The Kasper Stromman Design Blog

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Charity shops are always fun, and their window displays never let down. Here’s a top 3: 

1. Samaria, Sturenkatu

Samaria is having a clearance on wooden Finlands at the moment, so if you hurry you should be able to pick one up for cheap. Also nice touch to dress up the one in front with a little Bolero jacket. It’s just what northern Finland needed.

2. Rihmankiertämä, Runeberginkatu

Hey, there’s that prototype for a wholesome female Finn I’ve been looking for, just next to Aladdin’s lamp. Wonder how an arranged marriage between this doll and a Ken doll would work out? Just speculating.

3. Venla, Fleminginkatu

Jesus.

A while ago we here at the Kasper Stromman Design Blog tried our hands on designing our own logo, in order to be taken seriously within the design community. It turned out great, and we’re happy to report we got many a pat on the back from said design community.

But why stop there? If anything we now need our own typeface, which will look awesome on all our official correspondance. So we put our crack team of talented designers to work.

As a basis we used some wholesome rye bread, as the goddamned patriots that we are. It’s chock full of flavonoids and fibre you know.

This is a graphical representation of said, wholesome rye bread. Our Design Department then sliced and rearranged the individual slices of this graphical rye bread…

… and there we have it! A bold new typeface, which is still heavily rooted in our common Finnish design heritage.

We call it Leipäteksti. Naturally.

The design community will be green with envy.

Today we review the Worker’s calendar for 1934. It was published by the Social Democratic Party in 1933.

For being a calendar this publication is quite comprehensive, and contains articles on different subjects like this one on making margarine. It’s the poor man’s butter, you know.

Also included: several pages of happy workers doing various sorts of gymnastics. This combined with smoking filterless cigarettes was clearly considered the cornerstone of a healthy lifestyle.

Bending over backwards was a useful skill to know, especially when in negotiations with the owning class.

Prancing around in your underwear also used to earn you the respect you were entitled to as a member of the working class.

Of course there is also serious articles, like this one on the dangers of the rising fascism in Germany. We here at the Kasper Stromman Design Blog are no historians, but in retrospect this was probably a legitimate concern.

The article also includes a very early Fingerpori illustration by Pertti Jarla.

The ads in the calendar are also intriguing. It’s not that often you see good, old fashioned poison advertised anymore.

Back in the 1930s mobile phones were not as common as today, and they looked completetly different. This is the shoe phone, which was made famous by Maxwell Smart several decades later.

In hindsight it’s also really easy to go “told you so”, but you can sort of see why this new way of putting up wallpaper didn’t catch on.

But yes, there actually are actual dates and weekdays included in this calendar. As well as random scribbles about a lady called Tyyne.

We don’t get to know much about her. For April it’s “Tyyne a quarter to two”, and that’s it.

How about June? Now there’s an Yrjö involved, who “hung out under the window from 8 to 2 in the evening”. That’s kind of like doing a full working day of hanging out, dude.

In July it’s back to Tyyne again. Well, wouldn’t you know: she “arrived at the same time” on the 16th at ten to twelve? That’s just incredibly boring information even after 80 years.  

Then a few months passed, and in December she arrived at quarter past two!

And that’s pretty much it.

Now, we here at the Kasper Stromman Design Blog sincerely hope the year 1935 turned out to be more exciting.

SUOMI – FINLAND
FORSSA, LINJA-AUTOASEMA
Foto: U.Heinonen 

In the 1980s the tax for owning a car used to be expensive. However, a loophole in the law was spotted pretty soon – if you registered your car as a “commercial vehicle” your tax was a fraction of that for a normal car.

Of course certain weight and height restrictions had to be met. The loading capacity also had to exceed a certain size.   

Nevertheless, this could easily be done by removing the back seat and raising the roof on e.g. your Citroën BX . Now you could legally be driving a “van”.

If you were less professional you just permanently attach a roof box on top of your car, which was connected to the cabin through a hole in the roof. 

These might not have been the prettiest modifications around, but the cars sure were economic to own. Plus, without the back seat you could haul around a lot of useless junk.  

Of course some people went to even further lenghts – quite literally – by turning their imported American muscle cars into pickup trucks in search for that tax break. 

