My Year Online

Despite being the home of Marimekko, Iittala, Artek and more, Helsinki seemed to have a sizeable population wearing white socks and sandals, quite often in combination. Luckily, the Design District and its black-clad inhabitants came to the rescue.

Consisting of a grid of about 20 streets, the district is filled with little shops selling clothes, home items and art with fun, interesting and original designs. My loot? Porcelain spoons to match a pair of espresso cups we have, a happy find as I had not previously known they existed… and a roll of black toilet paper. It just won’t do to have your outfit and your loo roll clash, you know.

Who is kiasu enough to seek out the Iittala Factory Outlet while in Helsinki? Me! Anyone else who fancies some Finnish design in their home for (slightly) reduced prices can hop on Tram 6 or 8 to the north end of the line to visit the Arabia/Iittala Factory Outlet.

While not as large (or as cheap) as you might imagine, by shopping carefully and choosing between end of line items and seconds, there are some good bardgains to be had. Now, a coffee cup with an orange sleeve lives on both my and Mr. Snow’s desks at work, and three special people each have a Savoy candle holder coming their way soon.

About the iconic wavy shape, the website says, ‘Alvar Aalto created the Aalto vase in various shapes, sizes and colors for Iittala and the World Fair in Paris in 1937. Supposedly, it is based on sketches made with the intriguing pseudonym “The Eskimo Woman’s Leather Breeches”, but Alvar Aalto was the son of a cartographer – perhaps the shapes are derived from the Finnish landscape and lakes.’ So now you know.

Last weekend we spent 3 days visiting Mr. Professor, Mrs. Professor and the very cute Baby Professor. While looking up directions to their home, I realized they live just several minutes walk both from the house and studio of Finnish design godfather Alvar Aalto. We walked past the former on one of our evening strolls, but the gods (and opening hours) conspired against a visit.

I had learnt a lot about him and became a fan after visiting this exhibition in London last year. The buildings he drew clearly belong to a particular era, but comparnig these to what was more usually being built at the time emphasizes his vision. Most impressive to me was the hospital in Paimio, where he designed not just the structure and sunning balconies, but also many details down to patient beds, ergonomic door handles, cupboards and even anti-splash sinks.

All was not lost as we did trundle past his Finlandia Hall several times on the tram to and from town. As for visiting his house proper, well, we’ll just have to force ourselves to come back!

1. There is one lake for approximately every 28 people.

2. Nokia is a place.

3. Gloves are suitable attire for May.

4. Shops close for Mothers Day.

5. You can buy your tram ticket by SMS.

We gave the day the duration of this film and a couple of bike repairs to dry up, and dry up it did. So instead of a May Day march we went for an Opera roof wander. A great idea! Giant slabs of white marble sloped back and forth leading skywards. Once at the top, despite the metal-grey sky, the high clouds gave us a good view over the city and both up and down the Oslo fjord.

The monotony of the white roof surface was broken up randomly by little steps and edges (though Bobby the Preacher did trip over one, so watch your step!). And Mr. Snow is already planning to race up and down next winter on cross country skis (he’s not Mr. Snow for nothing after all).

The one feature that few have been talking about and which made the building for me was the warm cylindrical Baltic oak core which houses the concert hall proper, encased in glass and marble. Speaking of which, yes, some of the latter was sadly very yellow indeed.

The programme seems more inclusive than the name an Opera would suggest, with both modern dance and concerts by PJ Harvey and Norwegian rock band Seigmen on the menu in the coming months. Finally, the champagne bar and restaurant in the main lobby don’t seem exceptionally overpriced for Oslo, where the latter has a great view next to the water. Reader, I approve!

If any of you are as Googled up as me, you might be excited (or at least mildly interested) to know that a whole new range of artist-designed skins is now available for iGoogle, including some highly funky Japanese and Korean (born) artists and designers. If nothing else, it’s a good way to learn more about some new artists and to add a splash of colour to your (online) life. Akira Isogawa’s my man right now!

You could also browse the virtual museum of artists’ iGoogle creations at this Japanese iGoogle museum.

After our wash-out May Day, the sun came out and now it seems like it lives here all the time, rising as it does at at 5 am and getting dark only after 10 pm. The grey and wet seem long gone, though it was only a couple of weekends ago when Mr. Snow’s dad came down to DIY-blitz our flat. He got through flurry of odd-jobs, from mounting a toilet roll holder and sorting our tv cables out to installing a dishwasher and fixing the shower so that unsuspecting babies don’t spontaneously take showers.

To say thank you I booked us a table at Elvebredden that Saturday night, speaking in English as I was being lazy (I promise there’s a point to this!). The restaurant occupies a prime riverside spot in the former transformer station which now also houses the DogA, or the Norwegian Centre for Design and Architecture. Unfortunately the aforementioned wet and rain didn’t invite outside dining, but both the staff and the interior were warm and inviting. The industrial cement interior could have been cold but the good island lighting, well thought of windows and funky chairs created a cosy dining feel. The window sills were also lined with magazines and publications of the DogA for browsing should your dining companions’ conversation be wanting!

Not only had they made a note of my reservation made in English so that they switched languages as soon as I gave my name, but (claimed they) had translated and printed out the daily and usual menus and placed them in a special Norwegian-free folder for me.

I don’t know if that was true but I was glad of it given some of the dishes, such as kid risotto and salsify puree. We started with duck carpaccio with foie gras, moved on to scallops with asparagus (a very close competitor of Matfinken for the tastiest I have had), then the kid risotto before ending with a glorious white and dark chocolate dessert with berry sauce. All of these were perfectly executed, every mouthful a delight, with attentive, but informal service.

I think we may have found a new favourite restaurant!

A complete wash out of a May Day meant a very nice breakfast with friends, a slightly damp walk in the park, followed by a quick retreat home to watch this film on DVD. Bobby the Preacher was visiting, and a very nice afternoon it turned out to be too.

As to the book-vs.-film debate, I would say that although the film managed to build up the atmosphere, that from the book was stronger, though admittedly McCarthy had a whole 423 pages to create the layers, as opposed to 122 visual minutes for the film. The overall message of the book was also much darker and apocalyptic than the film (you’ll have to read it yourself to see why and how).

Finally, our worst fears about Anton Chigurh were confirmed: hair or otherwise, he is absolutely, definitely, the most frightening person any of us has seen for a long time.

My journey to this book was a long one. I followed the paper trail for almost two years from this article all the way to the comic book library. The build-up of Alison Bechdel’s story is subtle, but a disturbing and sad undertone runs through it.

I won’t spill any more beans than to say that her father killed himself just weeks after she came out to her parents as being lesbian, but that quick synopsis barely does justice to her story and this beautiful book. The literary thread and references became a little too much for me towards the end, but the bookworms amongst you may really enjoy it. Tell me if you get to read it!

It’s a little more than a month since I was here. It feels like I am miles away, yet at the same time I left a little piece of myself there, so at the back of my mind I’m always there. Not only the swimming in the sea while eating getes, but the seafood barbeque afterwards and strolling back over the walkway with the waves lapping gently alongside. As I believe someone once said, I’ll be back. And hopefully bring Mr. Snow with me too!