Christmas Shopping at TOKYO

It's that time of year again. People become hordes of cattle rammed through shopping centres, grannies sharpen their elbows to make up for their small size and delicate build, and you hear 'last christmas' thrice an hour, which is enough to send a mass of people (already at the very end of their tether) straight over the edge, into yuletide massacre mayhem. All in the name of Christmas shopping. Ho ho ho.

 

Luckily, it doesn't all have to be shopping centres (or grannies or carols, for that matter. not that i have anything against either). Which is why last Friday i trammed it through the frosty afternoon to Arabia and TOKYO's Christmas sale, in the hopes of finding presents for my nearest and dearest. 

These necklaces are made using a picture or photo, and you can get them with your own pictures, which is kinda nice. As would be giving one of these to your best friend with that pic of her passed out on the floor next to a puddle of vomit.<3

An advent calendar you can happily hang on your wall. None of that Disney-themed plastic crap with fake chocolate in it for me this year!

 

How can you not love these? A perfect gift for anyone. Especially your Grandma. And her sharp elbows. Nutty Tarts, i'm a big fan of your work. 

After all those christmas parties, going for the brown-paper-bag-over-your-head look might start seeming like a pretty bright idea.

 Lots of cool prints, too. I almost bought one daintily titled "Up Your Butt in 80 Ways".

 And pretty cards, too. Couldn't find the ones with the elf flipping the bird, tho. (a pic of which can be found from last year's post on this topic).

And then i saw this. The tentacled bunny had me enraptured from the get-go. It's like The Mad Hatter and Cthulhu made babies. Tea-drinking, totally looney, world-destroying demi-god, semi-lapine babies. Set me back 35 euros, which is not bad at all. And it goes nicely with the print i bought last year, of two girls having a macabre tea party wearing masks, seen behind the rabbit in the above pic. Similarly to last year, i sort of ended up buying lovely things for myself, and failing at getting presents for others. I guess i can always resort to baking, wrapping and lovingly giving out gingerbread vaginas.

Which is what i might do right now, accompanied by the four hour xmas playlist (!!!) i put together on Spotify last night at two in the morning, and an industrial-size mug of hot chocolate with marshmallows.

Have a rockin' weekend y'all!

Culture in the City: Pecha Kucha & Kiasma

September is looking like an interesting month. In addition to it seeming as if we're coming out of a scorching summer and plummeting towards winter faster than you can say 'global warming', it seems as if we're falling (if not quite as fast) towards sobriety. Or i am.

And i'm not alone, either. A group of us decided that after a summer of perpetual inebriation, it was time for some enforced alcohol-free quality time.

So not being drunk or shivering on the floor of the bathroom feeling the after-effects thereof, leaves time for doing a whole lot of other things things. Like getting cultured. Which is why on Thursday night i found myself at Kaapelitehdas for Pecha Kucha Night. Organized as part of Helsinki Design Week, the night saw 12 speakers from around the world giving design-focused presentations. The idea of Pecha Kucha (for those yet unacquainted with it) is that each speaker puts together a presentation of 20 slides and has 20 seconds to talk about each slide. This amounts to six minutes, forty seconds and a succinct, dynamic presentation.

Topics ranged from education to architecture, with a curious addition of a presentation focusing on architects' haircuts (probably my personal favorite). I hadn't been to a Pecha Kucha Night before, but i came out of there thinking that was 7.50 e well spent (all this stimulating knowledge for the price of a very expensive pint!), and i'd definitely go again.

A sober weekend is a curious thing. This hardly means i've never experienced one (i have. probably not recently, but it's been done), but perhaps i'm paying more attention to the difference now that abstinence has become this month's norm. In any case, this sober Sunday started off with brunch at Primula (who have upped the price of brunch from 10 to 13 euros!) and was followed by a visit to Kiasma, which has been free of charge to go to all week as part of the 20th birthday celebrations of Valtion taidemuseo.

