August 2011
17 posts
2 tags
Finnish fashion brands #1: Fiorella
Fashion conscious teenagers on a limited budget are typically known to shop for clothes at one of the major chain stores, like H&M or Gina Tricot. But an often overlooked fact is that there’s a domestic alternative with no less than five different shops nationwide: Fiorella.
The good thing about shopping at Fiorella is that no one will ever accuse you of being too fashionable by...
2 tags
Nature, a constant source of inspiration
Sometimes we here at the Kasper Stromman Design Blog get stuck for inspiration. So what to do?
A regular person might turn to some lame ass Tumbl blog, but that’s not how we roll here at the Kasper Stromman Design Blog – we venture out in Nature Land and demand that it provides us with inspiration.
And hey, why not, since everything in nature is amazing. This is moss. Imagine that? Just...
4 tags
Finland abroad
Sometime when you are abroad it’s nice to see that someone loves the city of Turku so much they decided to name a bar after it. Of course I understand they need to add the umlauts to make it more rock’n’roll, but hey, that’s fine. You do what you need to do, you crazy Turku-lovers.
Ässä mix: a short history
Ässä mix is a popular range of bagged sweets available in supermarkets everywhere. What follows is a short history of this popular brand of confectionary:
1989 Ässä mix The original. Created in the 80s by hip confectionary scientists while listening to Dire Straits. The design department models the individual sweets after playing card symbols and a classic is born. Afterwards the whole Ässä...
2 tags
User-centred design
Design is usually about making a good product even better, but sometimes it’s about turning your grandads Nissan Bluebird into a mean cruising vessel which will take you to the nearest ABC service station.
By the way, if someone needs to use the wifi at ABC Vesilahti, the password is “abcbensaa!”. (I feel like I’m providing an important public service by telling you this.)
2 tags
Record of the month: Promotional 7" for the City...
Our record of the week is a promotional single for the City of Turku from 1973. The cover tries to emphazise the medieval roots of the city, but this is however not representative for the music on the record in any way.
The four track mini album contains three tracks in Finnish one in Swedish, the latter to prove that you can indeed find lots of folks in town who speak this exotic overseas...
2 tags
Modern day Finnish design icons #1: Kiroileva...
Kiroileva siili is a comic strip written and drawn by Milla Paloniemi, which as the name states, is about a cursing hedgehog. It is immensly popular, but has in some quarters been criticized for not having much of an actual story line apart from the cussing.
Kiroileva siili fans of course knows this to be nonsense, as the little fellow also swears, utters profanities and indulges in bad...
Choose your weapon wisely
So, I’ve been thinking: if I was the kind of up-to-no-good young shaver who walks around with a slingshot in his back pocket, would I really like it to spell out my name?
Just saying it might be slighltly incriminating if “shit goes down”. Isn’t there a reason for why criminals go fur guns which are hard to trace back to the owner?
Then again, maybe I’d just choose a...
Anonymous asked: Dear Kasper! Why is bicycle so ugly?
Terveisin, Parsittu kärkitossu -78
Terveisin, Parsittu kärkitossu -78
Really?
Hey scribbler, you’re really confusing me now! Damn you and your pen, now I have no idea of how to get out of here!
“kasperstromman.tumblr.com writes like an old...
Sharp analysis of the Kasper Stromman Design Blog by urlai.com:
Text analysis:
kasperstromman.tumblr.com is probably written by a female somewhere between 66-100 years old. The writing style is personal and happy most of the time.
Gender:
Age:
Mood:
Tonality:
Visit www.urlai.com for an in depth analysis of your blog. Recommended by a 66–100 year old lady.
2 tags
Vintage buttwipe
Looking at this packet of wet wipes from the 70s one can’t escape the thought that this could just as well be a movie poster for an art house film from the same decade. “Savett – the movie. They wiped their genitals all the way from Milan to Minsk.”
On the other hand, when you turn the product over it urges you to “wipe before and after intercourse to avoid risk of infection”. Not that...
Anonymous asked: Dear Kasper,
What's wrong with pitched roofs? Why do most new buildings have flat roofs?
From,
Ruth
What's wrong with pitched roofs? Why do most new buildings have flat roofs?
From,
Ruth
1 tag
Helsinki monuments Top 3
3. Wartime women memorial
When Heikki Häiväoja was commissioned to create a memorial to commemorate the female wartime effort, he put extra emphasis on trying to capture the essence of femininity. After thinking “long and hard” he then came up with an 8 meter tall phallic steel beam proudly protruding out of grey bedrock.
And if you thought this thing had been introduced after the war...
2 tags
Top 5 window displays of Turku
5. Fiilis
Don’t you just love the way the flower pots accentuate the floral print on the blouses? No? Why not?
Then at least you got to love the creative display of “blouse hanging on red stick”. You know, a lot of people thought about this particular way of displaying blouses over the years, but guess who’s the one who went ahead and did it? Only friggin’ Fiilis,...
July 2011
14 posts
2 tags
Women drivers only
Beacause real men don’t drive around with no kids in Nurmijärvi.
3 tags
Report: Finnish contemporary architecture
Finland has a long and notable history in architecture, and has over the years contributed heavily to the style known as Nordic Modernism.
But that was years ago. That’s why we here at the Kasper Stromman Design Blog decided to visit a contemporary maker of “polygonal garden houses, pavillions and saunas” to report on the current trends in architecture.
Honestly, I don’t really...
Pancakes and lotion?
Honey is a sweet food made out of nectar from flowers by our friends, the honey bees. It is then collected by the Voi Hyvin! beekeepers and for some reason packaged in what looks like a tube of moisturiser.
Personally, I’d add a bee or something to the design, you know, just to clarify. I’m saying this because my hands were a bit dry, and now they are all sticky with honey which...
