Trained as a botanist, Anni Rapinoja lives on a remote island off the coast of Finland, where she makes beautiful, functional objects from seasonally foraged, natural materials like pussy willow, used to make the shoes and purse pictured above. Rapinoja considers her work as an extension of her environmental activism, drawing us closer to nature by wittily revealing the temporality of things and their material footprint. Alongside her matching coat and hat made from woven, unprocessed reeds, these items are included in the show, Irreverent: Contemporary Nordic Craft Art, currently on view at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco.
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