This museum visit's highlights included these bubbles, entitled ILMA, by artist Hilda Kozari, in which she has captured the signature scents of Helsinki, Paris and Budapest. I like the idea, and there's something surreal about standing in a bubble that attempts to trap the scent of an entire city into a little, opaque, echoey orb. I can see how Paris smelled like Paris (heavy on the perfumed, refined scent), while Kristine, Anna and I all agreed that Helsinki smelled of man. Does Helsinki smell like a man? I don't think so. Unless the characteristic smell of the city is a club filled with peach-fuzz mustache-sporting barely-legals who think that when it comes to aftershave, more is more.

Ei, by Pekka Syrjälä. This reminded me of thoothpaste.

The biggest highlight, though, was Jacob Dahlgren's The Wonderful World of Abstraction. This jungle of ribbons suspended from the ceiling was the best thing about the exhibit. You walk into it, and the flowing wall of color envelopes you and screws up your depth perception, so it's as if you're walking through a dreamlike, trippy, vertical rainbow.

i was also feeling these mismatched, stitched-up frankenstein toys. Endearing.

There's also a wall to which you can stick your own personal message on a post-it. A lot of them are from international museum visitors. Like this one, from Barney Stinson. Culture and sobriety are awesome.

'Tis the season of Christmas shopping.

It's gotta be done at some point, and each year the prospect of entering department stores crawling with super stressed-out businesspeople (who rely 100% on the generic gift-wrapping service, cause it takes like, at least three minutes to wrap that gift for your kid), industrious mothers who are on a marathon shopping trip (and are carrying twice their weight in shopping bags) and the scary Burberry-clad grannies with sharpened elbows (which are ideal weapons for swiftly dispersing of crowds - or people ahead of them in the line) seems less and less enchanting. 

So i thought i'd make a start this year by going to one of my favorite places for xmas shopping - the TOKYO xmas sale. Hosted by the students of TaiK (University of Art and Design Helsinki), the pre-xmas market features all sorts of art and design from underwear to baked goods. It's a great place to find something a little more unique, and a great way of supporting up-and-coming Finnish talent. 

Flipping the bird at Christmas. A welcome take on the traditional xmas card.

 

I spotted this underwear at the market last year, and since then i've been wanting a pair of these briefs. What a brilliant idea. The undies, like the accompanying baked goods, are the handiwork of artistic duo Tärähtäneet ämmät, and were among the coolest items i spotted at the sale. 

What i ended up buying was a beautiful set of 36 Ex Libris stickers featuring what looks like bird fetuses in glass balls, with a third ball for you to write your name in. Definitely too adorably sinister to pass. With only three dozen stickers, only my nicest books will get one. Gives me good reason to go back next year, though!

I bought something else, too. My first official investment in art. Two girls in dresses, barefoot, having tea and cupcakes with Venetian masks on. There's something really enchanting about the seeming normalcy of their tea party that i was drawn to. And with echoes of Roman Dirge, Tim Burton and Alice in Wonderland, i was happy to spend my remaining 35 euros on this. All i need to do now is frame it, hang it up, and admire at leisure. 

As a kickoff to Christmas shopping mayhem, the TOKYO sale was great. On the downside (or the upside) my gift foraging was kind of self-centered. But alas, fear not, i tell myself, because our fair city plays host to several other seasonal shopping sales: this weekend one can browse the traditional christmas gift selection at the 78th annual Naisten Joulumessut (Women's Christmas Fair), or jazz up the season by purchasing a fascinator and nipple tassels from the Burlesque/Rock'n'Roll/Vintage themed Ofelia Market. My plan is to attend both, and strictly refrain from buying myself anything. We'll see how that goes.

Naisten Joulumessut 2-6.12.2009, Wanha Satama, Pikku Satamakatu 3-5, Helsinki

Ofelia Market 5-6.12.2009, Kulttuuriareena Glora, Pikku Roobertinkatu 12, Helsinki