can perfection be redesigned?

last thursday i was one of the few lucky finns to attend the launch of the all new finlandia vodka bottle. a crowd of a few hundred international guests gathered to greet new design and to finish a week of finlandia vodka cup, an annual bartenders' competition held in lapland.

the contents are still the same, but the look of the bottle went sleeker and more polished. moreover, the battling reindeer logo is back and will replace the running herd.

it pleases me to say that the american-owned brand still focuses on finnish talent: the new video was produced by komia with music from lcmdf, the bottle design is a collaboration with harri koskinen (as was the last one) and continues the tradition started by tapio wirkkala. the contents of each and every bottle come from single origin, that is, rajamäki finland, which is quite rare in these times of bulk vodka.

the old rail yard of pasila was transformed to an all white, icy world of vodka. entertainment was provided by axl smith and dj 3rrd and by a bunch of bartenders from all over the world, such as the soul shakers, setting things on fire(!) and building cocktails. food-pairing was created in collaboration with fat tomato catering.

here's a pictorial recap:

the space with several bars and klaus haapaniemi prints.

the new bottle.

dj 3rrd and axl smith freestylin'.

bottles of fire.

a bunch of bloggers: mv, me, silver and petra.

i'm wearing a jacket by alexander wang, leather bustier dress by theory, leather necklace by cos, wolford tights, wedges by camilla skovgaard and a louis vuitton clutch.

designer harri koskinen and yours truly (with seriously flattened hair... oh, the dismay of growing a mane).

all pics by paavo lehtonen, courtesy of finlandia.

the new bottle will be out later in the spring. until then, vodka from above will be available in its usual format. keep your judgement pure and drink responsibly.

witty luxe.

viral visibility has caught on brands that formerly relied on taking over glossies with their multipage campaigns. the degree of airbrushing has since only exceeded what anyone believed possible and the pouts still adorn the pages, but the whimsical humor a clip of video can portray has appeared in places i hardly suspected.

first there was hermès with their successful fingerskate flick.



and now chanel is showing a sense of humor about their beauty line.


Animating Chanel on Nowness.com.

reputable and respectable fashion houses marketing via the power of smile is definitely something new, and i, for one, do not mind a little chuckle associated with the buck aimed at buying prestige.

what do you think: can high fashion take itself lightly without losing credibility?

makia online.

this is the way finnish traditional imagery should be exploited. greatness!



and the clothes are more than ok, too. go shop!

move me.

for us working within digital media, it's been ever so subtly an underlying insinuation in the world of marketing that online video is taking over slowly but surely what print is failing to do. although digital newspapers and journals are still trying to find a form that was most efficient and usable, the addition of film clips seems an inevitable and natural part of the future of online journalism and ads.

i am not talking about taking television programs or commercials online, but actually rethinking online media advertising via moving images. flash is gasping its last breaths but movement itself – that so infatuated us with the appearance of flash code as an addition to basic html – is far from over.

video banners and blog posts are already a reality, but still rather rare. the use of video in marketing is terribly underused, but with the already existing entanglement of music and fashion, videos that serve the primary and explicit marketing purposes of fashion houses seem to be taking the first leap.

these works play with the borderlines of television adverts, movie trailers and music videos, but are without exception (as far as i have noted) dubbed 'short films' rather than advertisements. moreover, they are intended for online use, for virtual communities and many seem shot as part of regular advertising campaigns.

it's clear that moving images provide an idea of clothing and lifestyle that is more nuanced than a print campaign, which nevertheless, at best, can be incredibly strong as still images feed the imagination differently. with the addition of sound these clips suggest a space of immersion, just like movies.

here's one from last summer:

director zoé cassavetes for louis vuitton:


moreover, here are two great examples of this fall:

craig mcdean for alexander wang.


ruth hogben for gareth pugh:


what do you think: do you click on videos or skip them?

see the rainbow.

heteronormativity refers to the common assumption that people are straight and that interpreting the world around oneself as if everyone was straight is totally ok and realistic. anyone deviating from the norm is exactly that, a deviation, and only deserves recognition as an abnormality – if not abhorration – in our perfectly normal, normatively heterosexual world.