To meet the lenght requirement the car sometimes had to be stretched as much as half a meter using fibreglass – but tax dodging is a strong driving force. 

One could imagine it probably also didn’t do wonders for the handling of these cars. Still, by looking at them today one can’t help to feel a certain amount of fascination.

More on the subject here.

Tar is a substance which was used a long time ago for preserving wooden ships against rot. These days ships are made out of steel though, so people have had to find other usage for all that surplus tar laying around. Here are some of our favourite foodstuffs:

Tar flavoured lozenges
Tar flavoured lozenges come under several different makes; we chose the generic supermarket brand.

Verdict: like sucking on a wooden ship laced with menthol. Also, breath feels annoyingly fresh now. Rating 6–. 

Tar flavoured ice cream
If you can get bacon flavoured ice cream, then why not tar flavoured? A bold taste sensation brought to you by your favourite supermarket brand, Pirkka.
 

Verdict: like scooping spoonfuls out of a tar pit. Dinsaurs would love to curl up and die in this thing. Rating: 6.

Tar flavoured beer
Did you know the Kasper Stromman Design Blog is looking for a beer sponsor? Karjala makes a fine tar flavoured brew.

Verdict: Whoa, okay: so the beer’s not bad… but let’s just say this is not what we are looking for in a beer sponsor. Not that there ever was any talk of sponsorship in the first place of course. And now there definitely won’t be. 

I’m sorry. It’s just me, I’ve had too much tar today. Karjala actually gets an 8.

Tar flavoured liquor
Okay, I see what you’re doing; you’re calling it “Pine extract liquor” in English to make it sound less disgusting. But then it does say TERVA in huge lettering on the bottle, so I think most people get what we’re dealing with here.

Verdict: BOOM that’s sweet! And definitely tastes like tar. Let’s have another pint of this!

I’m drunk now and on a sugar rush! Tar liquor wins this test, and gets a full ten points.

Congratulations, tar liquor!

Every now and then a comic comes by that has truly found a voice of its own; a voice that is seemingly free from any formal training, and therefore posesses an unique freshness.

Pauli Kinnunen’s artwork is reminiscent of a lot of the outsider art that has been so fashionable in later years. And by refusing to go by the rule book Kinnunen has not only been able to create his own style, but also created characters free from Disney or manga mannerism that seem to influence so much of graphic art today.

Don’t get us wrong though – Vinoileva Hiiri does nod in the direction of the classics. However, in a cartoon climate where clever storylines and polished artwork has become the norm Vinoileva Hiiri proves there’s still room for some good old traditional cartoon violence drawn with gusto.

It’s also refreshing to note there is also nothing too high brow about Vinoileva Siili – alcohol is what seems to fuel this little rodent a lot of times, something that is sure to resonate with the man on the street. 

The Kasper Stromman Design Blog would like to congratulate Pauli Kinnunen on his creation, and with further albums apparently in the pipeline we have to ask ourselves – could Vinoileva Hiiri be the next Moomin?

www.vinoilevahiiri.fi

Olen juuri lähdössä marjaan ja sieneen,
haastan Sinutkin!

Reumasairaan hyväksi Reumaliitto – Reumaförbundet ry.

PS. Joko laskit poimijat kuvasta?

Helkama is a Finnish company involved in a broad variety of activities such as manufacturing refrigerators and importing cars, but is foremost known as a bicycle brand. Here are the Kasper Stromman Design Blog top 3 favourite two wheelers made over the years:

3. Helkama Tossu (early 1970s)

Originally a mini moped of late 1960s Italian origin, the Fantic TX7 or Fantic Broncco was sold in Finland in the early 70s under the name Helkama Tossu. It was never a commercial succes, but paved the way for many later mini mopeds like the Suzuki PV or Honda Monkey. A design classic.

2. Kuntojopo (early 1970s)

The Helkama Jopo was a popular compact bike manufactured from 1965 to 1975. With over a quarter of a million sold it was immensly popular, and the manufacturer quickly brought out special versions like the Tandem Jopo (Tuplajopo), Postijopo (postal Jopo) and the foldable Jopo Mobil.

The most intriguing version though got to be the exercise bike Kuntojopo wich was created by removing the front wheel and adding a steel frame for balance.

