Martina Lindqvist

Ville Varumo

Finnish photographer Ville Varumo is as selective with his palette as a painter. Some of his images even look like paintings with their psychedelic lighting or almost Impressionistic backgrounds. Read more

Rikka Sormunen

Finnish illustrator Rikka Sormunen’s sexually charged and often hallucinatory images have a cinematic quality to them, evoking the stylishness and hedonism of French New Wave and old noir flicks. Read more

Finland’s Sauna World Championship

This annual event has taken place in Heinola, Finland since 1999 and attracts competitors from around the world (twenty countries were represented at this year’s event, which started on August 6). Entrants must assume all risks, so they have to fill and sign a form that states that they will not sue the organizers of the event in case of an accident. The championship starts with the preliminary rounds, with competitors eliminated, until six of them get to the final, where they have to show their strength and endurance in a period of time to decide who will be the winner. The winner is the last person to remain in the sauna and then get out of there with no external help. Finland tends to dominate. Surprise, surprise. Read more

James Mackay’s Even Though I’m Free I Am Not

Award-winning photojournalist James Mackay’s latest project comes at a time when the world’s eyes are fixed on Burma and the trial of Aung San Suu Kyi. By photographing former political prisoners displaying the names of their colleagues and friends who remain behind bars, Even Though I’m Free I Am Not exposes the enduring pain faced by Burma’s opposition movement. Over 2,100 activists, journalists, lawyers and politicians languish in prisons across the country, and on Friday Aung San Suu Kyi will likely join them. Read more

Secret Supper Clubs

The blind date of the food world has finally arrived, and it’s proving more palatable than the awkwardness of an evening spent in superficial conversation. Secret Supper clubs are springing up in the backstreets of London: what are attics and living rooms by day get converted into makeshift restaurants catering for an evening of surprise tastes and conversations. Read more

Adam Farlie

Young British designer Adam Farlie takes a leftfield approach to how people experience interaction with objects, often taking everyday items and toying with their potential to harbour deeper meaning and greater usage than first perceived. He transforms a bed into a ‘vessel that captures and contains the audio-memories of past occupiers through sound’, allowing those who lie on the bed to recall past intimcaties or conversations from years ago, while his take on a chest of drawers’ purpose of holding records of people is similarly intriguing.