of course, statistically speaking it is reasonable to assume people are straight, since most are (if you define straight by usually experiencing some kind of affection towards a person of the opposite sex (which in itself may or may not be easily definable (let alone speak about the variety of practices of affection people who consider themselves straight take part in (but let's just not go there now, shall we...)))).

nevertheless, since in everyday life we do not meet and greet statistics, but individuals, it would truly make sense not to live according to generalizations. heteronormativity creeps into such a variety of daily assumptions and practices that, while they hardly surprise anyone of the glbtq community, it hides and suppresses the versatility of humanity all people represent and the forms of kinship we are able to build.

it's pride week. love in all its forms is precious. let's listen instead of assuming, ok?

stella behind the g.

quite often i am asked about the origin of my alias, stellagee. my real name is not stella, not even close, but i do have a special history with the name.

it all goes back to around 2004 when i started dj'ing. i am not one of those people who are often given nicknames, but i had been persistently called "the stella girl" by some bar staff and friends because of my habit of ordering stella artois. when i had to decide a dj name, i figured that people already knew me by my reputation and, thus, stellagirl emerged. i started using different, riot grrrl inspired spelling and instantly the name went cosmically haywire and there are a myriad of versions around in posters, websites and flyers.

yup, it all comes down to beer – moreover, a beer nicknamed "the wife beater" in the uk. not terribly fancy, now is it? nonetheless, i did not mind the fact that stella also means a star and i used tähtityttö as my dj name at times, as well.

the reason i am telling you this now is the latest campaign by stella. they have a reputation for intelligent and culturally savvy campaigns utilizing surrealist themes in addition to references to, for example, jean-luc godard. and this one is no exception. the fact that their lightweight bottle campaign also uses one of my favorite songs of the moment, the mystery jets' "dreaming of another world" and a goodie from marina and the diamonds, cannot hurt either.

the campaign itself rides on a lighter bottle that reduces carbon emissions. since i am not sure of the reusability of the bottle, i have no idea whether the promise of eco-friendliness actually delivers – assuming of course that making new bottles is more ecologically consuming than is recycling and reusing them, but if i am not completely off the grid here, it should be so, right?

there are some pretty funny videos of an imaginary tv show presented from inside a stella bottle at 1963 on the campaign site, but first there are these three. the first one is just an introduction to the theme, the second a version of marina's "i am not a robot" and, le troisieme, les jets mystère.

watch them, if only for claude the hedgehog...







the full song and official video for the mystery jets song is here.

be creative.

to be completely honest i was utterly blah'd out with diesel's current campaign. although i am aware that it was designed to defy criticism (because being critical of it makes you the opposite of stupid and we all know that stupid is the thing to be, right?) which might be one of the main reasons i find it less than compelling intellectually (begging the question, anyone...), i will point out that at least to me spontaneity, creativity, courageousness, risk-taking and even bravado are all distinguishable from stupidity and definitely not synonyms to it. so no, i do not buy into being stupid, but being all the things diesel wants me to believe fall under the definition of stupid.

anyways, something great came out of the stupid brains of diesel recently, and in case you missed it, i'll post it here for your entertainment. they took digital catalogues to another level by combining a video with a still-image function where you can browse the items on the video.

they based their presentation on a film buff classic: jean-luc godard's bande a part (1964) dancing scene



but modernized it to our viewing and listening pleasure. here's the catalogue, not bad, right?

slush.

i among many others have been forced to change my regular gear towards more slush friendly attire. stella found good old wellies, but i still trust my dr martens like aurora. i tried defying the slippery wet ground on monday when i hovered in 5 inch heels to see joss stone – only to realize that my choice of footwear had as horrific consequences as did my speedy acceptance of tickets to witness my personal hell. let's just say that miss stone's performance was not my thing and i will steer clear of heels for the time being. the puddles finally got the best of me...

people's eyes on the street are directed at their own feet, busy avoiding surprisingly deep caverns of icy water and sleet covered patches – the main shared goal of my fellow strollers is getting from one place to another in one, solidly dry piece. thus, i've taken the opportunity to wear my most comfortable items of clothing: super stretchy jeans, large soft sweaters, combat boots...

sweater by tiger of sweden jeans, tee by acne, scarf by club monaco, jeans by drkshdw rick owens, boots by dr martens.