And remember folks – the nice gentleman in the picture proves it’s never too late for taking up exercise.

1. Helkama White Power (early 1990s)

A pretty basic mountain bike by 1991’s standards, was it not for the unfortunate name which curiously noone seemed to find odd at the time. By now most of these are starting to rust away, so if you want one now would be the time to pick one up for cheap, as long as they’re still around.

Future design classic, y’all!

You know what? It suddenly occured to us here at the Kasper Stromman Design Blog that we don’t have a logo! And while we don’t absolutetly need one, we feel we still should have one in order to be taken seriously within the design community.

So we had our design team quickly throw something together.

The graphic of the first draft is based on the idea that design is an ordering strength, and the global claim of the Kasper Stromman Design Blog. It uses an abstract from an image of nerve cells, the basis for structured thinking, and the geographical coordinate system of the planet, from whose round form the graphic takes its shape.

Pretty neat, huh?

Since Helsinki is, like, super hot right now (not literally) you sometimes come across a manufacturer who wants to ride this wave of coolnes by creating their own Helsinki themed item of clothing. That’s fine with us.

But have they really done their research before printing a lot of random words on a shirt? As Helsinki locals we here at the Kasper Stromman Design Blog decided to help out and rate the accuracy of this shirt.

Ping pong: Not traditionally associated with Helsinki, but sure, some weirdos are probably into it. Accuracy points: 2/10

Ice Hockey: Does the Pope crap in the woods? Are bears Catholic? We don’t know. But we do know Helsinki is definitely associated with ice hockey. Accuracy points 10/10

City Bike: The city bike scheme was abandoned in 2009. There’s been talk about bringing the bikes back this summer, but we haven’t seen any yet. Accuracy points: 4/10

12” records: This one is the odd one out since all the other words focus on sports, but whatever. Anyhow, since Lifesaver is quitting now there will actually pretty soon be a shortage of record stores spezialising in 12”s. And we wouldn’t say these records exactly define Helsinki. Accuracy points 3/10

Volley Ball: Yeah some guys do this at Hietsu in the summer, but we always thought that was mainly to impress the ladies or whatever. Accuracy points 3/10

Football: Yes, football is played. But it’s not nearly as popular as ice hockey though. Accuracy points 7/10

B-ball: In the summer there’s always some guys shooting hoops in the park, but is it a national pastime? Not really. The Finnish Basketball Association has a cool logo though. And they released a nifty 7” in the 1970s. Accuracy points 5/10

Cycling: A stated earlier the city bike scheme is on hiatus, and cycle paths are far from perfect. But fingers crossed, in a few years this actually might be a Helsinki thing. Just not yet. Accuracy points 6/10  

Bowling: A fun way of getting drunk. And again, we like the Bowling Association’s logo. Maybe we should embrace bowling more? However, the accuracy points can be no more than 3/10. We’re sorry.

Running: Look, it’s not a city of Forrest Gumps. But at the same time it’s not unheard of for people to slowly jog around Töölönlahti. Accuracy points 7/10.

Total accuracy point average: 5/10

So there we have it: the Helsinki sweatshirt has some element of truth to it, but in essence it’s really a half-truth. But if you’re fine with that you can get it here.

The Block lamp is a nice piece of design, but does it come cheap? It does not. And really, why pay € 150 for something you could easily make yourself? We here at the Kasper Stromman Design Blog decided to give it a shot.

As a basis we used a plastic take-away container from our local Thai restaurant. Not only is this economical, but working on a full stomach also makes total sense.

The original Block lamp was designed in 1996 and uses a classic light bulb. We however decided to improve on the original design by putting in an energy saving light. Why? Because we, unlike some other manufacturers, love the earth. In fact other lamp manufacturers could really learn a thing or two from us here at the Kasper Stromman Design Blog.

The original Block lamp promises a “sensation of ice, light, heat and chill”, yet it’s basically a lightbulb encapsuled in a glass housing. We took it one step further by adding the sensation of moisture to the mix. That’s because we like to think outside the box. Unlike some other lamp manufacturers.

Yup, that’s a classic in the making.

Next we added the sensation of real sub-zero chill – not some pretend coldness made out of glass. Because that’s just how we like to keep things here at the Kasper Stromman Design Blog. Real.

