finnish fashion brands with its creative designer Paola Suhonen. IVANAhelsinki is the first ever Scandinavian women’s fashion brand to be accepted to the official Paris Fashion Week, and the brand is Finnish to the core – even all IVANAhelsinki producs are manufactured in Finland.

The concept behind a pop-up store is sort of like testing the markets – “popping” a store open for a short period of time; the IVANAhelsinki store will be open in New York only until March 17th.

The pop-up store concept is nothing new to IVANAhelsinki, they have done it in Finland, but this is the first time the brand is venturing to United States with this concept. IVANAhelsinki’s collection is sold in the United States via a few retailers, mainly on the West Coast. This is the first time the brand is getting it’s own retail feet wet in New York City, and they timed the opening of the store right after Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week. I am hoping IVANAhelsinki will have a permanent store in New York City soon.

READY, SET, MARKET IT!

It is very Finnish to think “if it’s good, people will hear about it” and marketing is traditionally not the biggest trait in Finnish business. It is the weakest link. IVANAhelsinki has done things a little bit differently, and it is sold in numerous countries worldwide, but yet I see hopes for more.

IVANAhelsinki is also sort of trying out marketing via social media (you can find the brand at Facebook), but like any other Finnish brand, seems like they are very shy to build the social media relations, and I was even surprised to get an invitation to the store opening event.

And it didn’t surprise me that nobody representing the company spoke to me the entire time I was at the event, even though they had brought Finlandia vodka to loosen up the shyness in the real Finnish tradition. I think I should have stayed for longer, but I skipped the vodka, and felt that the event was an awkward combination of people in the “inner circle” and then the lonely lurkers like me. And language barrier isn’t the problem, I am fluent in Finnish.

IVANAhelsinki – CREATIVE MESSAGING

However, the IVANAhelsinki owners, the Suhonen sisters, the creative director and designer Paola, and the marketing director Pirjo, are some sort of creative geniuses. They pour their creativeness into art of all sorts, and currently Paola lives in New York and studies film making. Videos and short-movies have already been a part of IVANAhelsinki’s branding.

One of their viral marketing ideas was last year’s “dress-go-round” where they gave IVANAhelsinki dresses to 10 women, and who were asked to keep the dress for a month and then pass it on to a friend and so on until one year is full. Can’t wait to hear more how this turned out, one year is going to be full next month – maybe a display of the traveling dresses and their stories in the New York’s pop-up store..?

Here is a video related to that project.

I wish much much success to IVANAhelsinki and it’s marketing attempts to the U.S. The brand is playful with elements of timeless design, and makes me feel it’s couture while at the same time it gives me the homey feeling, similar to my mother sewing me a dress from Marimekko’s curtain fabric. And it absolutely is something different, and I can see IVANAhelsinki appealing to fashionistas who want modern design, without over minimalism.

PLAYFUL MELANCHOLY

The store displayed the spring/summer 2010 collection as well as the fall/winter 2010 collection. There is some sort of playful melancholy in everything related to IVANAhelsinki.

The prints, the clothing designs, the videos, even the runway shows; everything the brand does, brings these two opposite elements, playfulness and sad melancholy, together. Same can be said about Finland itself – playful summer nights with arctic light all night long combined with winter darkness and coldness that wraps sadness around you.

The spring/summer 2010 collection

The spring and summer collection is called ‘Leaving Circus’ and it is based on a story about a girl in the desert with a ghost horse. The collection, consisting mainly of dresses, is inspired by this story about loneliness and freedom.

“Leaving Circus
Lonely girl and her ghost horse…
….leaving, left, leftover, lonely or just free?
The circus is behind; is it the end or beginning of something new.”

The movie ends with the words “There is only a thin line between being lonely or free” and its deep meaning brings so much more to the collection. The collection includes horse prints and graphics with names like ‘Leaving Circus’, ‘Ghost Horse’, and ‘Dot’.

The fall/winter 2010 collection is called ‘Copper Chain’, and I love the story behind this collection. It is a story of believing in love again, that becomes when finding an old couple, who have been long together and have chain tattoos in their wrists, holding them together, yet providing the possibility to leave anytime.

“I can´t stop staring.
They hold hands.
And I see
They both are wearing
the most beautiful bold chain tattoo
around one´s wrist.
Tight together,
Still always free to leave.
Braces with the One.
Or bracelets of the one they´ve loved.
Now the once golden chains
a bit aged,
days turned them soft shimmer copper
getting old
chained together forever.”

SHOP IVANAhelsinki ONLINE

If you don’t live in New York and can’t make it to the pop-up store, you can find IVANAhelsinki in the following stores:
Beklina
Huset-Shop
And you can always order via IVANAhelsinki.com by email.

