Gaze Beyond 眺望 / August 2022 / Kontiolahti
Gaze Beyond illustrates my personal view of life in a peaceful Finnish town that is surrounded by forests and lakes. The pattern was originally made for Kontiolahti town in Finland as a pattern design competition entry.
The design features the most well-known nature sights and cultural heritage of Kontiolahti, such as: the Kontiolahti church, Lake Höytiäinen, Pielisjoki, the Biathlon skiing track, and the endangered järvilohi in Laurinvirta.
As a freelancer, I am duo-based in Knotiolahti and Helsinki. Our family has lived in Kontiolahti for three years. To me, Kontiolahti has a dynamic personality. It is peaceful yet vibrant. I have enjoyed beautiful everyday life in this town such as mushroom foraging, skiing, swimming in lakes etc. All these experiences gave me the inspiration for this design.
I came to Finland to study textile art and design at Aalto University around a decade ago. Previously, I worked in a Finnish regional tourism board - VisitKarelia as a destination marketer. My job was leading Destination North Karelia’s market entry in Asia.
These combined experiences helped me to approach design not only from an artistic perspective but also from a business and marketing perspective. While creating this design, the key idea is to develop a marketable pattern design for Kontiolahti for place branding.
If You are interested to hear more details of this project, check the Kontiolahti Lookbook