And there we have it: an improved version of the original Block lamp.

Now, some naysayers out there might argue our Block light won’t work because it’s just a lightbulb in a block of ice. And they would be absolutely right in saying this.

But come on, spring is around the corner – it’s not like you really need a light for the next six months, do you?

And you could always buy the real thing in the autumn.

Leafing trough old  mail order catalogues is a great way to learn about eras long gone. Today we examine a fascinating vintage Hobby Hall catalogue dating from 2007.

The first impression we get from the cover is that people seemed to have a lot more time on their hands than they do today. Hence it was not uncommon for couples to just sit around and play “video games” all day long wearing “blue jeans”. Men were typically blond and chirpy while women were dark and mysterious. Pillows were made out of silver.

Yes, these were primitive times. After playing “the Playstation” for a while the male and the female would then look at each other, utter the words “let’s get changed into something more comfortable” and then slip into a kind of animal print bathrobe made out of polyester. This would bring out the animal attraction in them.

They would then proceed to mate on a “virtual savannah” (this time made out of cotton to avoid static electricity) and then go and play some more “playstation”.

The people of 2007 would have their own furniture made out of tubular steel and chipboard for their chunky television sets which were attached to the “Playstation”. Sometime they would abbreviate the word “television” to “TV” to save time – which was of course highly unnecessary since they had all the time in the world.

Chipboard would also be used to build intricate structures which function remains a mystery to this day. “CD towers” would however be integrated into these structures which might seem funny to us today, but was an absolute necessity in it’s day.

The people of 2007 would also keep “cats” and dogs” as “pets”. Owning a cat meant you had to build complex structures out of twine and fluffy polyester in order to keep your “cats” happy – otherways they might claw your eyes while you were sleeping.

“Dogs” were not trusted at all, so they were kept in steel cages.

You and I might keep our clothes on a shelf or in a cupboard, but this was not the case in 2007. Back then clothes were vacuum packed in plastic bags and stowed away under furniture. This practise was discontinued as late as 2010.

Some extremely forward thinking individuals also kept their clothes in big Tupperware boxes, but this practise didn’t really catch on until much later.

Beer was not widely available in 2007, so people used to brew their own. They also used to cook their own food at home.

Talking about food; isn’t it mind blowing to look into an refrigerator of 2007? People used to eat the darnest things like “eggs” and “juice”. And for dessert they might have a “frozen pizza”. Imagine that happening today!

With nothing else on their minds than rest, eat and wearing animal print clothing the people of 2007 would of course soon get offspring. It’s interesting to note how gender conscious they were though; girls would wear “Nice girl” sweaters while boys would claim to be part of the “Working boys construction crew”.

(The letter T would for some reason also be swithced for the number 7 in written text, possibly out of superstition.)

Also, instead of having beds available in several unisex colours they would have two strictly dedicated colours for male and female children. Buying the wrong colour appearantly meant bad luck for 7 years. (Sometimes written “T” years.)

These beds would then have bed linens with pictures of prostitutes and reptiles on them. The former were aimed as role models for female children, and latter for male.

But then we have to remember children growing up during this time could only hope to become two things when grown up; either a princess or a pirate. Naturally this was mirrored in the kind of backpacks they would choose.

Yes, the year 2007 sure was a funny time. But then we guess things have changed quite a bit since.

In 1994 the Finnish tobacco company Rettig was worried. Cigarette sales were going down, and the legal age limit for smoking was about to be raised from 16 to 18 the following year. This would most certainly be effecting sales even further.

Clearly something had to be done.

Rettig decided now was the time to seriously target the youth market, and YO cigarettes were born.

With artists like Snoop Dogg, Notorious B.I.G and Nas dominating the charts, the marketing people at Rettig had noticed this thing called “hip hop” was clearly something that appealed to the kids. They therefore quickly created their own version of what was supposed to represent “cool graffiti” packaging (designed by Tapsa Rantanen?).

It’s worth noticing that the packets contained 18 cigarettes instead of the usual 20, thus keeping the price at a more child friendly level.

Sadly the boring Finnish authorities disagreed with this marketing tactic, and the packaging had to be replaced with a more toned down version within a few months. The new sober look wasn’t a big seller, and YO cigarettes were discontinued in 1995.

