Questions to Mika Ihamuotila

Deutsch: Helsinki, Kamppi: Marimekko- Verkaufsstelle (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Tomorrow morning, CEO of Marimekko, Mika Ihamuotila will step in front of the cameras at 7:45 on Huomenta Suomi-morning show.

First I want to say I’m rooting for Marimekko and Mika Ihamuotila, I’ve done research and received few little pieces of gossip, that makes me think that Mika has been put in this difficult position by people who decided to use his illness as an opportunity to advance their personal agenda within the company.

But still, he IS the CEO and I have some, no, one question to him regarding the latest scandal.

Image via Grupofis.com.tr

Remember 2008? When you began a legal process immediately after you found out that Dolce&Gabbana had been using Unikko in their cruise collection? And how you reached a financial settlement because in your opinion unlicensed use had caused financial damage to Marimekko? I mean, the D&G print isn’t even a direct copy, the layout is completely different.

Remember how you used that argument on Gingko-case?

Now, with the latest scandal, which still can go both ways, we will know for sure when the manufacturer is found out and from there the date of production. However, following thing bothers me: Your designer said in the statement you released that “I confirm that Hetkiä/Moments is my design. I took part with it in a competition organized by Marimekko and University of Art & Design Helsinki. The bag bought in Barcelona, seen in the news, in my opinion is the copy.” Here’s the important part: “I’ve seen the bag myself (often), after the print was produced by Marimekko and been wondering about it’s similarity.”

Your designer had seen the print/bag, which you (the company) and she think is a copy, and yet you did nothing. The bag doesn’t look like it’s one of a kind, but factory manufactured. There’s most likely hundreds if not thousands of them out there. YET you didn’t think it was necessary to take any action. Here is my question: Why didn’t you?

Thrifty Finn- Wanting to go back to regular blogging but since I started to follow the story, I have to follow it through. Because that’s what I’ve demanded of my friends and tonight, they quite rightly pointed it out to me.

Related articles

• Marimekko. No. (thriftyfinn.wordpress.com)
• There’s a Fifth One (thriftyfinn.wordpress.com)
• Marimekko. Busted. (thriftyfinn.wordpress.com)
• Marimekko fends off new plagiarism claims (yle.fi)
• Design Process a la Marimekko (thriftyfinn.wordpress.com)
• The Weather Diary (thriftyfinn.wordpress.com)
• Marimekko & Mika Ihamuotila (thriftyfinninvestigates.wordpress.com)
• Marimekko. Updated. (thriftyfinninvestigates.wordpress.com)
• Marimekko, Breaking News (thriftyfinninvestigates.wordpress.com)
• Marimekko, Interesting Commentaries (thriftyfinninvestigates.wordpress.com)