Tiiliskivi: Armi Ratia's 1952 Brick Pattern in Terry and Linen

Most Marimekko patterns from the company's early years were drawn by the designers Armi Ratia hired. Tiiliskivi, the brick, is one of the few she drew herself, in 1952. This is the story of that pattern and of how it now reaches the bathroom and the sofa, woven into organic cotton terry and knitted into linen.

A founder who drew a brick

Armi Ratia trained as a textile designer in Helsinki before she and her husband Viljo Ratia turned his printing company, Printex, towards bold printed cotton. Marimekko was set up in 1951 to show what those fabrics could become as clothes, and Armi led it as founder and art director. Her real talent, by most accounts, was recognising talent in others: Maija Isola and Vuokko Nurmesniemi gave the house many of its defining prints in the 1950s and 1960s.

That makes Tiiliskivi unusual. It is a pattern by the founder herself, drawn a year after the company began. Its name is the Finnish word for brick, and the subject is exactly that: a field of plain rectangles laid in courses, the way a mason would set them. There is no flower, no figure, no story. The design rests on the idea Armi Ratia returned to again and again, that ordinary things used every day deserve to be made well and to look good.

Tiiliskivi is Finnish for brick, and the choice of subject reflects Ratia's belief in the simple beauty of everyday things. Choosing the brick as a motif was a quiet statement that beauty did not have to come from somewhere else. It could be found in the most ordinary building material of all.

Why a simple grid lasts

A pattern built from repeated rectangles has a practical advantage over a figurative one. It scales without losing its character, it works in two colours as easily as in four, and it sits comfortably next to other prints. Tiiliskivi can be read from across a room as a texture and, close up, as a deliberate rhythm of offset blocks. That double reading is part of why it has stayed in the Marimekko range while many patterns from the same decade have been retired.

It also translates well from print into structure. A flower drawn with a brush depends on the brush mark, and weaving it changes its nature. A brick grid is already geometric, so when it is woven or knitted into the fabric itself, it loses nothing. In the current pieces the pattern is not printed on the surface at all. It is built into the cloth.

Tiiliskivi in terry: the bathrobe and towels

The Tiiliskivi Bathrobe carries the pattern as an embossed relief in organic cotton terry, so the brick is felt as much as seen. It is a long robe, 117 cm in length and 58 cm wide, with long sleeves, patch pockets at the front, belt loops and a separate belt. It comes in Hay / Brick, in sizes S, M, L and XL, and is made in Portugal. In a single tone the relief does the work: light catches the raised courses of the bricks and the pattern appears and recedes as the fabric moves.

The towels take a different approach to colour. Both the Tiiliskivi Hand Towel 50 x 70 cm and the Tiiliskivi Guest Towel 30 x 50 cm are woven so that each side shows a different colourway. Turn the towel over and the balance of the bricks and the mortar lines changes. That is a modest idea, but a satisfying one: the same towel can sit quietly on one side and read more boldly on the other, depending on the room.

Both are woven in Portugal from organic cotton terry. The hand towel is offered in Brick / Plum / Hay and Black / White. The guest towel comes in the same two colourways, with Brick / Plum / Hay as the warm, earthy choice and Black / White as the most graphic reading of the original drawing.

Tiiliskivi in linen: the cushion cover

The Tiiliskivi Cushion Cover 40 x 60 cm moves the pattern into the living room. Here it is a jacquard knit in linen, made in Lithuania, so the brick is part of the construction rather than ink on top. Linen brings a dry, slightly irregular hand that suits the pattern: the bricks look laid by hand rather than ruled.

The cover is a long rectangle, 40 x 60 cm, with a concealed zipper along one side. It comes in Plum / Orange Red, the warmer and more saturated choice, and Off-White / Chestnut, which is close to the colour of real brick and mortar. A rectangular cushion is useful in practice. Set against two square cushions on a sofa it adds a horizontal line and some texture, and on an armchair it works as a lumbar support.

Caring for woven and knitted Tiiliskivi

Because the pattern lives in the structure of the fabric, care is mostly about protecting that structure. For the terry pieces, Marimekko's advice is clear:

• Wash before first use, with like colours and at the temperature on the care label.
• Wash in a full machine, which keeps the terry from twisting.
• Leave out fabric conditioner. It coats the loops and reduces absorbency.
• Allow for shrinkage of up to 6%, which matters most when choosing a robe size.

The linen cover should be washed at the temperature given on its label, and it too can shrink by up to 6%. Washed linen softens with time, and the knitted bricks become a little more relaxed in outline, which suits a pattern about everyday materials.

Living with the brick

Tiiliskivi works best when it has room to be read. In the bathroom, pair the robe or a patterned towel with towels in a plain colour so the relief stands out rather than competing. A hand towel by the basin and a guest towel folded beside it make a small set, and hanging one with each side facing out adds variety without adding a new pattern. On a sofa, one Tiiliskivi cover among plain linen or wool cushions is enough. If you already own Marimekko's floral prints, the brick is a calm partner for them: our story on Unikko, Maija Isola's 1964 poppy, shows the other side of the house's early graphic language.

More than seventy years on, Armi Ratia's brick still does what she intended. It takes something plain, gives it rhythm and colour, and puts it to work in daily life. See more of the pattern and the designers she brought together in the full Marimekko collection.