Marimekko Set to Make a Bold Mark on Silver Spring

With winter winding down, we're all impatient for the bright blooms of spring. Here's a thought to tide you over: Marimekko, the Finnish design store popular in the 1960s and '70s for bold, floppy flowers, supersize dots and vivid colors, is set to open its first store in the area at the end of April.

Located in downtown Silver Spring, it will be the company's third so-called concept store in the United States -- others are in Cambridge, Mass., and Miami Beach -- and the largest.

Concept stores carry a broad range of Marimekko products, and anything not available there can be ordered.

The 4,000-square-foot space at 8519 Georgia Ave. (formerly Storehouse Furniture) will house 120 bolts of Marimekko fabric as well as housewares and clothing.

Longtime Marimekko fans will recognize big-scale floral patterns favored by first lady Jackie Kennedy and the chunky Bo Boo automobiles that would be just right in a retro playroom. The store will have workshops on quilting and sewing, rotating art exhibits and tailors to alter the designer clothing.

Store owner Marni Frankel wants the outpost to represent what the company calls the full Marimekko lifestyle: the "totality of fashion," offering customers home goods and clothing. Frankel's office a block away is jammed with racks and boxes of all things Marimekko, including her favorites: the sturdy Olkalaukku messenger bag ($92) and classic Unikko Shower Curtain II ($39).

Visit http://www.marimekkowashingtondc.com/ to preview and order Marimekko products.

Kathleen Hom