The following year Nas released the track Can’t forget about you.

Coincidence?

We think not.

Simo Riikonen is widely considered Finland’s premier airbrush artist, and pretty much airbrushes everything that moves. And hey, if it doesn’t move he airbrushes it until it does. Here’s a selection of his artwork.

Mr. Riikonen has been in business since the 1970s, and has to date produced over a 1000 custom painted vehicles and portraits.

Trucks are naturally heavily represented in his body of work.

If you happen to spot a truck with some rad dolphins painted on, chances are pretty good you are looking at an original Riikonen.

There’s no shortage of nude women in Riikonen’s oeuvre – or sunsets – both beeing trucker favourites.

We spotted this forgotten gem of a ‘91 Mazda for sale on nettiauto.com (artwork: White Dream by Simo Riikonen), but sadly it had already been sold.

The Kasper Stromman Design Blog favourite though is “Hot Emma”. But then we have never been able to resist the combination of dry ice smoke, mythological creatures and 80s vintage trucks.

Keep on truckin’, Simo!

If you want to see people with a lot of spare time on their hands enjoy themselves a beer or fourteen, the stairs opposite Helsinginkadun Alko is a great place. Here’s a street fashion shoot we did last summer:

Pena, 38

”I try to dress comfortably in clothes that I can pass out in. At the moment I’m wearing Cheap Monday jeans with a fun 90’s cut and a random polo shirt for that careless look.
Alcohol inspires me at the moment.” 

Tupsu, 32

“I only shop online these days. Today I’m wearing a leather jacket from asos.com, Acne boots and Diesel chinos. I’d like to find somewhere to sleep for the night.
In the autumn I’m thinking about getting more into drugs than alcohol.”

Mara, 59

”My trousers are Armani, trainers by New Balance and the track suit jacket is vintage.
Later today I’m going to get my stomach pumped.”

One of the most trivial structures you could visit in Helsinki is the Opastinsilta bridge of Pasila. We’re basically talking a little footbridge over a not-so-busy road here, so it’s something you rarely see on a postcard of Helsinki.

So yes, quite mundane. But there actually is one fun fact about this little bridge. Are you ready?

Opastinsilta is actually not one bridge, but rather consists of two parallell bridges! Awesome, huh? 

No wait, that actually makes Opastinsilta twice as boring.

Anyway, visit if you feel like it. It’s kind of close to the amusement park (but not really).

Design by Harri Manner, 1969.

Here’s your chance to snap up a house designed by Alvar Aalto (at least according to the estate agent) for a mere € 59,000. Oh, and we hope you don’t mind living in Imatra.

Interior design apparently not by Mr. Aalto.

Although you sort of wish the interior would come with the house, don’t you?

http://asunnot.oikotie.fi/myytavat-asunnot/6049026 for more info.

There was a time when a mobile phone was the hottest thing you could design. This was in 1996. And this was also the year the now defunct Muoto magazine organized a competition to come up with new concepts for mobile phones – sponsored by Nokia of course.

Believe it or not, but out of 1614 entries this was the third best idea how to jazz up a phone fifteen years ago. It earned Mikko Nilsson a cool 1000 mk.

The second prize went to Petri Timonen who designed the oval weirdness on the right, probably while humming on the X-Files theme tune.

So how about first prize then? Disappointingly a pretty normal looking affair where you attach different coloured pieces of plastic to the perforated surcace of a standard Nokia 2110 phone. Okay. Congratulations anyway, Mikko Oksanen.

But wait – Mikko Oksanen also got third runner up prize for his series of phones on the bottom of the following page.

”I’m gonna be all over these phones, like Ross is over Rachel”, he thought to himself (we imagine).“Whoomp – there it is.”

Oscu Uusimaa and Muffe Halla-Aho did also get a mention. Oscu and Muffe?

We here at the Kasper Stromman Design Blog don’t think any of these ideas ever went into production, but good ideas never get old, right?

Maybe now would be the time to improve your Lumia? 

(We here at the Kasper Stromman Design Blog would like to thank Jussi Takkinen, for sending us these photos – you can tell there’s a reason why he is the Kasper Stromman Design Blog designer of the month.)

