Elinno. Photo Juuso Noronkoski.
Combining Finnish design and Chinese traditions, Elinno is slowly but surely making their way into the dining rooms of the world.
A young woman travelled from Beijing to Helsinki almost ten years ago with a vast knowledge of Chinese art, culture and handicrafts, and burning enthusiasm towards the modern simplicity of Nordic design. As she studied ceramics and glass design at Helsinki School of Art and Design (Aalto University), she met a Finnish fellow student who collected Chinese ceramics and studied their patterns.
LIANG LIANG graduated as a ceramic artist in 2005, two years after ANNI PAUNILA. In 2008 the two started Elinno, a ceramics company combining Chinese handicraft tradition and patterns with the Nordic design form. Their studio is located in the middle of Roihuvuori’s industrial area.
There’s something classic yet very modern in Elinno’s delicate dishes. Butterflies and nightingales are flying between soft Chinese flower patterns and ornaments. Liang and Paunila have given them new hue and placement in plates, cups and serving trays.
“We draw and paint the ornaments by hand in watercolor, scan the pictures and send them to the manufacturer,” says Liang Liang. “The motifs can be inspired by wallpapers or old handicraft patterns. For example, the lotus flowers of the Lotus Lullaby series came from fond childhood memories. As a child, I spent a lot of time by a lake that had lots of lotus flowers in the summertime.”
Elinno’s current bestseller, the Blue Peony series, was inspired by traditional blue-patterned Chinese porcelain, but the floral motif has gotten a whole new scale, and the traditional cobolt blue has been given a darker, more modern hue. “Nature-themed ornaments are historically very typical for porcelain. I wanted to create a continuation of millennia of tradition, but still bring a fresh new personal point of view,” points out Anni Paunila, working in Italy for the spring.
Liang Liang. Photo Juuso Noronkoski.
Fitting in with the best
Elinno’s dishes are designed in Finland and manufactured in China, where the millennia-long handicraft history still lives on. The dishes are made from fine bone china, and the ornaments are attached under the glazing, so they won’t fade or wear away. “Fine bone china has bone ash mixed with the clay, which makes it stronger, whiter and more translucent than ordinary porcelain. Because the material is stronger, we can make the dishes lighter and more delicate,” Liang explains.
Working conditions and the use of non-toxic products are important to Liang and Paunila. “It’s part of being a proud ceramic artist,” Paunila reckons. “We’re not looking for the cheapest alternative. We want the best.”
“We want our products to stay in customers’ homes for a long time, even across generations – not just for a season or two,” Liang states.
Elinno’s ceramics have the same level of quality as the big names in the business: Rosenthal, Wedgwood, Lladró and Villeroy & Boch. While Elinno is tiny compared to these companies, the small newcomer was seen in the same hall with the big players at Frankfurt’s Ambiente fair in February 2010.
“Our stand was made on a small budget, but the organizers gave us an awesome location. It felt really good to get recognized by so many people who really know the business,“ Paunila delights.
Liang reveals that Elinno has already been cleared for the same spot for next year’s fair. “Entrance isn’t only about money, because that specific hall is meant for only the best quality and design.”
Doing their own thing
Elinno was founded during the toughest stretch of the current economic slump. This may have slowed down their start, but Liang doesn’t think it’s necessarily a bad thing. “Due to the recession we’ve had time to think things through and make them better for next year,” she points out realistically. “Our strength is that we know both the Chinese tradition and production methods as well as Finnish design. We wish to bring this strength into our business as well.”
It’s impossible to predict the future, but Liang suspects that in a few years the duo will be more mature both in design and marketing. At the moment Elinno’s dishes can be found at Stockmann and at Casuarina (Fredrikinkatu 30, 00130 Helsinki). The two women wish to see Elinno in the finest department stores in the world as well as boutiques across Europe, Asia and the US. The negotiations are on in all of these continents, and traditional Lane Crawford, the number one department store in Hong Kong, will begin selling Elinno’s products in the summer.
“We are genuinely doing what we want to, and of course we hope that others will like it as well. We don’t try to do pronouncedly Scandinavian design – clear-form, somewhat sterile. We’re doing our own thing – beautiful and functional objects that we love to use ourselves,” Paunila sums up. “Timeless things, with love and passion.” †
Text Heini Lehtinen Photos Juuso Noronkoski Translation Jyri Paavilainen
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