Ivar was one of the original founding members of Makia along with Joni Malmi and Jussi Oksanen. He came up with the original Makia Factory print with the initial font used for the Makia logo. This was later used in an illustration by Joni to form the original Makia flag logo that remains with the brand to this day. Ivar spent a few days in his local neighbourhood in Tokyo with photographer Antti Rastivo.

About Ivar

In his own words: “Born in Helsinki, Swedish speaking, German thinking, Japanese loving and French marrying”.

Ivar Left Finland at the young age of 4 for Austria, Japan, France, Germany and Bali. Currently his house is the 26th roof over his head. Working in advertising and as a creative, then Burton for about 18 years as Senior Director of Marketing and Product, first in Europe and then in Japan overseeing the APAC market.

Beginning with Makia

“A colleague hit me up and said Joni and Jussi were looking for some help. I made the initial logo design which later changed for the better, haha. Had great fun, silkscreening and producing the first 4-5 tee shirt runs, caps, stickers and buttons. Get a URL, talk to factories, shipping stuff, getting the word out there..startup 101..so much fun. Jussi went on to focus on other things and is killing it, so Joni and I sat down and he brought in Jesse who had such great talent and was hungry to lay it down and go all in. I focused on my work at Burton and they went on to create amazing things. Been cool to follow the direction and i think it’s in such good hands now.”

Japan

“I spent my youth in Japan and went to school there, it’s about the closest thing I have to a home, aside form our cottage in the Finnish archipelago. Always felt comfortable in Japan and was keen to move back. Burton asked me to go there for a 3 month exchange to help get some projects off the ground and they ended up asking me to relocate permanently. My wife Carmela was happy to tag along, we’ve been here 10 years, our two kids are born here so its a big part of our lives.”

“Nowadays I spend my time between the beach in Japan and the beach in Bali. We thrive close to water so it’s a pretty good setup, am just focusing on making music, surfing and spending quality time with the family. We all surf and skate so it’s pretty much spot on in terms of how we roll. Lots of flying but part of why we love it. My wife is a life coach and stellar yoga teacher who organises retreats for women across the world so she’s in and out all the time as well. Works out nicely between the four of us.”

Music

“I’ve always been heavily into music, have a massive music collection, studied musical science for a while. After many iterations I finally have a great studio in Harajuku and now I have the time to focus on producing, publishing and performing. Will be going to Berklee from January to get my Masters in Music as well. Am working on three different projects, all different styles but really rewarding to mix it up, so am excited to get this body of work out there.”

Tips for Tokyo

“I am always around Harajuku and Shibuya as my studio is there and i spent most part of my childhood there skating and cruising around so it’s my hood.”

 

Went to hang with Masa who runs The Mass gallery, he is a wealth of knowledge on art with a serious art book collection and there’s always some cool new faces there to talk to.

 

Masayuki Nishimoto, wearing the Aalto Quilted Jacket from the Makia x Alvar Aalto collection The Mass Gallery Tokyo

 

We hit up my two favorite synth stores, the legendary Five G that is the epicenter of cool collectible vintage gear, I go there every couple of weeks to say whats up and then a quick drive-by at Echigoya to see new arrivals.

 

Waddled around Nakameguro river, bought some apparel at Wacko Maria-Guilty Parties., cool local  brand who always have something neat to grab and a good sound system to boot. More coffee at Saturdays Surf, they got a good terrace in the back and get beans from my favorite roaster.

 

Quick stop to shake hands with my  friend Aki who moved here from Finland and runs a Finnish bakery in my hood so I can get my bread on, lucky me.”

 

Hung out at the beach by our house after the Typhoon and just checking in with the local fishermen to see whats up.  No surf that day so we just kicked rocks and put our feet in the sand and some ocean water on our faces. Life is good.

 

Aki Lappalainen (wearing the Stool Sweatshirt from the Makia x Alvar Aalto collection), Rye Mugi House Bakery, Kamakura