*DESIGN IN SOCIETY* Helsinki, Interview with Johanna Vuorio from NIKARI, Wood Design Furniture, Fiskars.

Johanna Vuorio, Manager Director of NIKARI, Wood Design Furniture and me, Iranzu Guijarro.

Excellent conversation with Johanna Vuorio, Manager Director of NIKARI, Wood Design Furniture from Finland. She was speaking in an emotional and beautiful way her feelings with the wood as a material and NIKARI way of working. A pleasure to listen to her. ”All the Designs are, in a way, silent. They have some kind of soul”.

This time, in Helsinki, I have collaborated with Jose M. Sanchez from Kinetic Pixels. A very good Spanish friend who lives in Helsinki since 7 years. It is not my first time working with him, I love his works and I like how he captures his emotion into his shootings. I always count with him in audiovisual point of view. Thanks Jose for your great work. A pleasure! Hope we can make more!

*DESIGN IN SOCIETY* Helsinki. Collaboration between Kinetic Pixels and me, Iranzu Guijarro. FINLAND.

As you know Design in Society are audiovisual interviews with people who are into fashion, architecture, social art and performances. These conversations try to analyze what kind of effects provoke daily consumption of design in our society. The Idea is to make this research around the world, visiting the most trendy cities (Bilbao, Seoul, San Francisco, Doha, Helsinki, Shanghai…) chatting with lots of curious people and analyzing different point of views, reactions and ways of thinking.

Johanna Vuorio, Manager Director of NIKARI, Wood Design Furniture and me, Iranzu Guijarro in Fiskars.

*DESIGN IN SOCIETY* Helsinki.     NIKARI + KINETIC PIXELS + IRANZU GUIJARRO

Summer inside the Autunm, Anna Ruohonen SS14 Fashion Show in Helsinki.

Anna Ruohonen SS14 FASHION SHOW in Aero Furniture design store. Helsinki. Photo by Jose M. Sánchez

The combination of Anna Ruohonen designs + Ludovic Kerfendal artistic directions, once again, created an interactive, human and cool SS14 Fashion Show. And why not I took part as a model. As always, Anna & Ludovic like to make a performance. This time, Ludovic chose Aero Furniture Design Store for setting the show in Helsinki. The idea was that we would be » living» in the shop… reading a book in a armchair…watching through the window…checking you mail on your computer… chatting together… having a glass of.. water or wine… And then, every 20 minutes we would change clothes (but not all of us at the same time ! ) Anna Ruohonen likes to watch her designs wearing in a «normal» people…how people are going to use her designs in daily life doing «normal» things. That is me and 7 more Finns role. I enjoyed it a lot! I like to have new experiences and it was so interactive that I was speaking and laughing with all the people, audience and the rest of the models.

Thanks for the experience Anna & Ludovic! www.annaruohonen.com

Anna Ruohonen SS14 Fashion Show In Aero Furniture design store in Helsinki Photo by Laurent Champoussin

Anna Ruohonen SS14 Fashion Show In Aero Furniture design store in Helsinki Photo by Laurent Champoussin

Anna Ruohonen SS14 Fashion Show In Aero Furniture design store in Helsinki Photo by Laurent Champoussin

Anna Ruohonen SS14 Fashion Show In Aero Furniture design store in Helsinki Photo by Laurent Champoussin

Anna Ruohonen SS14 Fashion Show In Aero Furniture design store in Helsinki Photo by Laurent Champoussin

www.annaruohonen.com

Olive Oil Cortijo de Suerte Alta from Spain.

A TREASURE FROM THE HEART OF ANDALUSIA, SPAIN.

Ummm! Delicious…some drops after cooking and as we say in Spain «you can lick your fingers».

I’ve heard several times calling to Spanish Oil «Gold Liquid». Here I want to share with you one of my favorites oils from Spain, Cortijo de Suerte Alta Coupage. Coupage means that the oil is made with a mixture of different olives. In this case, picual, hojiblanca and picuda. The picuda, sweet at first, gives it a taste of leaves. The hojiblanca provides a pungent and grass sensation and finally the picual provides a light bitterness and the touch of figs and tomatoes.

In Helsinki you can find in gourmet shops or in Alambique Oy website. http://www.alambique.fi

Sound of The City Documentary by Stina Lundkvist & Sergio Castrillón.

Some weeks ago Cinemaissi Latin America Film Festival of Helsinki chose Sounds of The City Documentary directed by Stina Lundkvist, Swedish woman, and interpreted by Sergio Castrillón ,Colombian man. Great combination!!

