Recently I went to Finland to shoot a small clothing collection designed by Jarna Tikkanen. She is a true artist, fun to be around with and knows how to live life. Here are a few photos from the shoot that should give you a little overview of what she does. Interview-style Jarna answers some questions about her day to day business and background. Here we go:
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Jarna: Sometimes I get this crazy feeling that I simply have to paint, even if it’s 3 in the morning. I have to wake up and start painting. I get this feeling about 3 times a month and usually I paint for myself only when feel like doing it. Of course I also paint orders.
Your family runs VillaWool, a knitwear company. When did you first get involved and how does your work for VillaWool look like today?I got involved at a young age, when I was about 10 years old. I always used to do beanie designs and 14 years later I still do. In the 2010 collection I made one hat that comes with an individual embroidery, no two beanies are the same.
How do you come up with so many ideas if every hat is different?When I started to stitch the embroideries my head was almost exploding from ideas. By the 400th hat things did get a little more complicated. But the world is full of things to get ideas from, like if I’m stitching an anchor I already get the next idea - boat, fish and so on...
What kind of influences does living in Helsinki, one of the most livable cities in the world, have on you?I love Helsinki, its beautiful landscape and silly people. But to be honest - the art here is crappy, it´s the kind of art that nobody wants to put up on their wall. I like to make art that you really want to look at. Helsinki has the most influence on me when it comes to clothing design. I design very Scandinavian looking clothes that are simple, comfortable but also interesting.
You seem to have a lot of patience. Is that essential for the type of design you do?The patience appears in the way I do things. In my T-Shirt line every Tee has a print that I have painted by hand. I´m not afraid of big projects.
Please tell us more about the T-Shirt line you did and the idea behind it.I did a T-Shirt line as my thesis for school. One day it hit me like a thunder, T-Shirts are art, you can carry art on you. I designed T-Shirts with a painting on them, I did each by hand. One Shirt shows a tiny business man next to a very large tree, it characterizes the power of nature. When you think you are a "big shot" you still are tiny next to a 300 year old tree.
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