Maija Isola

Maija Isola
At work, sitting cross-legged, paintbrush and paintpot in hand
Born(1927-03-15)15 March 1927
Arolammi,[1] Riihimäki, Finland
Died3 March 2001(2001-03-03) (aged 73)
Riihimäki
NationalityFinnish
OccupationTextile designer
Known forUnikko and other Marimekko patterns
Spouses
  • Georg Leander
  • Jaakko Somersalo
  • Jorma Tissari

Maija Sofia Isola (15 March 1927 – 3 March 2001) was a Finnish designer of printed textiles, and the creator of over 500 patterns, including Unikko ("Poppy"). The bold, colourful prints she created as the head designer of Marimekko made the Finnish company famous in the 1960s. She also had a successful career as a visual artist.[2]

Undisputedly the most famous textile designer... at Marimekko[3]

Isola exhibited across Europe, including at the Brussels World Fair and the Milan Triennale, and in the USA. Retrospectives of her work have been held at the Design Museum in Helsinki, the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, the Design Museum, Copenhagen, the Slovene Ethnographic Museum, Ljubljana, and the Minneapolis Institute of Arts. Products featuring her prints are still being sold at Marimekko.

She lived and worked in Finland for most of her life in, but spent some years in France, Algeria and the United States. She was married three times. Her daughter, Kristina Isola, also became a Marimekko designer, collaborating with her mother for some time. Her granddaughter, Emma, also designs for the company.

  1. ^ Shimatsuka 2012, p. 18.
  2. ^ "Maija Isola". Marimekko. Archived from the original on 16 March 2010. Retrieved 5 March 2010.
  3. ^ "FinnStyle:Maija Isola". Finnish Designers: Maija Isola. FinnStyle. Retrieved October 18, 2011.