...and large parkas. my parka is from makia, a helsinki based company that only so far produces menswear, but has adumbrated the addition of a women's line soon. their stuff consists of streamlined streetwear, and the entire brand image is so well put together i can actually grasp some of the pride sports enthusiastic finns feel when our team wins. go check out their site and if you stumble across their catalogues, take a good look. great work. fashion freak cheers for fashion, right?



although i hate hearing complaints about the weather more than the lowsy weather itself, i am ready to add my voice to the whiney choir: yes, i am ready for spring.

have you wrapped yourself in comfort gear now that the world has turned against all non-waterproofed clothing?

monki say, monki do.

i'm not sure whether building a working business concept requires a story. when successful, it may help in distinguishing brand essentials. oftentimes a perfectly good story is left floating in thin air without rooting it firmly into the product or experience on offer. increasingly brand storylines seem completely detached from the products themselves because it seems marketers have come to believe a nostalgic story is all that is needed to sell an otherwise average product.

but it ain't so.

swedes are great at branding their creations and can even work nostalgia into a brand in ways that seem fresh. walking the streets of downtown stockholm celebrates the success of swedish fashion labels: huge global chains all based in sweden is really something to marvel.

an example of a strange attempt of inserting a rather random appearing story into a line of fashion is monki. the story starts:

Not long ago, an unexpected chemical reaction in an old factory released a batch of plump black Monkis. Waddling on tiny chicken feet from the still-smoul-dering chimney, the little creatures flapped their wee clumsy wings in an attempt to fly into the wide world

and continues with a distinctive visual imagery and graphic expression with these little creatures living partly in forest, part marsh and part imagination.

the brand identity of monki is clearly visually pushed, but the background story of "chernobyl" critters remains unexplained at the stores themselves. with neon bright pop colors, led-lit dressing rooms with enough mirrors to create nausea, and little islands popping from the floor that hold the clothing, the stores themselves are reminiscent of your worst idea of an acid trip. at the same time, they're perky and fun.

what's great about monki, is the fact that they catch the core of young swedish street fashion.

i still remember the time when a trip to sweden would instantly inform the tourist what was fashionable and what wasn't. the homogeneity of stockholm residents is probably still unsurpassed, but because of street style blogs and the explosion of variety in affordable fashion, swedes no longer stand out as much. when it comes to us visiting the capital of blonde fashion ambition, we're nowadays usually well aware of what is in and what is out...

h&m has long gone from offering the height of trends although they still succeed in pushing out imitations of high fashion at remarkable speed. monki seems to pick up what the trend setters wear and create an entire collection around the södermalm indie kids who lead the fashion pack.

it is the dedication of the brand that i admire. they offer their interpretation of what is the "ultimate now" and they sell it cheap. very cheap, actually. it seems that swedes realized a greater trend coming our way at the launch of cheap monday and later, three years ago, at monki. everything at the store seemed to be less than 400 kronor (about 45€) and the prices were honestly marked at even hundreds and tens. none of your 99-insinuations here.

and what is in fashion, then? everything inside the store was about recreating the early 90's semi-auntie look: big flowery dresses, high waists, denim shirts and loose'n'boxy jackets. they did not offer a choice. it was either that or nada. the trend was already visible last summer, but the attitude was stronger and less compromising.



and since they had a basic grey sweater with a lacy twist (from their collaboration line with ida sjöstedt) i just had to get me one. you can never have enough of grey sweaters, right maire?

alice in wonderland.

the ad campaign i wrote about previously finally came out. it is for an entertainment ensemble, and the pic we worked on is printed on top of the box. i assisted in styling alice, the rabbit and the mad hatter-slash-type-of-figure.

i'm pretty stoked with the result. yay!

a gala of pyramids.

i apologize for being awol, for giving you the silent treatment, and being late with posting everything. the reason is that i started at a new, full-time job, and have been really busy writing copy -- and rather uninspired after a long day to write anything else.

nevertheless, i intend to keep you posted regularly, but just need to find the spare time to do it after a pretty long while of being free(lance).

