Email / mari@marirelander.com
Tel / +358 50 5779889

Today´s note is on a personal, and a bit sad, tone as I had a difficult day that ended up in closing and sealing the door to a loved one.

Life really is full of paradoxes… This was the first image I snapped at 9 o´clock in the morning on my way to a meeting to this amazing (!) building here in Helsinki. I will post more about the building later but just looking at this door, this is what I see:

So beautiful. And, so heavy. Off-grid. Precious. One of a kind.

And as one writer wrote in his letters – “miss you often if not always”. (I am sorry).

Ystäväni lähetti mulle tän linkin saatteella “Mari nää linnut on liittoutuneet sun kanssa”. Joo myönnetään kyllä: salilla kilkuttaminen, snadi aggressio ja maailman paras pulla, dallaspulla – kaikki jotenkin liippaa mun arkea, haha. Kiitos N ja mahtavaa, aurinkoista, sunnuntaita.

Last night I was here, in Yrjönkatu swimming pool, celebrating a good friend together with a group of amazing women. Sauna, swimming, food, drinks and very nice time with friends in this stunning environment – luxury of the very best kind I would say. Every time I come swimming here, I really feel that the time has stopped to year 1928 – it is all about peace and serenity. Love it.

The Bruno Mathsson Award 2o12 goes to Mika Tolvanen. Congratulations my friend, from all my heart. Here is Mika´s new product, Hideaway Bin, for one of my favorite companies, Muuto.

It is so nice to be tactile sometimes and actually build something by your self and not just sit in front of a computer screen all day long. So today me and my colleague Suvi spend the day at Helsinki Exhibition and Convention Center building up a small fair stand for our employer, KVA Architects.

A fun day! And the funniest co-incidence was that almost everybody who called me today, called me when I was standing on a ladder.

“No, you are not disturbing me, am here at the fair with Suvi, just standing on a ladder. And no, I am not in Milan”.

I was tested today on my overall condition level. Even if I do work out, the results for my abs were pretty surprising: If I would be a 25 year old boy, my result would still be considered “excellent”. Top news I would say, am very proud of myself and this is only the starting point for me. As my trainer said – we are going to have so much fun (=hard work). Agree, and, am ready!

As I can´t do any sports and not really even see anybody or go anywhere (still sick) decided to have a Sunday workshop with some left over Easter feathers. These turned out quite ok.

Something I realized when trying a pair of new pants on… This girl loves stripes and emerald green! Today I have stripes “only” in sneakers, socks, shirt, hat and underwear. And emerald green in pullover, scarf, coffee cup and potentially new trousers. Hmm… Haha!

Miniature handmade sculptures by Israeli artist Shay Aron. More images here.

There is a pattern I am seeing related to my work life: If there is one designer in the room who will have to do a PowerPoint presentation, the likelihood that it will be me, is very high. So today I thought.. why not invest a little bit of my time and really start to be a super PowerPoint pro. As for some crazy (!) reason I am actually starting to like the devilish powers of PP. More is more! YesYes.

Another thing I learned and loved today was Picasa. Needed to crop a picture and had not my Adobe CS help with me, so looked into Picasa – and – voilà. Jesus, now when did this come around? I am so old school girl. So definitely learning new, and loving it.

And, as my Picasa learning experience end result, I think I will now be sending only “so-last-season-seepia-colour-tilted-polaroids”. More is more.