The first permanent retail space has opened in Garden, new center for Finnish Fashion in Helsinki. Klaus Haapaniemi & Co. space is located on the second floor together with TRE x Nide. The silver ribbon installation hosts all the categories from accessories to kids, and is the first location where the new womenswear collection is available.
Opening hours are
Monday to Friday10-19,
Saturday 10-17,
Sunday 12-16
Pohjoisesplanadi 33, 00100 Helsinki
Klaus Haapaniemi has created a large scale custom mural exclusively for the St George Hotel in Helsinki.
Positioned in the main lounge of the hotel, ‘Lightnings in Tiger Woods’ benefits from a large roof window that lets in light during the day, while in the evening the space is softly lit. The changing mood through the day showcases the many elements of the intricate design printed on silk in Klaus’ distinctive house style. Using the atmosphere of the hotel itself as the basis for his creative inspiration, Haapaniemi’s piece takes visitors for an escapist journey into the woods, the changing light of the room revealing the details of the scene throughout the day. The rhythmic composition of tiger striped trunks and lush green tree tops withering in the wind suggest a sudden storm in an August afternoon.
As much as the use of silk as a wall covering has its challenges, it gives an incomparable softness to the texture and an unmistakable shimmering pearlescent surface. The colour palette of deep earthy burgundies, greens, blues and greys tie into the rest of the interior, bringing the room together with a warm harmony, intended of surrounding visitors in magical woods during the autumn.
The mural is a permanent fixture of the St George Hotel. The Hotel guests can also enjoy subtle patterns of Klaus Haapaniemi fabrics in the rooms.
Klaus Haapaniemi & Co. has always had an appetite for crossing over from the worlds of interiors, design and fashion to art and performance. As well as maintaining long-term partnerships with various brands, there have also been a number of one-off bespoke projects which have brought a whole new perception of how the studio is interpreted. With Klaus’ unique storytelling ability, collaborations not only produce beautiful outcomes for both parties, but often create an entirely different creative outcome than originally intended.
It was through this story telling ability that the inspiration for Black Lake was born. Created from an imagined volcanic landscape surrounding a remote lakeside summerhouse in Iceland - and then fashioned into a mysterious abstract print.
The main elements of the collection include a bespoke centrepiece sofa with hand engravings upholstered with the Black Lake print, a woven tapestry intended to be used as long rug to flow from a sofa to the floor, and finally a circular carpet which represents the dark steaming pond, biodiverse with strange foliage, water lilies and mysterious lava stones.
The furniture is custom-built by furniture studio Nikari, the tapestry woven in a British textile mill in Bristol, and finally the mysterious pond carpet is printed on wool in the Netherlands.
Before the furniture starts its journey to Iceland, it will be shown just once at the Lokal gallery along with other items of the Black Lake collection. As a result, special products including printed wool scarves and velvet clutches with the Black Lake print have been created to be sold exclusively at Lokal to mark the collaboration.
As well as this, an additional item will be exhibited at the Royal Academy in London. Lokal will also show part of Klaus Haapaniemi’s Xenia etching series made with master printmaker studio, Himmelblau.
