29 August – 26 September 2012
Pekka of Finland - Contemporary Illustration
from the Land of Booze and Blondes
Snickarbacken 4, Stockholm

"Finland has been known for its designers in the past, and to be honest we're still riding the fame of the Scandinavian design legends, such as Alvar Aalto, Eero Aarnio, Tapio Wirkkala, and Eero Saarinen.

Grafia, the Association of Professional Graphic Designers in Finland, conferred the title of the Graphic Designer of the Year 2011 on Agent Pekka. This inspired the Finnish Cultural Institute for the Benelux, design agency Werklig,

Agent Pekka and designer Lauri Johansson to join forces and take Pekka's illustrators on tour around Europe.

Everyone has been waiting for a new wave of Finnish designers to come and continue the legacy.
Yet, […] we haven't seen any big international breakthroughs, but perhaps we've been looking into a wrong direction. There's now a new school of illustrators and graphic designers that are making a name for Finland internationally.

The exhibition brings forth ten of the top international illustrators from Agent Pekka's team: Lotta Nieminen, Inka Järvinen, Sanna Mander, Rami Niemi, Janine Rewell, Pietari Posti, Minni Havas, Sac Magique, Santtu Mustonen and Antti Uotila. In addition to the illustrators' work the exhibiton features a "pop up shop" where visitors can purchase other works by the artists.

Interestingly, where Scandinavian products and furniture design was clean and simple, the new illustrator school goes all out with colors, shapes, and boldness of interpretation – and they haven't gone unnoticed."

Quotes: entrepreneur & specialist Sami Salmenkivi's blog, May 2010

The exhibition is part of World Design Capital Helsinki 2012.