The Kasper Stromman Design Blog record of the month is Lauluja Seuraihmisille, a record published by Seura magazine in 1979. It’s a compilation of “the most fun songs in the nation” and was presumable available through the magazine at the time, or even given away to subscribers?

The cover is a mishmash of what we suspect could be stills from a TV spot or ad campaign for the magazine. Just look at these seventies hipsters.

The title track – Seuraihminen by Erkki Liikanen – is a mock country and western song about the joys of reading Seura magazine. Which is something you can do in front of a floating news stand.  Just look at this love connection.

However, since the title track is such a stinker we are posting track 5 instead, Tekoneekeri Koikkalainen. It’s also performed by Erkki Liikanen, but goes on about mittens and “fake negroes” and we do not seriously know what’s going on. Yes, we do get that it is supposed to be very funny, but dunno about that.

The concept of humour has certainly changed since 1979.

Itä-Pasila of Helsinki represents a very classic Finnish style of suburban architecture. Built between 1974 and 1978 the houses are very true to the era when concrete was king.

The architecture is what you would call sparse. And probably really easy to recreate out of Lego bricks.

Yup, that was easy.

But two things differentiate Itä-Pasila from your standard suburb. The first one is levels. You see, the whole area is actually an interesting architectural experiment where cars drive on ground level and all the houses and pedestrian walkways are elevated to another. This theoretically makes for a nice and safe strolling environment.

The other one is location: Itä-Pasila is not actually that far from the city centre, and if you need to go places you could do worse than live next to the country’s busiest railway hub.

But after a certain amount of years all things in life start to deteriorate, Itä-Pasila being no exception. That’s why this particular area hasn’t exactly been considered an upmarket location in recent years.

So clearly places need to be fixed up. Maybe brought up to modern standards? Glaze some balconies and paint the concrete a tasteful beige instead of those garish 70s colours?

But you see, here’s where the good people of Itä-Pasila has thought differently. Of course we won’t try to turn these buildings into those anonymous houses built in the last ten years! Instead we will celebrate the original architecture and re-paint the houses in the glorious, bold colours of the 1970s!

Okay – so they threw in some glazed balconies for comfort – but see how the luminous red colour accentuates the concrete that has made our part of town possible! You know, the stuff dreams are made of!

And we have also recreated the public artwork of yesteryear! Howard Smith’s Pasila Parade (1974/2008) has never looked more magnificent!

No, seriously, look at it! Don’t you feel the joie de vivre that it radiates?

So clearly this has been a very inspired move, and we here at the Kasper Stromman Design Blog would like to urge everyone to have a walk around the area – along the safe, elevated walkways of course. 

But would we here at the Kasper Stromman Design Blog ever move here?

Of course not. Don’t be silly.

A while ago we here at the Kasper Stromman Design Blog announced that we were looking for a beer sponsor. Then we announced it again. We still have no beer sponsor.

That’s okay though. We understand that a beer sponsorship is something that can’t just be thrown at you – at least not in tough economic times like these – it has to be earned.

That’s why we have been crisscrossing town lately, taking some tasty black and white photographs of beer in the urban landscape.

Beer is so much more than a malty brew. It’s a metaphor for life, death and everything in between. Beer is love. But a case of beer can also be like your heart: it can be ripped open and discarded in the grim brownish snow.

Now the beer is abandoned and trampled by the hundreds of people going about their daily grind. But what if you were to stop and listen to what this empty cardboard shell had to tell you? What would it say?  

“I’m just an empty can of beer, don’t cry for me. Because I’m already dead.”

See? Instead of slapping your logo on a hockey jersey we make art out of your brand of beer when you sponsor us.

Now, seriously, don’t hesitate to contact us on contact@kasperstromman.com.

Internet dating sites are still growing in popularity. Here’s the top 3 from a design perspective:

3. Avecci – “Riding a motorcycle is sensual”

A dating site for motorcycle riders only. Illustrated by airbrushed, trouserless, one-handed woman riding a futuristic scooter into the sunset. Nice.

2. Suomideitti.fi – “Find company for free”

The free aspect is something this website can’t emphasize enough. Front page shows middle aged man sipping on boxed wine while doing some drunk lady-browsing, all while a gentle sea breeze ruffles his hair. He also signed up for free.

Judging from the ring on his finger he is also married – but love can overcome obstacles like that.

