Souvenirs From Helsinki

I travel a lot but I’m normally pretty fussy about souvenirs and bringing stuff home (unless it’s the US, because exchange rates). But, like Japan last year, Helsinki was somewhere I’d wanted to go for a long time and somewhere I knew I’d want to get some souvenirs. I pictured Finnish design shops, vintage homewares from flea markets and Moomin merchandise. As you’ll see, I wasn’t disappointed! I took an extra €100 on top of what I’d already budgeted which covered basically everything pictured here.

VINTAGE CLOTHES

Oversize, patterned vintage shirts are a constant in my wardrobe: I can wear them for literally all kinds of work, through the year – formal, casual, whatever! I love these two floral ones. The stripy square t-shirt was just €3 and seemed very Helsinki, whilst this denim skirt has barely left my waist. I’ve packed away the stripy polo neck for now until the colder months: a holiday souvenir to last through the year.

DESIGN

We were staying in the design district and naturally bought back half the local shops (aside from the gold hair slides which came from Monki – a brand most of you have already heard of I’m sure)! We used an A5 sketchbook as a scrapbook for our Helsinki trip, and I bought this house print one and the New York card for some of the future trips we have planned. The Ullanlinna and Helsinki postcards are both framed and on display now as souvenirs!

Marimekko is probably the most famous Finnish design company and I knew before going I wanted some kind of souvenir – preferably vintage. I ended up bringing back this gorgeous tray with the signature red floral print and two washcloths from the flagship store, plus this pear print handkerchief I found in a vintage shop. They’re such bright and joyful designs! The three rolls of paper have been used to line my shelves; I love souvenirs like this as you see/use them every day and they’re also cheap and easy to pack. Win, win, win.

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FLOWER CROWN AND POSTCARDS

There’s a bit of a (soppy holiday) story here – I spotted the flower crown in a vintage shop in Ullanlinna and fell in love. Grecian style! Small leaves! Blue, the colour I associate with Helsinki!!!!! But as I already have a wall of vintage crowns and tiaras that rarely get worn offstage, I left it where I was and instead proceeded to talk wistfully about how pretty it was for the rest of the day. I obviously prattled on enough because CB swooped into action, snuck off the next day in secret, and then proudly presented me with the crown on our way to the airport as a slightly belated anniversary present just as I was lamenting the fact I hadn’t gone back to get it. That’s a great gift, right?

I’d already bought these two postcards of my hero Tove by that point; the one of her in the flower crown (on her island) is a really famous image, and I also love the one of her in her studio space surrounded by work – I just think it’s such an inspiring photo.

MOOMIN MERCH

Of course I bought home all of the Moomin stuff! You may have seen my previous post sharing all my Moomin belongings or Moomin skirt: the collection has basically doubled since. My main rule with collecting or buying new things is it needs to be “useful”, which for me means either a practical use around the home or food. So here first is the kitchen/home stuff…

I bought these two mugs and a coaster (I already owned a mug and a coaster and I reckon this is about as big as my collection will be) then these two clips with Moominmamma and Moominpappa. I have no idea what they’re for but we’ve used them for hanging up towels? Also: a wooden coffee peg to keep our coffee fresh, this.. pan-lid… propper-upper?… which will revolutionise my cooking, and a microfibre cloth. As a glasses-wearer I am convinced you can never have too many of these – I have about 4 or 5, and yet there’s never one in my bag at the right time. Strange.

So after the useful stuff comes the Moomin food! I am a big coffee person, and so are the Finns – so Moomin themed branded coffee just seemed like perfect souvenir. The Moomin bag is blueberry flavoured coffee! What could be more Finnish! Also: Moomin biscuits, Moomin dried fruit, Moomin lollies and Moomin sweets. All vegan!

So there we go! There were so many wonderful things in Helsinki that I could have easily brought home double – this may seem an excessive amount but in many ways it was quite restrained. Next week I’ll have a post up featuring the shops where we found all this treasure, plus a vegan guide and a list of the free things we did. I promise I’m not sponsored by Helsinki – I just really want you to know how great it was.

PREVIOUSLY: My Moomin Collection / Souvenirs From Japan

Laila Likes: Moomins

Hello! I’m back from Helsinki!

