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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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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Salla

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.

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.