Finland is a tiny country in the most northern corner of Europe – in fact, along with Iceland it is the only country located almost completely north of the 60th latitude. It’s five and half million inhabitants could easily fit into one of the suburbs of New York or Shanghai. But who said that a small country can not make a huge impact? Did you for example know that Finland has the most heavy metal bands per capita in the world? This might have something to do with their dark winters that can get people quite depressive at times however let’s try to focus on the positives here.. Finland also happens to be the country with the heaviest coffee consumption in the world, so in case you were trying to compete with your 2 Starbucks cups a day.. TRY HARDER. While the annual world average of coffee consumption is 1.3 kg per person, the average Finnish person likes to indulge plenty of cups per day to consume 12 kg of coffee per year. The harsh winter is not so harsh when you are constantly high on caffeine..
And with all that buzz I have to inform you that besides from having an extreme coffee drinking community and functioning as a heavy metal band factory, Finland is much more than that. For a fact – it turns out that the Finnish have an extremely great taste for design and fashion. As there are a lot of great brands that found the spotlight coming out of the Scandinavian corner such as fashion labels Designer remix and By Malene Birger, I have recently discovered my biggest Scandinavian gem – MARIMEKKO!
Marimekko is a Finnish design company renowned for its original prints and colours. The company’s product portfolio includes high-quality clothing, bags and accessories as well as home décor items ranging from textiles to tableware. When Marimekko was founded in 1951, its unparalleled printed fabrics gave it a strong and unique identity. Marimekko products are currently sold in about 40 countries, and luckily Dubai is one of them! Last night Marimekko invited me and a small selection of Dubai finest ladies for an intimate secret dinner to discover their prints, table wear, clothes and fabrics.
