From the publication “Kari Piippo – Graphic designer” (2015), foreword by Jorma Julkunen and Pirjo Julkunen, translated by Edward Crockford.

In the flow of images

“A good poster respects the intelligence of viewers and offers them a visual experience.”

When Kari Piippo was five years old his family moved from Ostrobothnia in northwest Finland to Vihti in the southwest where his father was employed as a teacher at the local Palojärvi school. Living by the school and sports ground and among the locals provided a good environment in which to grow up. Kari had plenty of friends and things to do. In summertime he practiced athletics and Finnish baseball, while in wintertime he skied. Sports were very popular in post-war Finland. The country’s brilliant sporting achievements in the 1920s and 1930s carried through to the 1950s. The nation was thirsty for more winners and its young people for idols to imitate and identify with.

In the “citius, altius, fortius” summer of 1956 Finland’s top athletes were preparing for the Summer Olympics in Melbourne, Australia. The country’s sports fields were filled with thousands of girls and boys running, jumping and throwing. Among them was 10-year-old Kari Piippo. The fields were filled with sports star dreams and admiring talk of champions. Yet that summer the shy eldest son of the local school teacher announces confidently: I shall become a champion in another field as an artist. His priorities were reversed: art came first, sports second. This could be seen at home too. The walls of his bedroom were not decorated with images of sports heroes or even pop stars but instead by the poster “Divan Japonais” by French poster artist Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec.

“Our family values were very culturally oriented. My father was a teacher, writer and amateur painter. At home I got to know Matisse, Cezanne, Gauguin, Van Gogh, Picasso and Miro under the mentorship of my father,” Kari Piippo remembers. I familiarised myself with the masters by reading the small art books we had at home. I was especially impressed by the drawings of Toulouse-Lautrec. Secondary school in the larger town of Lohja meant new surroundings for Kari Piippo, who went from a tiny local school to large coeducational school with a thousand pupils 20 kilometres away. Still, he continued to practice sports while growing ever more convinced of his future career as an artist. The school’s teachers soon became aware that they had a budding artist among the young pupils.

All his thoughts revolved around the idea of becoming an artist, and he couldn’t wait to get started on his career.

“I faired reasonably well in the academic subjects, but I was particularly good at sports and art – rather successful, in fact. My drawing teacher encouraged my artistic pursuits during art classes, but I could also throw the shot put like my sports teacher, Finnish champion Reijo Koivisto. I could almost jump my own height in the high jump too, but gradually I realised that I was reaching my physical limits in sports. Still, the satisfaction of my success on the sports field was surpassed only by my biology teacher’s announcement in front of the entire classroom that Piippo doesn’t need to study this because he’ll be an artist!”

All his thoughts revolved around the idea of becoming an artist, and he couldn’t wait to get started on his career.

It was therefore an easy decision to forego upper secondary school and apply instead for the Institute of Industrial Arts (now the Aalto University School of Arts, Design and Architecture) in Helsinki. He was accepted to the institute’s evening school at the age of 16 and to the day school the following year, having scored the highest mark on the entrance exams. Piippo began studying to become a graphic designer.

“I realised immediately that I had come to the right place. Finland has a long tradition in design education. The generation that studied before me in the 1950s created the foundation for the rise of graphic design. Following the Second World War, from 1945 onwards, Finland underwent a rapid period of industrialisation. Material was in short supply, so Finnish craftsmen learned to value scarcity and use it to their advantage. Objects had to be easy to make and material efficient to use. The Finnish tradition combined with Bauhaus ideals, and perhaps also Japanese aesthetics, gave rise to the concept of Finnish Design with its focus on simplicity, clarity and pure forms. Our teacher Kaj Franck drove it into our heads: ideas and form should speak the same language.

”During our last year at the institute we travelled to study in Poland. In Warsaw it felt like I had fallen right into an art gallery. The streets were filled with these wonderful and colourful movie, theatre and circus posters. Tomaszewski, Cieslewicz, Lenica, Swierzy and Mlodozeniec struck me like a bolt of lightning. Their posters communicated so freely, personally and boldly. I knew immediately which path I wanted to take as a graphic designer. Around the same time I was inspired in Finland by the travel and commercial posters of Erik Bruun and Martti Mykkänen.”

Kari Piippo graduated in 1967. A couple of years spent working at an advertising agency in Helsinki and a year in the army aroused his desire for freedom. It was time to become a freelancer, to follow his own path and find his own voice. His marriage to Paula, who had graduated as an art teacher, and their move to Nivala in northwest Finland with their first child Mikko meant a big change. The young family lived in Ostrobothnia for two years.

