Unikko, Blooming Brightly At 50

That Finland’s most recognizable visual mark need to be an exuberantly colorful illustration of a poppy is an irony not lost on admirers of Nordic style. The elegant restraint that’s come to define northern Europe’s aesthetic tradition is, in some approaches, the antithesis of the vibrant gestural motifs made renowned by what is, arguably, Finland’s greatest-identified brand, Marimekko.

The miracle of Maija Isola’s omnipresent Unikko pattern—Unikko is the Finnish translation of poppy—created for Marimekko back in 1964, is that it wasn’t supposed to have existed in the first location. The oft-cited story is that Isola, a prolific artist and textile designer, would have none of the business’s no-flowers policy, and defiantly went ahead with her strategy for a bright red stylized poppy.  But not even the robust-willed Isola could have imagined her Unikko, an unqualified hit in the psychedelic 60′s, moving into the 21st century as the de facto visual identity for Marimekko, and, in some measure, for Finland itself.

Any image with the lasting appeal to grace both a coffee mug and the physique of an airplane can safely be labeled an icon—and we’re satisfied to see that Unikko, which turns 50 next year, hasn’t lost 1 bit of its youthful blush.

Pictures: Marimekko