Wild at Birth (Villinä syntynyt) Exhibition at Galleria Loisti, Helsinki, 2-14 July 2026

Jane as Jane, Hanna-Kaisa Korolainen 2026. Photo: Linda Lehtovirta

The exhibition features rugs by Hanna-Kaisa Korolainen, presenting familiar faces from Pre-Raphaelite paintings – but now they are covered in hair that resembles animal fur. Alongside the textile works, also ceramics exploring the same themes are on display.

The works crack the tradition of art, where both the model and the artist have clear roles. The power dynamics are omnipresent in art – who looks at whom, and how – but now the role of the model in the creative process is put under observation. The names of the artists who formed the brotherhood of Pre-Raphaelites live till today; their models were presented as passive, aesthetic and even anonymous objects under the gaze.

Pre-Raphaelites still affect present-day concepts of beauty. In the tradition of art, a human is hairless, and the pursuit for this smoothness very much prevails in today’s mainstream beauty standards. Hair exists between body’s interior and exterior, reaching outward from the self into the world. The philosopher Julia Kristeva's concept of the abject describes this condition: Between subject and object lies a space that is fascinating and alluring, but also unsettling. The furry rugs are both attractive and repellent as their wild hairs actively stretch toward the viewer.

William Morris, the multidisciplinary artist and designer associated with the Pre-Raphaelite circle, founded the Arts and Crafts movement, which championed high-quality craftsmanship over standardized industrial production. Korolainen's mechanically hand-tufted rugs, created using tools dating from the 1970s, are connected to the same tradition. The rugs are finished by brushing, which creates surfaces where image and materiality blend.

This summer, also works by Morris can be seen at the Didrichsen Art Museum.

The exhibition offers a glimpse on what’s to come in Korolainen's upcoming exhibition in Tokyo, Japan, scheduled for spring 2027.

Wild at Birth (Villinä syntynyt)

2–14 July 2026, Galleria Loisti

Vaasankatu 15, 00500 Helsinki, Finland

Vernissage: 2 July, 6–8 pm

Opening hours: Thu–Fri 2–6 pm, Sat–Sun 12–4 pm.

Sweet memories: Tristan rug in the Cover of ASUN magazine 02/2021

Sweet memories: I love seing my Tristan rug (2019) in the cover of ASUN magazine back in 2021 (https://www.asun.fi/tuote/asun-lehti-2-2021/).

Impressionist Rugs

Textile artworks by Hanna-Kaisa Korolainen

Concept of the film by Hanna-Kaisa Korolainen & Eeva Suorlahti

Filmography and lightning by Eeva Suorlahti

Performance by Nina Aspinen

Music by Benjamin G***

2018

Bagatelles

8mm film made by Nina Aspinen and Hanna-Kaisa Korolainen. Thank you for music Benjamin G*** and filming assisting by Mikko Aspinen.

The House of Love 12–16.9.

I was part of Talentshop18 curated show with other magnificent artist/designers; Teemu Salone, Teemu Perttunen and Hanna Särökaari. It was a lovely experience and I also had a change to show some of my art pieces on Skanno/Asun stand. That was truly the highlight of the fair. Now I am constantly dreaming of my own Ligne Roset sofa. Oh, those dreams….

Broken Flowers in Milan Design Week 2018/ Ventura Future

I was happy to be part of the Milan Design Week again this year. It was a wonderful experience. I exhibited my rugs and ceramics (and flowers) in FuturDome building, Via Giovanni Paisiello 6. I was presenting my rugs and ceramics called "Broken Flowers in the House of Beauty" inspired by the famous French painter Claude Monet, especially his Water Lilies painting series in Orangerie Museum and his garden in Giverny, France.

Milanese weather was amazing and there was a glutein-free bakery in the opposite side of the street. I can't count the number of focaccias, pizzas and dolcis eaten during the fair. Delicious! Pitty I don't have images from there... but well, here are couple from my exhibition. and yes, I though I was taking part of "Milan Flower Week 2018", so crazy I went while selecting flowers to go with my ceramics! Arrivederci!

The Art of Research VI Conference

I will be presenting my first published paper Monet and me – The story of an inspiration.

Here is an extract:

"Every practitioner faces moments when the work is not advancing well and enthusiasm is lost. During these moments, merely the thought of my sources of inspiration gave me the necessary desire to go on with my work. I felt no loneliness, but instead a sense of belonging between me and my sources of inspiration. I had managed to build an entire imaginary universe of the bits and pieces that I had come across during my research, and this supported the empty moments of the process of creation. This, then, is the most powerful discovery: visiting Monet’s garden gave me a site-specific memory and an imaginary home for my inspiration process. This vision was transformed further during my process while following my needs and ideals. For me, Giverny represented a place of eternal summer just like it was when I last visited it and as it was in my photographs. Some moments when I was lacking serenity, I opened the imaginary door to silent, oval halls of Orangerie filled with water lilies. In my imagination, the garden of Giverny and the museum of Orangerie were situated side by side. I had ended up by creating a miniature utopia of my own; imagination is a forceful tool."

My rug Broken flowers will be presented for the first time in the conference exhibition.

http://artofresearch2017.aalto.fi

Broken flowers rug (2017, hand-tufted, 200cm x 135cm). Photo by Hanna-Kaisa Korolainen, 2017.

Special Jury’s Mention from International Textile Competition

My rug project received a Special Jury’s Mention from 2017 Dorothy Waxman International Textile Design Prize in NYC yesterday. I feel honoured! This is how the jury described my work: 

"Also giving reference to the rain, Hanna-Kaisa’s The House of Rain is a sumptuously-soft range of rugs and cushions in mohair that are a cosy antidote to today’s difficult times. Hanna-Kaisa wanted to see how sketches made with water could be developed into textiles and how sources of inspiration influence the process and the outcome.

Her textile’s surface resembles thick, dense fur where original motifs are blurred and almost disappear, because of the richness of the material. When brushed open, the mohair becomes organic and almost animal-like, it even feels warm. Its three-dimensional surface seems active as if it was alive and reaching out."

Thank you Jury and Studio Edelkoort, which curated the competition!

Exhibition will be open until 24th of September in the The Invisible Dog Art Center, 51 Bergen St, Brooklyn, NY. If you go, please sent me photos!

Finalist in the Dorothy Waxman Textile Design Prize 2017

Good news, my rug project was selected as finalist in the international competition, Dorothy Waxman Textile Design Prize 2017 curated by Edelkoort Inc. Actually my "scratched series" jacquard blanket was finalist already in 2015, but this time around it is a bigger project. I am very happy to tell that my works will be in the exhibition in New York from 14–24.9.2017 (The Invisible Dog Art Center, 51 Bergen St, Brooklyn, NY). as part of the New York Textile Month's Talking Textiles happening.

http://www.trendtablet.com/4155-talking-textiles/

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/talking-textiles-conference-september-2017-tickets-34293273103

Orangerie – Paradis

Orangerie is one of my favourite places on earth. I can return there again and again. The guardians of exhibition are so funny, they are all the time saying SHHH SHHH, as you are suppose to be silent in this sanctuary. Can you imagine that Monet actually painted these paintings as a gift for French nation? Master Monet; this oeuvre that was his last is bursting with passion and modernity!

Photos: Hanna-Kaisa Korolainen