“In 1971 we moved south again to Mikkeli after Paula got a job as an art lecturer at the Mikkelin Lyseo secondary school. Our second son Pekka was born, and we built our dream home on Katajamäenkatu. Life was all about raising children and working as an illustrator. Pekka suffered a serious illness and long recovery, which altered my values. Graphic design was no longer the most important thing in the world. Still, I was happy to win a poster contest celebrating the 25th anniversary of UNESCO under the theme ‘A world fit to live in’.”

The belief that to be successful you had to go to Helsinki persisted stubbornly from previous decades. Today we know that, within our global village, Mikkeli, Helsinki, Berlin, New York and Tokyo are all on the same starting line. In 1983 Kari Piippo visited the world-famous Japanese graphic designer U. G. Sato in Tokyo. His office consisted only of a small table, paper, a pen, a brush and paints. The artist’s fame and modesty made a lasting impression.

“Creating moving works of art is not dependent on your tools or address. Only the artist’s skills are essential. Mikkeli has been and remains a great place to live and work as a graphic designer.”

Piippo adopted a visual approach to interpreting things. Function and aesthetics determine how everything is related to, whether it’s the interior of your home, your garden or an urban milieu. Over the years thousands of details have been captured by the memory of his camera: the play of light and shadow in the cracks in walls, window frames, doorbells, street furniture, typography. His sketchpad too has been employed heavily. Observation and dialogue with the environment are the foundations on which the creative processes begin.

Kari Piippo’s works gained national visibility during his first couple of decades as an independent graphic designer. His journey began by contributing illustrations for serialised stories in weekly magazines. He became a household name among readers of the popular Anna magazine. His cover illustrations for the novels of Laila Hietamies (now Hirvisaari) further enhanced his reputation. He spent two years of his life creating illustrations for children’s ABCs and reading skills books published by WSOY.

A keen follower of the cultural life in his hometown, Kari Piippo wanted to introduce something new to the local art scene. He came up with the idea of an international illustration exhibition. The works of Finnish illustrators would provide the framework, while international illustrators would have their own section. The aim was to create a unique, regular and high-quality art event that would also help create a special profile for Mikkeli Art Museum. The idea gained momentum in 1982, when the museum made a proposal for organising the exhibition once every three years.

Mikkeli’s Illustration Triennial has since earned an impressive list of participants and featured artists: Svend Otto Sörensen from Denmark was followed by Brad Holland and Paul Davis from the USA, István Orosz from Hungary, Stasys Eidrigevičius from Lithuania, and Dutch caricaturist Willem, who lives in France. All are world renowned masters.

Good posters are noticed, the best are remembered

The Golden Age of Polish poster art had provided Piippo with a direction for his art. Their individuality and trust in the perceptive ability of viewers provided the most important lesson for the young graphic artist. He was given the opportunity to put this into practice after Markku Kontro was appointed director of Mikkeli Theatre in 1977. Kontro appreciated the importance of theatre posters.

“The posters I created for Mikkeli Theatre were important in my development as an artist. The limits set by the size, A3, and colours, just two, taught me all about simplification. In the early years I would watch the rehearsals for inspiration, but I soon realised that the language of posters requires a completely different approach than the stage. How could I reduce a two-hour performance into a message that could be understood in just a few moments? Even though theatre posters are an art form, they are also a means of selling tickets. Still, I believe I was entitled to make my own artistic interpretations.”

The partnership between Piippo and the theatre spanned a quarter of a century, creating dozens of posters that enjoyed success in international competitions and created a name for Mikkeli Theatre in Europe. The posters were subsequently exhibited in connection with the 60th anniversary celebrations of the theatre. The exhibition presented Kari Piippo’s posters and how they were created. The logo that Piippo designed for Mikkeli Theatre in 1985 is still used to this day.

Piippo’s guiding principle, “the art of scarcity”, attracted the attention of design schools. He began teaching at the Institute of Design and Fine Arts in Lahti, followed by eight years at the University of Industrial Art Helsinki (now the Aalto University School of Arts, Design and Architecture). Since 2004 Kari Piippo has been a visiting professor at the Tama Art University in Tokyo, Japan. He has also lectured at numerous art academies in China.

“Learning and teaching are always interactive. Teachers share their knowledge, skills and experiences. Ideally they are like gardeners who nurture, protect, support and trim. Chinese art students have made a big impression on me. They are active, open and willing to learn. Their attitude to learning is very positive and enthusiastic, and they have very good technical skills.”

Alongside his teaching work, Piippo’s artistic work continued in Mikkeli and in his studio in Helsinki. His postage stamps, logos, brochures, posters, books and graphic guidelines have kept Kari Piippo’s name relevant on both the local and national levels.

