The Significance of Water on Wellbeing - Leena Fredriksson
During 2022 Helgabad has introduced five KAFTAN(EN) users who share their thoughts on water and wellbeing. Hopefully their thoughts have inspired you.
Our sixth and last KAFTAN(EN) profile in 2022 is Leena Fredriksson. Leena Fredriksson is a Finnish artist, illustrator, concept-, pattern-, textile- and graphic designer. After years working in various design agencies she decided to ‘set up her own shop’ and freelance. Leena is the founder and creator of globally known brand Momolu (a brand for preschoolers). Leena is also the creator of her own brand, which includes stationery and textile products. Leena lives in Helsinki, Finland.
I personally met Leena many years ago when we were both in our previous careers. From then onwards, I really appreciate her sense of style and her design. In 2021 we both found ourselves at individual crossroads, and it was on a grey and harsh morning in March that we decided to meet and catch up, outdoors. I told Leena about KAFTAN(EN) and I shared my uncertainty of actually starting a business, of creating a brand. I described to Leena my vision of Helgabad’s branding if I were to go ahead with my venture. Leena was immediately enthusiastic and that very same evening I basically had a brand profile in my inbox. Leena did not only believe in me and Helgabad, but she also offered invaluable help in creating the Helgabad website, almost for free. I do believe that we meet the people we are meant to meet and that there is a reason for almost everything, there was a reason why Leena and I met when we did. We are different, we don’t even share the same language, but we speak the same style language and that is a great richness. Thank you, Leena, for all that you have given to me and Helgabad, I hope to always have you by my side.Each of our profiles gets the same questions.Do you have a special relationship to water?
My family’s summer cottage is situated on an island in the outer archipelago of Loviisa. My whole life, I have spent my summers on this authentic island, where there is no running water or electricity. Nowadays, I also spend my summers in the Turku archipelago. My favorite destinations are Utö, Nötö, Vänö, Örö and Bengtskär. I have always been attracted to the raw and authentic living conditions that adhere in the outer archipelago, this is the very meaning of ‘hygge’ in the archipelago and I love that. I love sitting on the cottage terrace, with a candle as my companion, watching the dark sea go to sleep. I love carrying washing water in buckets from the sea up to the sauna. I love listening to the sound of strong winds churning around our cottage at night before I fall asleep. Also, my childhood home is located by the waterfront and therefore swimming in the sea was a regular spare time activity growing up. As a young girl I practiced scouting, that in combination with a passion for harsh nature are elements that very much define who I am - I am not made of sugar. How do you appreciate the feeling you get after a cold-water swim and sauna? How does water make you feel?
At our cottage in the outer archipelago, we have no running water and therefore I have grown accustomed to swim in and wash myself in cold water. The water in the outer archipelago is almost always cold, hence the sensation of cold water is normal to me. Sauna and swimming in ice cold sea water is always accompanied by a certain ritual. While sauna and cold-water swimming is both refreshing and energizing, it simultaneously calms the body and mind.The sea and the archipelago have always been an inspiration for my creative job in art and design. Nature in the outer archipelago is beautiful and raw, the sea looks and feels different every season, the colors vary. These are elements that I witness early spring and late autumn, which is when my family and I head out to the summer cottage to prepare it for summer versus winter. The dress code always being rubber boots and rain clothing and a mind prepared for big waves. The sea is always on the move and for me the sea represents freedom. Ever since I was a child, I have loved to sit by the water and stare at and listen to the sea, it is like meditation, my mind calms down and the concept of time disappear.I have great respect for the sea, if the winds are strong, we cannot get ashore from the summer cottage, we are there, fully at the mercy of nature. This is fine by me. Thank you Leena for sharing your story on your relationship to water and its significance on your wellbeing. I did not know that you were a scout, so was I.
Follow Leena on Instagram @leenafredriksson, @leenafredrikssonart, @momoluofficial. And by all means, if you are in need of great graphic design, contact Leena.
Pia
CEO & Founder of Helgabad
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Photo: Petra Veikkola