***
last thursday i attended the gala dinner organized by the finnish association of professional graphic designers, grafia, where the best of last year's advertising received awards.

a campaign i worked on briefly received one of the golden, small award pyramids (although for something i had nothing to do with), and that was reason enough to party. the entire list of winners and honors can be seen here (in finnish).

the night itself was less rowdy than i expected although by the end of the awards ceremony some tables (i.e. advertising agencies) already made quite a fuss for their own success by screaming and loud applause. the event is centered around back-patting and subtle (or not so subtle) recruiting, but i tried steering clear of job-talk -- almost succeeding, too. i enjoyed the company of friends, and importantly, the food was close to excellent (especially the desert was fab) and champagne was plentiful.


as per usual, i almost forgot about the event and ended up just grabbing the first safe thing in my closet to wear. it was a little black dress from zara and on my feet i sled a pair of patent leather pumps from marc by marc jacobs. again, struggling with accessories, i added a simple cuff from gaspard yurkievich.

simple, and hopefully elegant enough.



because it was still cold, i also wore my vivienne westwood coat, one of my most treasured and beautiful items of clothing. although i am thrilled to put it on, i cannot but wait for a reason to carry it into the storage because of spring.

(which brings to mind: where the heck did the sun go, huh?!)



the entertainment was centered around the awards presentations, but two burlesque performances and a very random opera singer appeared on stage at strange intervals resulting in people largely ignoring their carefully prepared additions to the program. although i think burlesque is a fun celebration of femininity, i am quite honestly finding the trend tiring: there doesn't seem to be a party without tassels 'n' titties in this town anymore...

the party continued at motellet from where i took a quick leave home.

and what would a gala of graphic designers be without appropriately pimped paper for the royal tushies...

styling for a living.

i've been posting less lately because i was busy working on an advertising campaign. i spent all of yesterday in the studio at the shoot, and boy oh boy, the result is going to look amazing!

i work sporadically as a stylist, usually with friends (as an equal or their assistant), and i admit to really enjoying it. i've had the chance to work in music videos, in television and advertising, and i've had creative responsibilities from a completely free flow of ideas to building an exact image according to the art director's wishes. needless to say, each job has been challenging in its own right but, nevertheless, gratifying.

as a teen one of my dream jobs was a professional stylist but at the time there were no schools you could study at and the only feasible strategy was to study abroad or become part of the fashion in-crowd -- and i did not live in helsinki where the fashionistas mingled. now that some finnish schools offer a program for stylists at least some young girls can reach for their dream in a way i never could.

hence, i have been fortunate to be a part of several jobs because of people who believe in me and my skills. it's quite humbling, actually, and i feel lucky and grateful for being provided an opportunity to explore a dream of mine.

the job itself is very much less glamorous than most believe. on each job, you spend hours on end in search of clothes, accessories and props, and 70% of the time is spent just dragging heavy bags around. in finnish weather that means through slush, rain and cold. depending on the job, you may need to go through warehouses full of theater sets or search for the exactly right shaped turnip. additionally, there are deadlines and budgets to meet, and usually they are tighter than you imagined.

if flaneuring around stores is one of your favorite hobbies it shouldn't be confused with being a stylist: you're not on the lookout for your new wardrobe nor can you go for whatever you would personally want to wear. thus, being a stylist is a far cry from having a blast shopping. therefore, i have the utmost respect for fashion stylists who find the energy to plan editorials month after month.

in fact, you often run in and out of stores and showrooms with a list of things, quickly ask about or glance through the selection, and leave feeling the way everyone is familiar with when in search of exact items: disappointed and frustrated because they just don't seem to exist. but unlike the sporadic shopper in need of something to add to their wardrobe, as a stylist you need to make do with whatever you can find...

photoshoots are long and there's lots of waiting around. things go wrong: computers crash, clients are unsatisfied, schedules change and feet get sore despite everyone acting as professional as they can. after the shoot you drag the stuff back to wherever you got it from...

the perks include working with great people and having fun during shoots despite the fact that difficult personalities are not unheard of. building a photograph is a collective effort where trust meets ambition; creating an advert or a fashion image requires several professional standpoints which need to merge together in a collage of commercial and artistic achievement. sometimes it means disagreeing and making compromises. regardless of possible setbacks, more often than not it means collective glee and excitement.

ultimately, the results are often very satisfying: a completed product feels like a triumph, and realizing the client feels contentment adds to the enjoyment. can't beat the feeling, really, but i wouldn't do it on a daily basis. sporadic is just fine with me.