Kari Piippo has done graphic design work for communities, companies and events. Whether the customer is a local association for war orphans or a government ministry, the design work is always equally demanding. It requires total commitment. The paths of the graphic designer and locals in and around Mikkeli intertwine in some of the most unusual contexts. When the Headquarters Museum was expanded and its main exhibition updated at the turn of the millennium, Kari Piippo was commissioned to design the entire exhibition, as well as printed items and sales products.

Kari Piippo stopped teaching full time at Aalto University in 1997. It was time to pause and give new thought to the fundamental questions of design work. Sticking out from the masses is increasingly important among the ever growing flow of images.

An invitation to join the Alliance Graphique Internationale (AGI), a group of the world’s leading graphic artists and designers, was an honour and privilege for Kari Piippo. The AGI holds annual congresses, symposiums and lectures around the world, providing a comprehensive overview of the state of graphic design and signposting the road ahead. When Helsinki served as the host of the AGI Congress in 2003, Kari Piippo was one of the three organisers. Workshops at foreign art universities have also served as laboratories for crystallising ideas, while mentoring students and evaluating their works have given linguistic expression to experiencing graphic art.

Kari Piippo has worked for almost half a century as an artist, the career he chose as a 10 year old. He has designed over 200 posters, including both commissioned works and personal projects for international exhibitions.

“The values that are most important to me are environmental issues, human rights and peace. I want to focus people’s attention on injustices, of which there are plenty in the world, but also I want people to notice the small and simple things that make this world an interesting place in which to live. I believe that my posters can have an influence, but at the same time I recognise that they are not a solution to the problems. They simply mould the message into an influential visual form.”

“Whether we like it or not, our designs are always reflections of our times and the prevailing culture, values and attitudes. My personal design philosophy is “the art of scarcity”. The layout, colours and typography must serve the message. I like to combine individuality, artistry and messages in my work. Nothing too much, nothing too little! I believe this approach leads to the best results.

“The 1960s were the Golden Age of Polish poster art. Later on I also admired the aesthetic appeal of Japanese design, the constructive appeal of Swiss design, the technical perfection of German art and the open-mindedness of French design. As a Nordic designer I have learned to value simplicity and the clarity of expression. Today we can gather influences from around the world in an instant. Trends change at a rapid pace. What is most important, however, is to remember that our designs work within the cultural environment for which they were intended.”

Throughout his career Kari Piippo has given numerous individual poster exhibitions, and since the 1980s he has also participated in major group exhibitions both in Finland and abroad, including in Mexico, Italy, Denmark, Turkey, China, Japan, the Czech Republic, Ecuador, Germany, France, Australia, Ukraine, Hungary, the USA and Iran.

“The absolute highlights of my career, the realisation of my dreams, were the individual exhibitions at the Chaumont poster museum in France, the DDD gallery in Osaka and the Ginza Graphic Gallery in Tokyo.”

At home Kari Piippo has been a recipient of the State Industrial Arts Award and, in 2011, the Pro Finlandia Medal. He has been named Graphic Artist of the Year, won one Platinum and four Golden awards in the Best of Finnish Advertising and Design competition, and been the recipient of the Best Finnish Poster Prize on several occasions. His international awards include a Gold in Mexico International Poster Biennial in 1990 and 2006, the Icograda Excellence Award in Chaumont in 1990 and at the Warsaw Poster Biennale in 2010, Silver at the international Lahti Poster Biennale in 1991, 1st Prize at the International Poster Biennial in Rzeszow in 1993, 1st Prize at the Colorado International Invitational Poster Exhibition in 1999, the Grand Prix Ecoplakat Triennial in Slovakia in 2000 and the Grand Prix at the Trnava Poster Triennial in Slovakia in 2013. Kari Piippo also served as President of the Helsinki International Poster Biennial from 1994 to 1998.

“Especially at the start of my career receiving awards was very encouraging for me as an artist. Later in my career, serving on the international juries of poster competitions has been a most very rewarding experience. Ultimately the best reward is the feeling of belonging to a great family of international designers. It’s great to meet such relatives wherever I go!”

Kari Piippo may enjoy an impressive international career, but his home is still very much in Mikkeli, Finland. Soon he will have to leave his home on Katajamäenkatu once again to convey his graphic design message “Simple, Strong, Sharp” to the rest of the world. “Good morning, I am Kari Piippo, graphic designer from Mikkeli, Finland!” And so he continues the legacy of his father as a mentor for a new generation. ●

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Sources

Conversations with Kari Piippo in spring 2015