IVANAhelsinki Pop-Up Store
238 Mulberry Street
between Prince & Spring
New York, NY

I’m an avid coffee shop-goer, and coffee lover, I get serious withdrawals if I can’t get my daily latte. May not be healthy habit, but it’s the coffee that keeps me going. I luv Starbucks, but my passion is visiting small coffee shops with freshly roasted and grounded coffee, and that little extra ingredient called personality. One of my finds in New York city is Kaffe 1668 (275 Greenwich St, in Tribeca), which drew me in with the name – had to be the real Scandinavian deal, and as I learned, the owners are from Sweden, and I even got my favorite Swedish chocolate balls there with my latte. (And you thought we Scandinavians only ate meatballs)

But it’s the Finn in me that enjoys not just seeing Scandinavian things, but Finnish things around the world. And Kaffe 1668 surprised me with homey coffee mugs, from Finland. I have written about Arabia’s Teema dinnerware before, it is a modern classic, and one of the most popular collections of Scandinavia.

Kaffe 1668 is worth your visit for the chocolate balls, free wifi and authentic Scandinavian atmosfär and great coffee from even better coffee mugs.

Read more about Kaffe 1668

Spring is here and green is one of the top decorating colors for the spring. The earth month starts today, and while these finds may not be the most environmentally friendly – they get you the green set of mind for the spring.

While it would be great to go all the way green, but instead of starting to paint the walls to the new trendy color of the season, why not just try dressing your dinner table..? Here are three table settings with enough green to qualify to be trendy for spring, but also timeless modern lines & products that won’t go out of style for years to come. That’s why I love Scandinavian design – it’s simple, timeless and always elegant.

This table setting is from Just Scandinavian store in Tribeca, but I can see myself visiting a friend’s house, and seeing it on her table. I mean really, I know for a fact one of my best friends has most of the elements of this table setting. I recognize the dishes and the glassware, but unfortunately I have to admit, I was not able to recognize the place mats.

1. Arabia Paratiisi series is a popular series, found in many Finnish homes.

2. Iittala Maribowls (starting $34) come in different colors and are an iconic Finnish table top decoration and serving dish.

3. Iittala Aino large tumbler ($22.50 for a pair) is every day design, that lasts for years’ of use and still looks fresh and new. Aino glasses come in several colors and sizes.

4. Iittala Kartio Tumblers start at 20 bucks for a pair and come in several different colors (two shades of green) and different sizes.

Picture: Kotiliesi

This time I know the table cloth.. it’s Marimekko’s Dahlström-table clothe, made of Vågsvall-fabric, unfortunately I didn’t find it available online. But note the different colored dishes in the setting. I really like that when you use simple design, and the same dishes (in different colors) you can mix colors pretty randomly. Or get the same glasses or candle holders in different colors to mix it up, that way you can easily create table settings that fit different themes and seasons.

1. Iittala Teema is iconic Finnish collection, designed already in the 60s. From school cafeterias to restaurants to everyday use in homes – Teema has been everywhere since it’s debut. Available in several colors.

2. Iittala Ote glasses are featured in this table setting in clear, but like

3. Iittala Birds ($366) are popular collectibles that make stunning center piece to your dining table. Available in several designs & colors, and yes, all with fairly high price tags.

4. The unfortunate Marimekko fabric that I couldn’t find available online in green.

This table setting has a nice Finnish-Swedish mix. The simple white Finnish Arabia’s 24h-series’ dishes are mixed with Swedish plates that offer a little color to the mix. The Josef Frank’s bird fabric is really the key element to this setting – adding any more color with dishes would have been too much (for Scandinavian look).

1. Gustavsberg Adam plates (small plate $55) with blue dots is old and new at the same time. Great retro look that is easy to mix and match with other series.

2. The simple white Arabia 24h series, starting at X $.

3. Iittala Senta Wine Glasses, starting at $25 for a pair.

4. Did you see Mamma Mia! movie? If you adored the fabrics, they are designed by a Swedish designer Josef Frank, here featured the Green Birds linen fabric.

I wanted to share a few photos of beautiful modern Scandinavian kitchens with you and some product finds you can bring the same look in to your kitchen. Less is more in Scandinavian design, and the colors are neutral, lots of white, earth tones, stainless steel and selected items bringing a splash of color. The kitchen photos are all from Finland, where I am from, and the styles and ideas here represent the Finnish kitchen styles. All of the following products are not from Scandinavia, but offer the same look and are easily available.

(picture: Irja Koivula)

My favorite feature of Finnish kitchens is a dish rack inside a cabinet, on the top of the sink, tiskikaappi. I have no idea why a brilliant invention like this hasn’t spread around the world, but maybe it is just us Finns that thinks it’s brilliant. The dish rack is just simple wire rack, with open bottom of the cabinet, and you can lift all the hand washed dishes inside the cabinet to drip down to the sink. This leaves more space to your counter and your dishes are hidden behind the cabinet. I have chosen the kitchen pictures in this blog post to include the tiskikaappi.

STORAGE

But if you find tiskikaappi a little odd or you don’t have a cabinet on the top of your sink that you could turn into one, here are a few Scandinavian style storage ideas for you.

1. Alessi Jasper Morrison Kitchen Utensils Set ($115) is Italian, but many Scandinavians love Alessi and this utensil rack is a common sight in modern Scandinavian kitchen. Sleek design, nice deco element, but something that is in use daily.

