My Vintage Precious: Thomas Hamberg's Beaver

My Vintage Precious is a monthly series where I ask people working on the creative field to share their most beloved second hand possessions and reveal the stories behind them.

Photo Salla Poutiainen

"My most cherished vintage object is a stuffed beaver I’ve jokingly named Seppo. Our paths with Seppo came together when a former customer of mine contacted me asking whether I’d be interested in buying a stuffed beaver for my antique shop. At first I wasn’t too keen on the idea of having a beaver, but after I saw how uniquely expression rich face it possessed, I was immediately sold. Something about his fuzzy face also reminds me of my sister’s dog, which was probably also part of the attraction.

Photo Salla Poutiainen

I choose all my belongings very carefully and when it comes to taxidermy, I’m not interested in perfect pieces, I like critters that have seen life and which possess a spirit of their own. I added him the paper hat and the basket, placed it on a table in my shop and ever since that Seppo has sat there greeting customers with it’s delighted grin."

Thank you Thomas! Thomas runs a superb little antique shop in Helsinki called Götan Maailma which I had the pleasure of visiting last November. You can read the story here.

For more information about Göta, visit their fb page here.

My Vintage Precious will be back on January 2013!

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PoVintage on Tumblr

You can now follow PoVintage also on Tumblr!

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Those were the days

The Python's always manage to make my Mondays a bit less manic.

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Po-poro

Photo Salla Poutiainen

Ulpu sketches for calling cards

Illustration Pyynö Hietajärvi

Illustration Pyynö Hietajärvi

Illustration Pyynö Hietajärvi

Pyynö made sketches of Ulpu the Assistant for PoVintage calling cards and label tags.  I'll post some pictures of them once they come out of the press.

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Salla

Secretary style bow blouse

Photo Salla Poutiainen

Playing on the Po boombox: Ren Harvieu

Album cover photo via renharvieu.com

I only recently found out about British musician Ren Harvieu. I got her album 'Through the Night' and I'm completely blown away... Only 22-years old yet what a voice and charisma.

Needless to say I also love her sense of style.

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Salla

Gaultier corset vest

Photo Salla Poutiainen

The world according to Göta

Overview of Göta. | Photo Salla Poutiainen
(Click the photo to enlarge)

I visited a truly inspiring and unique place last week. It was an antique shop called Götan Maailma (engl. Göta’s World). Located in the Punavuori area of Helsinki, the little boutique filled with eclectic memorabilia and beautiful furniture offered a true haven of peace compared to the hectic atmosphere of the main streets.

Some of the stuffed animals I've previously seen have been a bit eerie, but all the pleasant little fellows at Göta really stole my heart away. | Photo Salla Poutiainen

The thing that really struck me about this place was how coherently put together everything was. Beginning from the gorgeous, marine themed display window to the lovely entryway decorated with old newspapers, continueing to the shop itself, the whole place really had a spirit of its own.

Sea gulls gazing over at Tarkk'ampujankatu from Göta's display window. | Photo Salla Poutiainen

From Göta you can even find a human skull among with variety of other bones.
Photo Salla Poutiainen

Nothing was just tossed in randomly, everything had its own special place. The shop even has it’s own signature scent (mix made of tobacco, tar, apple, cinnamon, carnation and amber) which I personally found incredibly appealing, since scent design is something that is often completely neglected when planning shop concepts.  

Tortoise shells, old paintings and graphiques decorate the walls. | Photo Salla Poutiainen

 

An elk should always wear a straw hat. Photo Salla Poutiainen

Götan Maailma is ran by Thomas Hamberg, who co-owns the place with his parents. The range of items found from their collections include stuffed animals, bones, skulls, insects, medical antique and old paintings & litography (and I'm only mentioning a fraction here).

Thomas' Boston Terrier Aimo holds court on the floral sofa. | Photo Salla Poutiainen

 

 

 

 

 

Götan Maailma, Tarkk'ampujankatu 11, Helsinki.
Open: Mon-Fri 10-18 Sat 10-15

Götan maailma is named after Hambergs' great ant, who was
also an enthusiastic collector. Photo via Götan Maailma.

Summarized: absolutely amazing place. If you haven’t yet visited, I strongly recommend you do. Places like this don’t come across often (especially in Finland) so it’s most definitely worth it.

You can find more information about Göta from their Fb page here.

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Salla

Ps. December’s My Vintage Precious will feature something really cool from Thomas Hamberg so remember to check it out!

