Most of the regions, cities and travel companies in Finland created posters and images of their own, just like all the efforts to market Finland as such. A funny map always works, doesn’t it? The idea was naturally to lure travels from near and afar to Finland. We continuously seek more information about all images […]
It was the year 1893. The roaring Imatra Rapids in eastern Finland represented the country’s primordial mother, its beauty, everything. New lighting systems that illuminated the rapids and a brand new hotel served to spread the message to the whole world. But how do you do that? By using the equivalent of the internet at […]
This poster is extremely rare, it might not even have been used, since it was printed in 1940 when Europe was in flames.
One can only congratulate poster artist Martti Mykkänen. He managed to capture the essence of Turku (the former capital city of Finland) – its history, culture and the archipelago – in a modern and suggestive way.
Poster competitions began to be popular in the 1950s and they obviously served their purpose, since many of the great works of the decade were the result precisely of a competition. In the mid-1950s the city of Tampere wished to find new visual ways of promoting the town. In other words, it was time to […]
Three brothers. A hen house. A motorcycle engine. A few decades later, an airline, a factory and a whole community. The brothers Niilo, Valto, and Uuno Karhumäki were certainly not your common idle fellows. At first they built kites, then model planes and later on real airplanes: Karhu I, Karhu II and Karhu III. Not […]
Most of the regions, cities and travel companies in Finland created posters and images of their own, just like the city of Vaasa (this one is for the old part of the city). The idea was naturally to lure travels from near and afar to Finland. We continuously seek more information about all images in […]
A classic in the poster world. The slightly fuzzy slogan “See the Lands of the Vikings” causes us to blush a bit, but at the same time we are proud of how the Nordic countries are united. The artist Ben Blessum was born in Norway, but got his career as a painter and illustrator in […]
During the 1930´s the local and national Tourist Associations worked hard to promote Rovaniemi and Finnish Lapland as an exotic destination for the adventureous traveller. Small hotels were built, among others the proud “Fell-hotel” at Pallas. At this time Finland still had access to the Arctic Sea and the (very long) road-trip from Rovaniemi to […]
The German illustrator, glass artist and professor Alfred Mahlau (1894-1967) surely had an idea about what the Europeans wanted from Finland. In this poster it is obvious: We will lure them in with pristine nature – and a sense of design. Note that Alfred knew this already back in 1929.
Ilmari Sysimetsä’s Olympics poster featuring Paavo Nurmi – the Flying Finn – is most likely the most famous Finnish poster ever. The poster is also a great example of recycling. For the Olympic Games which were to take place in 1940 a big travel poster contest was held. The price was shared by three contestants, […]
The ship Bore (later Bore I) is – to out it simply – a legend. She was built in 1898 in Denmark and delivered to the company Bore in Turku (Åbo) in Finland. She served the route Turku-Mariehamn-Stockholm but was lost already in 1899 after running aground. But, Bore wouldn’t be Bore if she hadn’t […]
Ilmari Sysimetsä’s Olympics poster featuring Paavo Nurmi – the Flying Finn – is most likely the most famous Finnish poster ever. The poster is also a great example of recycling. For the Olympic Games which were to take place in 1940 a big travel poster contest was held. The price was shared by three contestants, […]
Take a deep breath. Because now we have reached the very essence of these cheerful greetings from Finland. We’re talking about this masterpiece by Helge Mether-Borgström’s, where a ship sails into the land of thousand lakes from the west. So simple, but oh how mesmerizing. Mether-Borgström isn’t any old graphic designer. It was he who […]
Take a deep breath. Because now we have reached the very essence of these cheerful greetings from Finland. We’re talking about this masterpiece by Helge Mether-Borgström’s, where a ship sails into the land of thousand lakes from the west. So simple, but oh how mesmerizing. Mether-Borgström isn’t any old graphic designer. It was he who […]
Look closely at the smoke which slowly is coming out of the chimneys in Aukusti Tuhka’s poster (to the right)! The smoke says a lot about how we Finns like it out there at the summer cottage: Neighbours, sure – but not too close! One cottage per lake would be kind of nice. The brilliance […]
Look closely at the smoke which slowly is coming out of the chimneys in Aukusti Tuhka’s poster (to the right)! The smoke says a lot about how we Finns like it out there at the summer cottage: Neighbours, sure – but not too close! One cottage per lake would be kind of nice. The brilliance […]
Erik Bruun (born 1926) is a merry rascal whom everyone gets along with. He is the grand old man of poster art in Finland and the question is if anyone else has done more than he has to attract travelers to Finland. In Bruun’s posters one can always sense his typical tongue in cheek attitude, […]
When the poster artist Erik Bruun (born 1926) was given the job to attract passengers to the ferry traffic between Stockholm and Helsinki/Turku he put on his thinking cap. What about the trip is so appealing? He soon realizes the answer: A day of luxury. And what could be more luxurious that the smorgasbord? Salmon […]
When the poster artist Erik Bruun (born 1926) was given the job to attract passengers to the ferry traffic between Stockholm and Helsinki/Turku he put on his thinking cap. What about the trip is so appealing? He soon realizes the answer: A day of luxury. And what could be more luxurious that the smorgasbord? Salmon […]