1. E-kontakti.fi – “Finland’s biggest dating site”

This one advertises heavily on Facebook. The couple on the front page may not be lookers in the traditional sense, but then Niina and Arto need love too. Are you seriously telling us they don’t deserve it?

Then you frankly are a monster.

Today we review the SOK mail order catalogue dating from 1960. The cover is summery in an eternal way. We like that.

The summery feel continues inside. The summer of 1960 seems to have been all about colour and shaping the female body into an unnatural shape.

But only the female models. For male models the most important characteristic was the ability to smoke a pipe at all times. Doesn’t it add an air of sophistication?

“Yes, I’m wearing pajamas, and yes, I will smoke this pipe in bed. My motto has always ‘what would Hugh Hefner do?’”

Guy with nervous smile: “But guys! I forgot my pipe at home!” 
“Doesn’t matter, just grab your glasses! As long as you hold something you’ll be alright.” 

Sport nerd: “But guys, I need my glasses to see, I can’t be holding them!”
“That’s fine, then just hold your shoe. Just remember: as long as you hold something you’ll be fine.”

By the way, men and women never seem to meet in this catalogue. Here are some ladies hanging out by a brick wall.

And here’s some fellas out in nature, holding stuff in their hands like there’s no tomorrow.

Sometimes the guys will also wear leather and hold their hand in their pocket. Nice trousers, dude in the middle,  what are those, padded knees?

The summer of ‘60 was also the summer of the hat. Cool photoshopping on the gentleman in the middle, definetely adds an air of mystery.

Work wear was also already around in the 1960’s. These gentlemen’s professions from left to right: IT specialist, key account manager, stock broker, artesan, unemployed and scientist. Didn’t realize they was an uniform for uneployment in the 60’s.

(Russian accent) “Are you the Sparrow from Minsk?”
“Minsk? No, I’m just into beige coloured trench coats and smoking cigarettes”
“Oh. Never mind then. Er, here’s a light and if you could ignore that sparrow business, that would be great.”

But let’s not forget the children. The kid on the right looks like he could easily put out a fire in a nuclear reactor. And he’d be up for it as well. 

But of course you could order so much more than clothes. Like a bag. Don’t get it though why you would want to buy a bag that says “Finnair”? Isn’t that something you should get for free when flying?

Retro cameras also seemed to be in fashion. People were really in to that “Hipstamatic” vibe back in the day.

Or why not get some coffee? Of course you buy your coffee via mail order, how else?

These toys are great, but why do the three on the bottow row look absolutely terrified?

The intellectual pipe smoking home also needs a bookshelf for your five to six books. And if you need to name a bookshelf, why not call it Jorma?

We never got the idea of that hanging Boyesen monkey though.

This kitchen is just great. And painting just one drawer black is even more fascinating. What’s in the black drawer? Something sinister?

But hey, if you feel like ordering something out of this catalogue, you should know it expired in September 1960.

Sorry!

The Kasper Stromman Design Blog favourite object right now is this DIY smart phone speaker by Jussi Takkinen, which he presumably invented while sitting on the toilet.

Legend has it he was out of toilet paper and had to come up with this invention just to be able to announce it to the world.

We have no idea if it works, but it looks professional enough. And that’s why Jussi is the first Kasper Stromman Design blog designer of the Month.

Congratulations, Jussi!

www.jussitakkinen.com

Yesterday we recieved a letter here at the Kasper Stromman Design Blog worldwide headquarters:

Dear Mr Stromman!

As friends of Finland we’ve been thinking: could you redesign the Finnish flag so it would become more fashionable? The blue cross is nice and all, but does it reflect modern day values? It does not, we say.

Love,
Lilja and Anja,
Ikaalinen

Lilja and Anja are only too right of course – the flag of Finland is hopelessly outdated.

And that’s why we here at the Kasper Stromman Design Blog are proud to present you the new Finnish flag:

If we may say so ourselves it’s pretty damn good. If not perfect.

As an inspiration we used the 1980s when people with delusions of grandeur commonly used to refer to Finland as “the Japan of the North”. Ha ha. Japan of the North. However, we feel now the time is ripe to reclaim this concept.

And no need for thanking us, we did this for our country.

Like the goddamned patriots that we are.