Folks goes art

Ville Leino

Paintings: lofts, and lounge

A former professional ice hockey player, Ville Leino is nowadays more known for his Billebeino brand, which is a big part of The Folks. During his career as a professional hockey player, he started to paint to get a break from his daily routines. Now he gets to paint even more. The Folks Hotel Konepaja has multiple unique paintings by Leino and one of them has been perpetuated to the hotel’s decorative pillows.

Laura Itkonen

Ceramics, murals in 47 rooms 

Laura Itkonen from Helsinki is a designer and an artist. In her production, the main focus is on visually detailed architectural ceramics and statuesque utensils, combining both, art and design. Laura has designed and implemented ceramic murals in 47 rooms at The Folks Hotel Konepaja. 

Her artistic style was inspired by the materials and the city architecture of the surrounding area. The historic buildings in the Konepaja area have been built of the traditional Finnish red clay, which Laura has also used in some of her murals. 

Tiiti Hynninen, Sun Effects

Locomotion art piece, façades

The light art installation and façade lighting come together to highlight the historical facades of the protected buildings, returning Konepajaportti as the focal point of the area.

The light art installation has gotten its inspiration from the railway network that used to dominate the area. In the installation, the railway network transforms into façade climbing, uniting, and separating light stripes, imitating the railways, their paragon. It forms a network that breaths and lives in the stream of urban development. 

During the day, the installation blends in as part of Konepaja’s architecture. The light gets activated in the evening into a pulse-like, peaceful movement. The rhythm comes from the monotonic movement that was typical for older trains. This challenges people to stop by the installation, in the hectic surroundings. Installation’s warm, tinted tones mimic the patina verdigris of the surfaces. The façade lighting highlights the building architecture by playing with the rhythms of light and shade. The lighting itself brings up buildings’ details from various eras. Tones of the lighting together with the light art installation are very harmonic and cohesive. 

Meri Nurmi, Pinto Design

”Maalaus” print, carpets in hallways and the hotel rooms

Meri Nurmi has designed a signature print called “Maalaus” for The Folks. The print can be seen in two sets of colors all over the hallway and room carpets. The inspiration for the print was found during the construction side demolition, out of old surfaces and structures. Multiple layers of paint and dangling insulation formed some rough, but beautiful surfaces, to which Meri referred to by painting and tearing up paper. 

When designing the colors, the color palettes of the rooms, the maintenance, and the print technique of tufted carpets were all taken into consideration. The carpets were delivered by Vallila Interior.

The artists of Konepaja

Painted Ceilings, Old Office

There is a colorful, full ceiling-sized painting in the staircase of Vanha Konttori. It has the signature of “V. Sellmer, A. Laitinen, 1957”, The painting consists of flat color surfaces. Mythological topics of railways and machine shops have been combined thereto and some highlights of Helsinki city architecture can be seen in the background.

There is a text “Nulla dies sine linea.” written on the painting. At the other end of the painting, there is also a later signature; “R. Väyrynen, 1983.”  The painting in the lobby has a similar style, with men in a machine shop painted in it. There is a signature “V. Sellmer 1958”.

Kim-Peter Waltzer-Girda

Spiritual, Medal, Dust, Acid, and Dynamite, lobby

Behind the art of Waltzer-Girda is his mesmerizing personality. His artwork is inspired by nature and spirituality. The art at The Folks also stems from the roughness and simplicity as well as the richness of Finnish nature. Waltzer’s art pieces have always been manufactured of longstanding materials, by utilizing old art techniques. Many international collectors have acquired Walzer-Girdan’s sculptures.