Made in the hood

There must be 1000 ways to work as a designer. Take the Finnish-Korean couple behind Helsinkibased designproducer Company for example. They chose a starting point very far from the usual international-designer-as-a-star-concept: they produce their own design and only work with local manufacturers. Aamu Song and Johan Olin talk about their ideas in terms of “seeds that make the local factories grow” and describe the “recipes” of 70 of their products in their “Company Cookbook”. Since 2008 they also run their own shop Salakauppa (the Secret Shop) close to the Kiasma museum of modern art in the center of Helsinki. The dancing shoes “Tanssitossut” for father and daughter are made of Finnish felt and rubber in Jämsä, Finland.