A Finnish Design Fete: Tiina's Midsummer Table - Remodelista
Earlier this the week, we presented the ingredients for the classic Swedish Midsummer table, garlands and schnapps glasses included. At home in the Hamptons, Finnish fashion stylish and shop owner Tiina Laakonen takes her own pattern-filled approach to the holiday. Photographs by Heikki Aho for Remodelista. Tiina adheres to a palette of black, white, and blue in every room in her house–for a tour, go to our Monday post Rhapsody in Blue. So we weren’t surprised that she applies the same scheme to her table: “Blue and white,” she points out, “are the colors of Finland and our flag.” The tablecloth is made of Marimekko yardage in Yhdessa, a patchwork design available from Tiina’s Amagansett, NY, shop, Tiina The Store; it provides the backdrop for a playful but cohesive mix of patterns, all from Finland. Tiina uses three different plate and napkin patterns: “By sticking to a simple color palette, you can mix patterns in a free way,” she says. The midnight blue Valencia plates and covered bowl were a wedding gift to Tiina and her husband, Jon Rosen, from Tiina’s family in Finland. The votives in shades of blue are the Kivi design from Iittala. The table and bench are from Dutch designer Piet Hein Eek’s scrapwood series. Not everyone likes a bench, but I do,” says Tiina by way of explaining the table’s compromise: a bench on one side and Scandinavian chairs from eBay on the other. For the complete tour of Tiina’s house, see “Fully Finnish” in the Remodelista book.