A Covent Garden Christmas

Covent Garden is one of my favourite spots in London despite being a tourist hell; it’s home to the Royal Opera House, the Moomin shop, Laduree (exquisite macarons), Magma, Pop Boutique and one of my favourite cafes, Cafe Boheme. I tend to shy away from the more touristy areas but there’s a certain structure to Covent Garden that means even when it’s rammed with tourists it never feels as claustrophobic as (for example) Oxford Street or Trafalgar Square.

We went to see the festive decorations and it was a complete cliche of an experience. Chestnut macarons in the church gardens, mulled wine whilst listening to the string quartet, and of course, scurrying up the winding wooden stairs to the Moomin shop to look at their adorable Christmas collection.

It’s such a lovely area; if you manage to avoid the flagship Apple store and don’t spend too many hours enthralled with the buskers then I’d definitely recommend Covent Garden to put you in the Christmas spirit. Companions recommended… after all, surely nobody hangs that much mistletoe by accident?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Snufkin

This post was supposed to show you my coat (new) but as I was editing the photos I found I was blurry in nearly all of them. My camera had decided instead to focus on the trees around me. I think this may have been a conspiracy between the trees and the camera; I was using another tree branch as a camera stand so there was plenty of time for them to plot whilst I had my back turned). At first I was a bit annoyed, but then I realised my camera had the right idea as focusing on the immense natural beauty in these photos is far more interesting than my coat. Just look in the first photo – the irregular pattern of the cracks in the tree closest to the camera and the myriad shades of green are far more exciting and dramatic than an item of clothing could ever be!

Recently I’ve spent lots of time outdoors marvelling at the beauty of nature (especially at this time of year) and it makes me think how impossible it is to capture those moments. You can’t paint those colours, or photograph the crisp feeling of a leaf under your shoe, or sketch the smell of the rotting conkers and leaves in the wet grass. The colours on my computer seem so dull and uninspiring in comparison. If you read this post, go for a walk today and admire the leaves. Tell me what your trees are like.

So, this is my new coat from Greece – leave it to me to go on a beach holiday and return with a winter coat! I wore it on the plane home along with a wide-brimmed black hat; when James collected me from the airport he just said “Hello Snufkin“. I was so happy; as I child I always felt a sense of kinship with Snufkin as he was an outdoorsy, rebellious, loner musician like me. I much prefer owning clothing that looks like it belongs to my favourite characters rather than just featuring them! I love my Moomin skirt but if I wore it in Moominvalley, I’d just look weird whereas with this I would fit in. I’ve got lots of coats, but I spend so much time running around between rehearsals and gigs in the cold I feel it’s justified!

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Moomin Skirt

I’ve been a big fan of the Moomins from a young age and like most people of my generation I came to know of the delightful inhabitants of Moominvalley via the nineties cartoon. I didn’t read the wonderful Tove Jansson books until I was in secondary school, and was enchanted all over again by the free-spirited Moomin family and their decidedly bohemian friends. A lot of the stories are overlain with melancholy, and the whimsical tales often carry a lot of depth or wisdom.

This particular fabric depicts the Moomins in the jungle or on safari (just like me!) and therefore combines two of my favourite things: Moomins and animals! Rather than a repeated print the full length fabric was like a mini tableau, featuring Little My commandeering a rhino, Moomintroll and Snorkmaiden climbing with the monkeys, Moominpappa dozing in a hammock above some tigers and Moominmamma calmly watering her pumpkins in between the chaos.

I’m holding my Moomin egg timer in these photos which is one of my most treasured possessions. I’m not from a very close family and we are all terrible at gift-giving (James says I’m just hard to buy gifts for, in which case I take after my Dad) but my Mum bought me this last Christmas and it’s one of the best presents I’ve ever had! I like to use egg timers when I’m practising to divide my time between different pieces.

I followed my usual skirt pattern (first seen here) and for this particular skirt I also engaged in some pretty rash pattern cutting decisions in a vague attempt to preserve certain characters. I sewed it by hand as I don’t have a sewing machine. Whilst this may have resulted in some untidy stitching (which would never have been allowed to see a shop floor) I don’t mind too much, as how many other people have a Moomin safari skirt?