This March I met Sergio Castrillón in Arkadia International Bookshop in a poetic evening. Both of us, we were reciting some poems written by our friend Leonardo Sevilla. I remember Sergio with his Cello relaxed and smiling. When It was his turn, he started to recite mixing his sweet colombian accent with his improvised cello music, amazing! I can define Sergio as Contemporary Street Art Musician. He is an improvisation lover and he likes to collaborate with different people. He knows how to be in the street, around this society.

Stina Lundkvist and Castrillón’s Documentary represents Sergio’s music project. At the end, it represents his way of thinking, his way of living and his way of understanding passions supported by Stina filming point of view. I love it! I want to share with you these 20 minutes of great thoughts and acts.

Watch the documentary:

Basque Country, Beauty & Rich Culture. *HOMELAND* short film directed by Cyrus Sutton.

I would like to share with you this amazing short film that I met on internet…«Homeland» is a short film about the Basque culture and its language driven by Etxepare Basque Institute (etxepare.net/) and Surfilmfestibal (surfilmfestibal.com/), directed by Cyrus Sutton.

Divided between the borders of France and Spain, the Basque Country is home to amazing natural beauty and rich culture. The Basques are believed to be the first to trade with Native Americans and circumnavigate the globe. Their language is the oldest living non-Latin/Germanic in Western Europe.

Today, amazing waves, stunning cliffs and rolling green hills surround ancient family homesteads. Industrial ports line cities and towns with dense, thriving streets. However in the past decade, the Basque-land, like much of Europe, has endured shifting economic forces which threaten their ancient ways of life…

Here is the Short Film:

Ummm! Delicious flavoured Olive Oils & Virgin Nuts Oils made in Spain. Azada.

Last week, I have been working in Viini, Ruoka ja Hyvää Elämä (Wine, Food and Good life) Fair with Alambique company in Helsinki. Clara Llamas, the founder of Alambique Finland, is bringing to Finland delicious and quality food products from different parts of Spain. I totally fell in love with Alambique’s selection of food products. I can tell you that she is doing an amazing selection for Finnish market.

Today, I am going to introduce you Azada’s Aromatic Olive Oils and Cold pressed Virgin Nuts Oils from Spain. Kevin F. Russel is the producer of these exquisite and beautiful oils. I met him during the fair and we were discussing about this.

After 2 days in Helsinki and in The Wine & Food Fair What are your feelings? I am delighted to be in Helsinki and to have had the opportunity to speak to our Finnish customers. They are tremendously savvy when it comes to specialty oils and I am happy to see that our oils are so successful in this food fair. We are used to attend food fairs for trade only but this fair has given us the opportunity to introduce our oils to a wider audience as it is open to public. We hope to come again next year.

The name of the fair in Finnish is «Viini, Ruoka & Hyvä Elämä»- Hyvä Elämä is Good life!! Tell us about the good life of being oil producer. Good life has a very strong meaning to us. It is part of our DNA. We are all about selling a lifestyle rather than a product. In fact, customers want to buy a story and not just a product. In our case, we like to say that we are selling a destination: We sell Spain in a bottle!

As you know, I’m working with Clara Llamas from Alambique Finland Company in Helsinki. When I watched and tasted your beautiful and intensive tasting oils collections, I got totally impressed and curious. Can you explain us how is Azada Oil Production? We are speciality oil producers with more than 15 different oils that fall into two categories: Flavoured oils made from the pressing of natural ingredients together with olives and virgin oils made from roasted nuts. Both lines follow a strict quality process to ensure the best premium oils. i.e. Spain is a prime nut producer. Our almonds, hazelnuts or pistachios have a distinctive flavour that the US, Turkey or Iran can’t meet. In addition, our commitment is with the local farmers. We rather protect our patrimony against working with an importer of nuts’.

We want to offer a taste of Spain in a bottle and our nut oils are a wonderful Mediterranean experience that can be used for both savory dishes as well as desserts. We are now working together with Michelin star chefs on recipes that can be easily prepared at home and we are also running some tastings at the best delicatessen shops throughout Finland so people can try our awarded oils.

Imagine that you have to choose your favorite oil, which would it be? I don’t have a favorite oil. It rather depends on what I will be cooking that day, I will use one or another.

For Kevin it is difficult to choose his favorite oil but for me I got really impressed with Lemon Aromatic Olive Oil…Amazingly you can separate the two flavours without any problem tasting the authentic of lemons and Olive Oil. When one product is done with love and wisdom, you can appreciate very easily.

Have a look to their web page and online shop. A Perfect Gift for Christmas!  www.azadaorganic.com

And, of course! If you are living in Finland have a look to Alambique’s web page. In some weeks, they are going to have a new online shop. www.alambique.fi