Marimekko’s pre-fall collection 2023 shines in bold basic colors

Marimekko x Sabine Finkenauer Almena cushion cover — For its pre-fall collection of 2023, Finnish design house Marimekko has drawn inspiration from the concept of Colorama.

Summer is just around the corner, but after seeing a sneak peek at Milan design week, we at Design Stories are already dreaming of Marimekko’s fall launches. In addition to the Sabine Finkenauer collaboration we admired at the Marimekko exhibition in Milan, the brand’s pre-fall home collection will feature bold colors, natural materials, and an all-new glassware series.

BOLD COLORS AND PATTERNS are more the rule than the exception in Marimekko’s collections, but in fall 2023, the brand will kick them up a notch. The underlying theme of the pre-fall collection is "Colorama", and its color scheme includes bright red and green as well as midnight blue combined with shades of burgundy, mint green, and gray-blue. The collection has been inspired by the French modernism of the 1920s.

“In this collection, we use multiple neutral shades as the canvas for bolder primary colors. Combining prints and layering through color is in the center of this collection,” says Rebekka Bay, Creative Director at Marimekko.

The pre-fall collection will be available in late summer and early fall.

Marimekko x Sabine Finkenauer

One of the most intriguing new arrivals is undoubtedly the latest Marimekko Artist Series collection, created in collaboration with Sabine Finkenauer, that just launched at Milan design week.

The Barcelona-based artist has created the capsule collection’s abstract patterns by hand using oil pastels and different techniques and materials, and Marimekko has used a custom printing technique to show the artist’s unique handprint as precisely as possible. In the final products, this is visible in the “imperfect” hand-drawn lines and the uneven colors of the oil pastels. Finkenauer’s patterns will adorn a variety of products from tableware to textiles.

Marimekko Seireeni fabric, red — Marimekko’s iconic prints are in harmonious dialogue with Finkenauer’s artworks.

Marimekko Unikko cushion cover, cotton-linen — In addition to Tiiliskivi and Unikko, the collection features many iconic Marimekko prints like Viitta and Seireeni by Maija Isola, Alku by Maija Louekari, and Iso Noppa by Vuokko Eskolin-Nurmesniemi.

Undyed natural materials

The collection's textiles feature a lot of recycled and organic cotton. The raw, rugged quality of the unbleached base tones creates the perfect canvas for the collection’s vivid primary colors, emphasizing their boldness even more. One of the themes of the collection is the dialogue of shapes, colors, and materials.

The Marimade collection, made of recycled and renewable materials, will also expand in the fall. But more about that a bit later.

Marimekko Unikko tablecloth — To counterbalance the graphic designs, some Marimekko favorites are also launched in more subtle color schemes. The chair is Jean Prouvé's Standard chair from Vitra.

Marimekko Oiva Unikko plate — The sophisticated pale Unikko will feature both in dishes and in textiles.

A sophisticated classic

Marimekko’s prints are known to be bold and expressive – and this collection makes no exception – but in recent years, the brand has also offered some of its most classic patterns in more subtle and muted color options, as if to counterbalance the graphic designs. For example, the fall collection features the iconic Unikko print in an elegant light color combo that doesn’t shout Marimekko, but rather whispers or says it in a calm, quiet voice. This is the perfect print for those who don’t usually like recognizable patterns or logos.

• All Unikko products at Finnish Design Shop >

Marimekko Oiva Tiiliskivi tableware, bright green — The collection's color palette consists of bright shades of red, blue, and green combined with burgundy, mint, and gray-blue.

Marimekko Syksy glassware — Marimekko's all-new glassware series is called Syksy.

Green and groovy tableware

Marimekko tableware is one of Finnish Design Shop’s most popular products year after year, and they are of course also included in the fall collection. The Oiva tableware designs include Sabine Finkenauer’s patterns as well as familiar classics from Unikko to Tiiliskivi. The latter of these actually combines a more subtle pattern and a bold color scheme in a fascinating way – the bright green dishes are decorated with Tiiliskivi squares, but instead of a printed pattern, they appear as grooves on the surface of the dishes.

The collection’s glassware, on the other hand, is decorated with reliefs instead of grooves, which gives them a lovely vintage spirit. The brand-new glassware series is called Syksy, Finnish for “autumn”, and it will provide a more nostalgic alternative to the playful Sukat makkaralla range, Finnish for “socks rolled down”.