2. Grundtal wall rack from IKEA ($10.99) is a great small rack you can get the Finnish feel to your kitchen.

3. Domsjö chopping board ($14.99) isn’t really a storage element, but I love it and added it here for its multi-purpose. This chopping board fits perfectly on the top of your sink and you get more counter space – and you can hide dirty dishes under it!

4. Swedish Designs’, Horizontal Skillet Rack Beech ($62.00) is made for skillets of different sizes, but I love the look and have it on my countertop and storage plates on it. Beech always has a Scandinavian feel and if you add colorful plates or skillets to this one, it gives just the right about color to your kitchen.

5. Stainless steel bread box ($39.95) from Crate & Barrel looks something many Scandinavians have. Many Finnish kitchens are small, and extra storage is always welcome. This bread box style is a design element and very functional piece of modern Scandinavian kitchens.

ACCESSORIES

Bring the color in with accessories but keep the style still modern. Use essential kitchen tools, and things you can use every day to brighten the look if you want to keep the uncluttered modern Scandinavian look in your kitchen. Finnish people love designer glass wear, and you can find Arabia and Iittala from almost every home.

1. Marimekko Tea Towels ($25/per set of 2) are linen/cotton mix, and give a nice hint of color to your kitchen. The Pakkanen and Pikkunen patterns are designed by Maija Louekari for Marimekko.

2. Iittala Kivi Votives (starting at $12.75) come in variety of colors – collect one or two colors or get them all and change by the seasons. They are also great for coins etc. small items.

3. Iittala Pepper Mill ($59.50) is the only pepper mill you’ll ever need to purchase. High quality, stainless steel, and looks modern and stylish on your countertop ready to be used.

4. Small appliances you use every day like espresso machine are proudly displayed on the countertop – and they blend in the modern design look. I like stainless steel appliances, but if you are like many Finns, you might opt for white appliances. Alessi Toaster with bun warmer ($198) is a great choice, offering impeccable style and function.

5. Marimekko’s Unikko pattern is a no-fail in Finnish kitchens. There are even people with some sort of Unikko-mania and they have everything with the Unikko pattern from tea towels to bathroom accessories to umbrellas to socks. But seems like the most commonly used Unikko products are the kitchen products, like these Marimekko Oven Mittens ($17), which come in several different colors bringing your Scandinavian style kitchen nice splash of color.

6. Alvar Aalto is the most known Finnish architects and designers and his vase collection is also known world wide – and loved in most Finnish homes. Alvar Aalto Mini Bowl ($20) is the least expensive one, and small enough to bring joy on your countertop in a daily use. If you really want to make a statement, get the largest size and use it as a fruit bowl – and tulips in an Aalto vase is a Finnish flower arrangement I’m used to seeing since I was a little kid.

Kitchen photo sources:
Plaza.fi
Sundsberg.fi
vaasa.tvtalo.fi

READ MORE:

Marimekko Starts a New Era
Modern Children’s Bedding by Marimekko
Artek video from Finland
Why don’t we see any Finnish Innovations or do we?
Alvar Aalto and my home town
Cheap Scandinavian Design a’la Swedish IKEA – part 1
Cheap Scandinavian Design a’la Swedish IKEA – part 2

Many people might criticize – if Finnish education really is that wonderful, how come Finnish innovations are not world known.

You can probably name a few products from a neighboring country Sweden just after watching TV for a while; how about weigh loss products, mattresses or Austin Power’s penis enlargement pump?

Does anything Finnish ring your bell?

I didn’t think so.

The answer is the Finnish culture – people are quiet, shy and not very good at bragging about themselves. There are wonderful innovations from Finland, but nobody knows they are from Finland, even if they have made it outside of the country.

Why? The Finns lack the ability market their own knowhow. The general perception is that “if it’s good, people will find out about it” and the step of trying market Finnish products overseas is too big to take for even some larger Finnish companies.

Of course you might have heard of Nokia, Fiskars, Marimekko and other Finnish companies, but maybe a few great Finnish innovations and companies might not be as known to you.

Like Benecol, the food product, mainly used in margarine, which helps to reduce cholesterol – it came to market in Finland in 1995. Another pretty useful Finnish food invention is Xylitol -all natural sweetener, which is actually good for your teeth and not just prevent decay, but actively aid in repairing minor cavities caused by dental caries. Another sweet perk of Xylitol – it helps to reduce ear infections. No wonder that Xylitol chewing gum is even given at some child care centers in Finland.

You internet girls probably know about Linux operating system – developed by a fellow Finn, Linus Torvalds. And if your husband is even a recreational fisherman, he’ll know of another Finnish invention too – The Rapala lures. Most anyone doing any type of sports owns or at least have seen a Polar heart rate monitors – the little watch type of device telling your heart rate during exercising. Polar heart rate monitor was originally patented in Finland already in 1975.

I don’t think these innovations are that bad, from a country with a location at arctic circle and the population of Philadelphia.