60's night cape

Photo Salla Poutiainen

This Sunday's newbie at PoVintage is this super cute 1960's lace night cape with a matching slip. More photos here.

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The PoVintage Team

Pyynö made some caricatures of us.

It seems all we're lacking is a theme song... Something like this might be fun (with more customer friendly lyrics of course):

Theme song from Team America: World Police, 2004. 

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Ivory blouse from the 50's

Photo © Salla Poutiainen

This beautiful ivory blouse from the 1950's just hit the PoVintage shop. More photos available here.

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Salla

My Vintage Precious: Lasse Ursin's Desk

My Vintage Precious is a monthly series where I ask people working on the creative field to share their most beloved second hand possessions and reveal the stories behind them.

Photo © Salla Poutiainen |
Painting on the background by Pyynö Hietajärvi

"My favorite vintage possession is an old school desk that’s been on my family all my life. When I was a kid, the desk served as a craft table for me and my siblings. Later when we were older, it was placed on the verandah of our house where it was used as a smoking table. When I moved on my own, I took the desk with me.

Photo © Salla Poutiainen

Depending on where I lived, the desk has been placed either outside on the balcony or indoors. The table’s legs are very short, and as a grown-up, my own legs couldn’t fit under it anymore. I resolved the issue by adding wheels on to it. Besides being more spacious, it’s now easy to move around when need it.  

Maybe because it’s an old school desk every time I sit on front of it, I instantly get in to a 'work mode'. Even though it's now located at my home, not my studio space, it works as a kind of a mini-office where I edit my videos and do all the writing stuff.

Photo © Salla Poutiainen

Since the desk has been kept outdoors, the surface is very rustic and aged. When we were kids, me, my brother and sister used to carve things on it. I actually still sometimes do that. If I get preoccupied I may write, paint or carve something on it. I like the fact that the table is a piece which surface is always in constant change." 

Photo © Salla Poutiainen

Thank you very much for Lasse sharing his story!

Lasse Ursin is a visual artist residing in Lahti, Finland. If you want to get to know his kinetic sculptures, you can visit his home page here: http://www.lasseursin.tk/

To connect with Lasse, go to his Fb page: http://www.facebook.com/lasseursinart?fref=ts

The cool shirt that he is wearing on the photos is Hydra’s. Hydra is a Lahti based art collective where Lasse is a member. If you want to order one of their t-shirts, you can contact the guys via email: hydralahti [at] gmail.com. Hydra is also found online here: http://hydralahti.blogspot.fi/

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Ps. Want to be featured in MVP? If you feel that you have an interesting story to tell, feel free to contact me at salla [at] houseofpo.com.

Introducing the Two-Headed Sloth

Comic © Pyynö Hietajärvi

PoVintage's Two-Headed mayhem has now taken over social media and it seems there's no stopping him. To get to know all things Sloth, connect with the Champion of Mischief here: http://www.facebook.com/po.sloth

Illustration © Pyynö Hietajärvi

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Orders, liquorice and Ulpu the Style Master

The little package on the photo began it's journey towards the States couple of weeks ago, luckily I had the time to snap a picture before mailing it.

For some reason the black & white wrapping paper made me yearn for liquorice, so I had to go to the nearby candy store and get some. The pieces looked so nice I wanted to snap a quick photo of them, just for fun. Apparently I wasn't doing a proper job arranging them, since Ulpu soon jumped in:

"...and little to the right."

So here it is, liquorice arranged by Ulpu. I swear I haven't touch them after she started meddling.

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Shhh

Very simple joke but works.

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Salla

My Little Assistant

"No fooling around here. Crafting jewelry is serious business."
Photo © Salla Poutiainen

It's about time to introduce my co-worker, Ulpu. She's a two-year-old, half Russian blue and half British short hair cat girl.

Taking a nap on a most hideous keyboard known to man.
  Photo © Salla Poutiainen

I never had a pet growing up, so before Ulpu came to us, I didn't understand how attached you can get with such a little creature. I love all the silly sounds she manages to purr and how she makes me laugh every day. If it was possible, me and Mr. would take a second furry companion right away.

The photos above are old ones, dating at least a year back. Because of her own safety, she isn't allowed in our studio space anymore, but she keeps me company during coffee breaks and assists me while taking product photos for Po Vintage.

Photo © Salla Poutiainen

We've been incredibly lucky with her because regardless of her young age, she's really sweet and obedient little feline. She does of course get quite playful and attention driven at times and the other day she managed to wreck my studio while hunting a banana fly. It's quite impossible to get mad at her though. Also, looking back her interference was in fact a good thing. I finally understood to take a much needed coffee break.

