How Erja Hirvi’s love of flowers became prints

In 2024, Erja Hirvi received an exceptional assignment: create five floral prints for Marimekko. Four other designers were given the same brief, and together the 25 designs were first presented in 2025 as part of the Field of flowers pop-up exhibition tour across Asia.

What made the commission special was its scale. The designers were given complete creative freedom, as long as the theme was flowers. The task was a perfect fit for Hirvi, a lifelong flower lover who has been designing prints for Marimekko since her student days, for more than 30 years.

“It was such a delightful brief. Paint flowers and no one sets any limits. Not on color, size, technique or style. It gives you tremendous freedom. And flowers are incredibly inspiring. There were so many ideas that at times I struggled to choose. I must have painted around 50 sketches,” Hirvi recalls.

Kukasta kukkaan, a symbol of bold moves

The first of the new designs to enter Marimekko’s collection is Kukasta kukkaan, which Hirvi painted on a hot July day at her summer retreat about an hour’s drive from Helsinki. The print took shape as she revisited old sketches and began observing the countless ways flowers appear in nature. Chance and sudden ideas also played their part.

“I painted at the cottage almost the entire month of July. It was terribly hot and perfectly peaceful, no one disturbing me. The air was still, plants swayed open and nature was lush. The beauty of summer itself influenced what Kukasta kukkaan became. The feeling of the outdoors somehow transferred onto paper,” Hirvi says.

Hirvi captured flowers both at her summer place and in Helsinki, for instance the renewed park at Töölönlahti, with her phone. Inspired by the park’s plantings, she also painted Puistokukat, one of the Field of flowers designs. The name Kukasta kukkaan also traces back to her phone.

“I filmed bumblebees buzzing around a large rhododendron. They were fascinating to watch. They always seem to be in an unbelievable hurry. Their important daily task is to fly from flower to flower.”

For Marimekko, Kukasta kukkaan has become a kind of symbol of courage and self-confidence. It serves as a reminder that once you begin, the best thing is to trust yourself. The idea grew out of Hirvi’s own working process. Awarded Textile Artist of the Year five years ago, she describes how confidence in one’s own hand can only come through doing, and at the beginning that trust is always a little uncertain.

“I had sketched something lightly in pencil underneath, but once you start painting, it’s almost impossible to follow. You just go with it. Even if you don’t know exactly what you’re doing, the idea develops as you paint. You have to relax, enjoy it, trust yourself and take a few risks,” Hirvi explains. “When you’re relaxed, it’s easier to transfer the image in your mind onto paper.”

For the sake of flowers and pollinators

For Erja Hirvi, flowers are especially close to her heart and far more than visual beauty or a design theme.

“A long time ago, I came across information that the number of pollinators is declining, even though they are extremely important. It feels like in modern times we’ve somewhat forgotten how everything in nature is connected,” Hirvi reflects.

She contributes to pollinators especially at her summer cottage, where physical work also offers an important way for her to unwind. She has focused on choosing flowers that are particularly suited to pollinators for her garden.

“I have a book about the best butterfly plants for gardens, and I use it to spot what to plant. But wildflowers are unbeatable. Sometimes I’ve had a shovel or hoe in the car, and on the way to the cottage I’ve dug up plants from the roadside, like field scabious, and replanted them in my flowerbeds.”

If previous years are any indication, there will likely be even more flowers at the summer retreat this year.

“My son once cautiously said in the spring, ‘Mom, what do you think if we don’t plant any more flowers this summer? What if we just take care of the ones we already have?’ But I just can’t help myself,” Hirvi laughs.