Inge Look - Grannies in Finland

Art by Inge Look

The sender writes that this is Kaivopuisto Harbour in Helsinki Finland and that the stamp is also the artwork of Inge Look.

postmarked in 2010 with a Finland Flower stamp

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Inge Löök (Ingebor Lievonen) is an artist and gardener from Pernaja, Finland. She was born in Helsinki 1951. Her artistic name Löök means onion in swedish.

She graduated from high school 1972 and got her gardening degree in 1974 and graduated 1979 from the Arts and Crafts University in Helsinki as a graphical designer. She worked as an gardener for six years but then her art work became a full time job.

She has drawn over 300 postcards, half of which are Christmas themed. She also designed more than 800 greeting cards and illustrated numerous exlibris book-tags. She has illustrated various childrens and young adults books and Christian literature and schoolbooks, couple of CD-covers and magazines especially gardenig magazines. She has worked for different publishers in Finland.

** The anarchistic grannies **
She is best known for her anarchistic grannie figures. Her first Grannies illustrations where born in 2003. The motto of the grannies is “Time is not money and spending it isn’t a sin”
At first her grannies were rejected by the publisher when she offered them as Valentines Day cards ( commonly known as ystävänpäivä friends day in Finland.) Pirjo Laakso noticed the grannies at a postcard fair and they were included in the Paletti card manufacturers prints. Then the grannies started their world wide success. In a couple of years grannies have sold more than hundred thousand copies. They represent a humorous approach to the world.

In spring 2008 a book and a wall calendar was published called “Paljain jaloin mummojen puutarhassa”- barefooted at the grannies garden. Grannies have now appeared in various prints and textiles and Finland has used them in stamps.

The visual appearance of the grannies comes from the artists childhood and the old ladies who lived in her neighborhood. Grannies picture a gentle caricature of the artists own attitude towards life.