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Salla

Iku photo in PhotoVogue

One of the photos I took for my Fool's Gold collection made it to Vogue Italia's PhotoVogue page.

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Po hearts George Carlin

I realized I haven't posted any stand-up in a while and this needs to be fixed immediately. Lately I've been watching/listening a lot of George Carlin. The man was an absolute genius. Here's some of his thoughts about soft language.

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Two-headed sloth gift wrapped some orders

Photos © Salla Poutiainen | Illustrations © Pyynö Hietajärvi

Some of the lovely orders that have gone out. I was getting too overwhelmed with all the ribbons and bows so the two-headed sloth came to my rescue.

Pyynö wasn't happy with her first sketch of the mental looking girl (read: Salla) so she drew it again for the final version of the PoVintage comic. Even though the second version is better, I really liked the original as well and wanted to use it somewhere. Finally it ended up here.  

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Salla

My Vintage Precious: Tuomas Ikonen's Armchair

My Vintage Precious is a monthly series where I ask people working on the creative field to share their most beloved second hand possessions and reveal the stories behind them.

Photo © Tuomas Ikonen

My most precious vintage possession is this baroque style chair, which is about 100 years old. My parents bought it for themselves in the eighties from an auction. It was upholstered with green wool fabric and was in bad condition, and they gave it a new life by upholstering it with dark red velvet.

About five years ago, before they moved to a smaller apartment and the chair didn’t fit anymore to their home, they gave it to me. I wanted to give the chair a modern touch and make it a little less serious, so we painted the wooden parts with golden paint and upholstered it with purple velvet. It was very kitschy and throne-like for couple of years. After our mischievous cats used it as their scratching post, we had to renew the fabrics. We bought a bunch of interesting looking fabrics, and my girlfriend Maaret sewed the little pieces together to make a giant quilt. We wanted it to look a little bit ugly, and so colorful that it hurts. Rest of our home is quite monochromatic and most of our furnitures are modern, from 60’s to beyond, so this chair really makes its presence known in our home. Cats still sharpen their claws to it, so we probably have to redesign it in couple of years.

Photo © Tuomas Ikonen

Many thanks to Tuomas for sharing his story! 

If you want to get to know Tuomas' awesome illustrations head to: www.tuomasikonen.com

Link with him on Behance: behance.net/TuomasIkonen

And to connect with him on Facebook go: facebook.com/TuomasIkonenArt

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Salla

Ps. Want to be featured in MVP? If you feel that you can produce great photography and have an interesting story to tell, feel free to contact me at salla@houseofpo.com.

PoVintage's new ABOUT-page is open!

Illustration © Pyynö Hietajärvi | Photo © Salla Poutiainen

After weeks of hard work, the Etsy ABOUT-page for PoVintage is now open.
Visit http://www.etsy.com/shop/PoVintage/about/ to see it.

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Salla

My Vintage Precious

My Vintage Precious is a new monthly series where I ask people working on the creative field to share their most beloved second hand possessions and reveal the stories behind them.

Photo © Maria Laine

I'm really excited about this new series and will start it by sharing one of my own vintage favorites. The piece that I want to introduce you is a golden evening bag which I've had almost all my life. I bought it from a flea market when I was just five years old.

My folks use to give me a small weekly pocket money (something like 5 marks = 0,85 EURO = 1 USD) which they usually let me spent however I pleased. Most often I used it on candy but one late summer Sunday as we were strolling around the Hietalahti flea market in Helsinki with my family, I spotted the most awesome golden bag I had ever laid my eyes on. It was a reign from the 1970's disco days and completely embroidered with gold sequins and pearls. I knew immediately that I had to have it. I remember that the vendor wanted six marks for it, but unfortunately I only had five. 

A bag, a pencil case, a hat - over the years my clutch has had many jobs.
Photo © Maria Laine

I recall that she tried to offer me another silver bag for a cheaper price but I wouldn't budge. I had my little girl heart settled in this amber beauty and was determined not to leave the market place without it. After some debate the vendor finally gave in to my puppy eyes and headstrong attitude grinningly accepting my bid.

And that's pretty much the story how this sparkling purse became mine.

My Vintage Precious continues next month when illustrator Tuomas Ikonen shares his favorite second hand possession. Stay tuned and find out what it is!

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Salla

Ps. Want to be featured in MVP? If you feel that you can produce great photography and have an interesting story to tell, feel free to contact me at salla@houseofpo.com.