Maija Isola / Maija Isola – Master of Colour and Form

She was a woman of constant tumult. Restless and bold, a woman who pushed boundaries. Between 1949 and 1987, the Finnish designer Maija Isola created more than 500 textile prints for Marimekko, helping make the company a household name worldwide. She found inspiration on her incessant travels around the world, and in the turmoil of the 20th century. Isola was a vagabond who rendered her experiences into the abstract geometry of her colourful designs. This portrait of an exceptional artist and woman is based on cursory sketches and dense descriptions of her life on the road, captured in diaries, letters, and postcards, combined with a multitude of private photographs. Moments of great beauty alternate with dizzying chasms, self-doubt, and a burning desire for solitude. The film uses collage methodology to portray her continual emancipation. The images are accompanied by segments of interviews with Isola’s daughter Kristina, who also designed for Marimekko and worked with her mother for many years.