Finland?s famed design brand is moving forward by looking back Filled with the industrial clatter of huge machines, the factory floor at the Helsinki headquarters of Marimekko hums with efficiency.
Glistening cylindrical printing screens, embossed with a design from the company?s library of more than 3,500 patterns, are set spinning, churning out playful strings of shapes and colors. One production line slowly turns ivory fabric into a field of Day-Glo poppy flowers as it recreates Unikko, the company?s signature pattern.
Watching the machines print, wash, and dry long rolls of fabric that will later be turned into clothing, accessories, and other products is hypnotic (more than a million yards are printed each year).
But look closer, and a strong hand-making tradition can be found amid the mechanization: Little circles found inside one of the flower patterns recall the company?s early days in the ?50s, when each roll of fabric was inked by hand; workers used these rings as guides to line up printing screens. At the end of the line, near neat stacks of fabric rolls, a team of workers examines every inch of finished fabric, scrolling through the prints on easels to check for errors (any fabric faux pas get sold in the adjoining factory store at a discount).

Marimekko
The Unikko pattern being printed at Marimekko?s factory. More than a million yards of fabric are printed here each year.

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