Skip to main content

Arty Places #7 2012

A funny thing happened on the way to the laundromat   I discovered another arty place  - BSW OY ( Birch Sewer) in Helsinki, Finland. .
from a magazine article 
On 5 June, it was a wet, fairly cold and grey Tuesday and we had lots of dirty clothes and the unthinkable prospect of another week of  wearing "smelly" clothes before we reached our friend’s home in Oulu.  Determined to locate a laundromat (about a 25 minute walk from our hotel)  we started off with a map, and found some wonderful little streets with quaint shops, formidable buildings and a Swedish designed Gothic revival  Church!
One of the shops I spotted was worth further investigation, once I saw the sewing symbols and the beautiful cheerful orange pansies in the window boxes. I boldly entered and then realised that I couldn’t even pretend to be a customer, as this was a dressmaker’s studio for custom made clothing. But not just any dressmaker! The delightful , talented and exuberant Annu Koivumaki, the owner of the BSW, made me feel very welcome and in a moment, it felt as if we had been friends for years!
Annu is the creative genius of BSW, and has a reputation for making anything wearable that a client wants – from the traditional to the absurd, theatrical to commercial,  babies to adults…There were beautiful and exotic evening dresses, a silver merman's outfit, a little Snow White dress,  Western (cowboy) wedding outfits for a bride and groom.... 
I felt very privileged to be invited into the work rooms at the back of the shop front reception to see Annu’s valued button collection and to meet her also talented and friendly staff. We had a wonderful time sharing photos of our textile art. 
This was one of the highlights of our short stay in Helsinki – thank you Annu for sharing your special “arty” place with me. Please check out more photos at the BSW website. When you are next in Helsinki, please drop in and say hello to Annu. at BSW, Ratakatu 5, 00120 Helsinki.


 (By the way, St John's Church nearby is also worth a visit.  In Ullanlinna, St John's  is  the largest Finnish Lutheran Church with a seating capacity of 2,600, built  in Gothic revival style in the late 1800s with 74 metre twin spires. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._John's_Church,_Helsinki) 

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Thanks for reading my blog and please share your thoughts about my blog post by leaving a comment.Your comment won't appear immediately as comments are verified before publication in an effort to reduce the amount of spam appearing. Anonymous comments will not be published.

Popular posts from this blog

Christmas Countdown 15 : Christmas Tree #11 - Disposable

Plastic cups  https://littlebinsforlittlehands.com/christmas-stem-ideas-kids/ Advent Blog : Day 11 - Disposable  We are all so much more conscious about ridding our landfills and oceans of plastic waste. For Christmas, here is a way to use up some of those disposable items which seem to multiply at holiday parties and celebrations, or perhaps you have just been saving them up for a creative use.... Who would have thought coffee pods would make such stylish Christmas trees ? ... Add caption If you don't have one of those machines, then perhaps you have coffee on the run - Starbucks or Nescafe ?  from  https://www.pinterest.com.au/pin/369858188126737920/ Nescafe cups https://www.pinterest.com.au/pin/72761350208620530/ The disposable cups don' t have to be brand names to work well as materials for Christmas trees. Taking an engineering approach to plastic cup trees seems to be the answer for a more ornate result.  from  https://www.pinterest.com.au/pin
1 comment
Read more

Countdown to Christmas 20 - Fruitcake song!

There are many songs about fruit cakes  - not all of them referring to the Christmas cake we know and love.It is really surprising to learn via Google that there are 89 listed songs with references to Christmas cake or fruit cake - not all of them complimentary.   Probably one of the most famous folk songs about Christmas cake is Miss Fogarty's  Christmas Cake (a favourite sung by The Irish Rovers).  This first recorded comical Christmas song was written by C Frank Horn in 1883 in Pennsylania, as a variation of an Irish folk song, 'Miss Mulligan's Christmas Cake' . The chorus might give you the hint that Miss Fogarty's cake was not for the faint hearted or those who suffered from a weak stomach.    Chorus : There were plums and prunes and cherries, There were citrons and raisins and cinnamon, too There was nutmeg, cloves and berries And a crust that was nailed on with glue There were caraway seeds in abundance Such that work up
Post a Comment
Read more

Fish and Sticks : Art Dolls

This week I've been working on fish and sticks ....  The sticks are the message stick art dolls which were very popular, attracting some attention and a few orders at the Wise Women exhibition. Each of the message stick dolls are from the Wise Women series, each with her own personality and  message of wisdom, handwritten on a handmade timber tag. I gather the sticks during my walks around my neighbourhood and the tags are made from special bits of timber, some collected by me or  my husband or from off cuts gifted to us  from another doll making friend whose husband makes bagpipes. These dolls start off very simply with a wrap around a stick, in the general shape of a body. 'Naked" message stick dolls - strips of wadding wrapped around found sticks.   Then I usually wrap other layers of fabric, wool, and/or fibres, over which I do some simple embroidery. I sculpt  or mould small face masks for these dolls. I really like using "sari ribbon" as wrapping str
3 comments
Read more