HOMEY HOUSEWARES FROM SAMUJI KOTI


In Finnish, the word koti means home. At its best, the idea of home represents a place of origin as well as a living space that evokes elements of past tradition and heritage through the objects that occupy it. For the team at Samuji, a creative studio and design house founded in Helsinki, these two meanings are married through the designs of their new home collection.

The assortment is small, but distinct, and a reminder of a slower pace of life that is less disposable. There are candleholders cast from rusted scrap iron in molds made from Belgian sand, glycerin soaps processed from vegetable oil and lye with nothing more than a metal whisk, and bowls carved from birch burls, a natural deformity of the tree. A reminder of personal tradition for Samuji creative director, Samu-Jussi Koski, is the mouth-blown glass watering bulb: “My grandmother used a plastic Coca Cola bottle that she kept upside down in a plant so that it would only take the water that it needed. We wanted to create something nicer looking than the Coca Cola bottle.”

Part of the collection was created in-house by Koski and his two lead designers, Erja Hirvi and Pasi Kärkkäinen. All three met in the print design offices of Finland’s most well-known fashion export, Marimekko. The rest is produced by mostly local craftsmen that the designers seek or happen upon. “We respect their heritage and their working methods, and we get inspired by them many times,” Kärkkäinen explains. The overall æsthetic stays in line with their clothing collection started in 2011, which has now developed into men’s, women’s, and accessories. “The values of each collection are the same,” Koski says. “We hold dear necessary things and eco-functionality. We try to do sustainable design, and the æsthetic is not anything that shouts. It’s more of a silent beauty.”

For more information, please visit Samuji.com.

Jennifer Mason is a style manager at the Saks Fifth Avenue photo studio in New York. Her fashions and travels are shared on Instagram @jennymie.

  • Share

Related