IMAGINATIONLAND

There is a place called Imaginationland.
We have planned to visit there for quite some time.
But we’ve been always busy finding secrets in our neighbour countries or further away.
For the past fifteen years we’ve traveled to different countries, met with local masters,
learned their ways of manufacturing and together created new traditional items, country by country.

In 2020, during the strange year of pandemic when all travels stopped we suddenly had all the time for this journey.
And so, instead of packing our bags and hurrying to the airport we starter a journey into our imagination.

In Imaginationland we met with cultures who taught us new and ancient ways of manufacturing and the use of materials.
We learned how to treat raw materials better (they sometimes need to be entertained).
We learned how a slower pace of life can increase productivity.
We learned how to trade with other species.

These visits to Imaginationland are documented in drawigns from or travels.

Hope you enjoy visiting Imaginationland with us.

—Johan

Text & Drawigns: Johan Olin / COMPANY

Map of Imaginationland

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Thank you:

All the craft masters who have always shared their secrets with us.
Arts Promotion Centre Finland for their generous support.
Nene Tsuboi who made an amazing layout for the printed book Secrets of Imaginationland, 2021
Lee Marable who Kindly commented and corrected our broken English.
Ville Vainio who made a beyond imaginative movie of our travels.






Secrets of Imaginationland
exhibition at MUJI Small Gallery
13.01.–27.02.2022
Urho Kekkosenkatu 1, 00100 Helsinki, Finland

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Secrets of Imaginationland

is a continuation of the project ‘Secrets of’ by Aamu Song & Johan Olin who have worked
with traditional manufacturers in various countries and created following product collections:
Secrets of Finland (2007–), Secrets of Korea (2008–), Secrets of Belgium (2010–), Secrets of Russia (2012–),
Secrets of Estonia (2013–), Secrets of Japan (2015–), Secrets of USA (2017–), Secrets of Mexico (2019–),
Secrets of Imaginationland (2021–), Secrets of The Andes (2021–)


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Secrets of Imaginationland -book

Size: 230x170mm, 80 pages
Illustrations and texts: Johan Olin
Book design: Nene Tsuboi, 2021


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References and Sources of Inspiration:

South Park: Imaginationland, season 11, episode 10-12, Trey Parker, 2007
12 Ideal Cities: Superstudio, 1971
Solution 239-246 Finland: The Welfare Game: M. Kalliala with J. Sutela and T. Toivonen. Sternberg press, 2011
The Random House Illustrated Encyclopedia, Random House NY 1970, 1990
The Hidden Life of Trees: Peter Wohlleben, 2016
About Time and Water: Andri Snær Magnason, 2020
We are the Weather: Jonathan Safran Foer, 2020
Ruoka, ilmasto ja terveys: Risto Isomäki, 2021
Mad Max: Fury Road: George Miller and Brendan McCarthy, 2015
Sapiens: Yuval Noah Harari, 2014
Astrophysics for People in a Hurry: Neil deGrasse Tyson, 2017
A Short History of Nearly Everything: Bill Bryson, 2009
Design for the Real World: Victor Papanek, 1971
Vniz po volšebnoi reke (Alas taikavirtaa): Eduard Uspenski, 1971

The art of Egill Sæbjörnsson, Ronan Bouroullec,
Bruno Munari, Oskar Schlemmer, Aleksandr
Rodchenko, Liubov Popova and Vladimir Tatlin.

Music listened to during the making of Imaginationland:

Metallica: Master of Puppets, 1986
Iiro Rantala: Lost heroes, 2015
Ryuichi Sakamoto: 1996
Philip Glass: (a Spotify ’Best of’ mix)
Max Richter: The Blue Notebooks, 2004
Radio Helsinki: various artists
YLE Radio Suomi

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