SHANNON, Bath:

One of the shops in Bath that gives me most pleasure is Shannon in Walcot Street, which I pass whenever I walk into the City centre. Anyone who loves colour will be seduced by this Scandinavian Aladdin’s Cave. It is filled with Marrimekko mouth-watering fabrics and many imaginative Scandinavian modern design classics- furniture, lighting, china, glass, bags and a fund of other home accessories and gifts.

It is a delight to talk to the owner, Sue Shannon, as she gives you a warm welcome, has a great sense of design and clearly loves and appreciates what she sells. Having established the shop in 1999, she says she specializes in Scandinavian design because the quality is so exceptional. Her website is well worth a visit: www.shannon-uk.com

I have singled out the Marrimekko fabrics as I have loved them since I first saw them many years ago in a shop called Finnish Designs in the London Haymarket, as described in a previous blog in January 2008. As you might well guess, I am drawn to them because, apart from the absolutely wonderful colours and patterns, so many of them are based on trees and flowers- and always seem to get their characters totally right. So here are some images of the shop and my favourite contents:

Marimekko Fabrics

In the meantime, something quite different: when in the City of Bath (in the UK) prior to finding or moving into my present apartment in Santa Monica, I saw the Tree fabrics shown above. I just WANTED them, although I had no idea what I was going to do with them- and so I bought one length of each design. Imagine my delight when I realized that they were a perfect fit for the two windows on either side of my front door. The outlook from those two windows (an office building) is not attractive. To allow light to infiltrate, I lined them with a very fine voile. When the morning sun streams in you get a wonderful Stained Glass effect. The two other windows provide sufficient
light for the apartment.

What interests me is that these fabrics are from a Finnish company Marimekko: these particular ones are by the designer Maija Lovekari. Now I first fell in love with Marimekko’s fabrics when a student in London in the late 1950’s/ early 60’s. A wonderful shop called “Finnish Designs” opened in the Haymarket. At that time, Swedish fabrics were very popular and they were all in rather musty dark greens and purples, whereas I loved- and painted in- clear, fresh colours. Here they were in abundance and in beautiful designs. I bought yards of them- making curtains for my parent’s house in the country among other things. They were so uplifting. I see they are still marketing some of the early designs I had.




Not trees, but the other Marimekko fabric that I bought in Bath was the Wave design shown above. I was fascinated by the fact that it so closely resembled a favorite Matisse cutout painting- a print of which I had bought in the Matisse Museum in Nice, where the original is. Again, I was lucky in that I had just bought sufficient fabric for my bedroom window. You could get seasick here: even the (old) Ikea chest of drawers is wavy!

Like lovely Santa Monica, my apartment has both the Trees AND the Ocean....

Design sponge online: Seeing a post about a Marimekko black and white Tree fabric used to upholster chairs prompted this post.

The fabrics were purchased at: Shannon, 68 Walcot Street, Bath.

Marimekko
Marimekko book
Design Sponge