Monday, August 11, 2014

Teollista muotoilua / Industrial Design

Teollista muotoilua. The Structure of the Matter. An illustration model for the Industrial Design exhibition (1957). Designmuseo.
Teollinen muotoilu / Industriell formgivning. FI 1958. PC: Allotria Filmi Oy. D+SC+DP+ED: Wallu Virtanen (Jukka Virtanen), Jukka-Pekka Kinnunen. Advisor: Ilmari Tapiovaara. 35 mm, black and white, 1,33:1, optical sound. VET A-8084 - 205 m / 8 min
    Three ballerinas, students of the Taideteollisuuskeskuskoulu / Finnish School of Art and Design participated, Kirsi Koskelo, Orvokki Niiniranta, Kielo Louhivaara.
    Producer: Erik Blomberg [CEO of Allotria Filmi].
    Ilmari Tapiovaara contributed a general vision and a lot of detail attention to the set-ups.
    The music: a vibraphone and percussions by Rainer Kuisma [percussion virtuoso at Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra].
    [Jukka-Pekka Kinnunen was the cinematographer at Allotria Filmi. He then moved to Gothenburg where he became a television manager].
    [Sound: at Filmiääni / Evan Englund. Sound mixer: Aarre Elo. tbc]
    [Jukka Virtanen: "I edited the film with an experienced editor from Yle".]
    [Yrjö Kukkapuro participated in the mounting of the exhibition, including the giant egg and the cell structure. Also Liisi Tandefelt participated.]
    A KAVI reference vhs videotape viewed at home, 11 August 2014.
    This film is also on display at the Ilmari Tapiovaara Centenary exhibition at the Design Museum (Helsinki). 

An experimental film, a promotion film, an exhibition film, an Ilmari Tapiovaara commercial, an animation.

Ilmari Tapiovaara had a strong background in the experimental cinema of the 1920s and the 1930s, conveyed via Alvar Aalto, his brother Nyrki Tapiovaara, and the Projektio Film Society, reflecting the Bauhaus inspiration.

Ilmari Tapiovaara always emphasized the significance of good photography in the presentation of his designs. The same care is evident in this short film.

The Bauhaus inspiration is still in evidence in the typography: no capital letters.
    Visually this is witty, stark, and uncluttered. Objects often appear on black background.

A playful study in form and design.
    The film starts with natural forms and organic structures - such as cells and honeycombs.
    We see little eggs, big eggs, eyes, abstract curves.
    "The structure of the matter" was a central concept and exhibit in the Teollinen muoto / Industrial Form exhibition (1957) on which this film is based.
    How a bookshelf emerges from components.
    The Domus chair.
    "The stackability" of chairs piled on top of each other ad infinitum.
    Spinning tops, lamps.
    Three good fairies, beautiful ballerinas, lead us on our journey through natural forms and designed forms inspired by them. They also evoke legendary cat ladies of the cinema: Protéa (Josette Andriot), Irma Vep (Musidora), and Catwoman.
    This film documents the Annikki and Ilmari Tapiovaara design of the 1950s, before their turn to High Modernism in the 1960s.

P.S. 21 Aug 2014 Design Museum, Night of the Arts (the Ilmari Tapiovaara exhibition), at 19-20, a special event about "Teollista muotoilua / Industrial Design". Jukka Virtanen had been invited, but he did not arrive. Instead, his greeting was delivered by Hanna Seppänen. - The moderator was Leena Svinhufvud. - Yrjö Kukkapuro reminisced how the exhibition was mounted, and the production of the giant egg at the art school. Ilmari Tapiovaara was a teacher who radiated great enthusiasm to everybody. Kukkapuro learned a lot from him, and this exhibition was an inspiration for many exhibitions of his own. - Kirsi Koskelo became an interior architect. She remembered that "the three graces" received tailor-made tights for their participation. It was a fun experience which she had entirely forgotten, and she had not even known whether the film was ever finished until this Ilmari Tapiovaara exhibition. She had been Ilmari Tapiovaara's student and having finished her studies she worked at Ilmari Tapiovaara's office for a while. - I talked about Allotria Filmi, Erik Blomberg, Mirjami Kuosmanen, Jukka Virtanen, Nyrki Tapiovaara, Projektio, Alvar Aalto, and the Bauhaus background of inspiration for the interplay of cinema and architecture.
Teollista muotoilua. Jukka Virtanen, Ilmari Tapiovaara. Designmuseo.
Teollista muotoilua. Kirsi Koskelo. Designmuseo.
Teollista muotoilua. Ilmari Tapiovaara doing Kirsi Koskelo's makeup. Designmuseo.

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