digital minds.

if you have a social life with at least one internet savvy person -- and who hasn't -- you have heard of popping popcorn with cell phones. in may 2008, short clips with small groups of people from different parts of the world appeared on youtube and instantly became a conversation topic that was impossible to ignore. they were doing something everyone in my circle of friends wanted to try if only we had eight cell phones and a set of corn seeds available at the same time.

we definitely were not the only ones. over four million people watched the clips during a fortnight. here are some of the first posts on youtube all rolled into one.



after two weeks a company called cardo systems revealed that the clips were their adverts for handsfree sets.



the pioneering advertising campaign utilized youtube as never before: it created hype around a hoax and caught everyone's attention. the downside of the campaign seems to be that their revelation failed to reach the same audience and people are still doing exposés explaining the phenomenon with the popcorn. moreover, almost no-one is aware that the originals were ads for headsets and without a doubt there were some branding issues involved, as well.

but cardo systems got us talking. the power of viral has been apparent for a while now and it is ultimately changing the way we relate to each other. in april 2006 a silent, masked guy posted a 41 second video on youtube where he wrote something on his palm, held it out to the camera to reveal “one world” and was followed by a text urging responses. madV’s video became the most responded clip in youtube’s history with hundreds of clips sent within days amounting to over two thousand. madV combined everything to a powerful montage of a sort, below. the song playing in the background is by one of my favorite bands, mogwai, called "kids will be skeletons".



many of us enjoy internet channels for their imitation of television, that is, we use them for reminiscing the goode olde tymes and often catching up with shows we missed the previous weeks. nevertheless, a new mindset is emerging with the use streaming possibilities and it seems internet video has huge potential for future communication if we're only able to approach it in digital terms. it takes pioneers like madV to show us novel ways to reach each other through the web. stream on...

new adbusting.

subvertising refers to the practice of making parodies of recognizable advertising imagery by creating an illusion of recognition only to be followed by the realization that one has been duped. it relies on cognitive dissonance as an effective tool for promoting critical thought. by altering already existing billboards or even purchasing space for subverts, adbusters act towards creating a more media and corporate literate world.

much of the world’s artwork can be read through political glasses. as of late, and increasing number of artists have taken a keen interest in the marketing industry and many refer to corporate efforts in their politically inclined works. the true subvertising pomo artist is the anonymous high culture appreciated graffiti ninja, like the uk’s own banksy whose satirical artwork is a mixture of naturalistic painting, graffiti and political commentary. he’s smuggled and hung his art in notable galleries, but is perhaps best known for painting the israeli west bank barrier with ladders and children digging through the wall. banksy’s identity is unknown although speculations are vast.

while banksy uses publicly owned ”canvas” for his expression, there are other artists who target advertising, but differ from your average graffito by their explicit political commentary. new york city has "poster boy". he’s the graffiti adbuster who transforms subway advertizing into political commentary. while remaining anonymous for years, he was arrested two weeks ago for vandalism and his identity is still up for question.



another way to comment on advertising and current affairs without risking being sued for destruction of public property is to work the insights into more traditional artwork. hank willis thomas makes compelling images which comment on the use of racial images in advertizing, especially the presentation of the african-american male body.

his two series b®anded and unbranded explore the imagery of commercialization and americans of african descent. giving 'corporate slave' a whole new meaning, willis uses a familiar language for us all, advertising, to talk about race and the historical pains of modern america and has exhibited his work in spaces reserved for adverts.



banksy’s artwork can be purchased at no cost from his online store. poster boy’s flickr page holds his artwork which obviously gets cleaned promptly -- sometimes even while he’s still working on them. hank willis thomas is currently showing at jack shainman gallery in nyc.

nothing to wear.

i know i listed a few reasons why i do not post photos of my outfits and sort of said i wouldn't. then i broke the promise at least once. it seems i'm doomed since today i got a surprise invitation to see a pre-showing of the musical spring awakening. the catch was that there was an awards ceremony for magazine ads and the crowd would be media people from the more conservative end.

i easily end up looking a little overdressed or i-assume-you-work-in-advertising when pushed timewise, and utterly panicked, i ripped my favorite "smart casual" shreds which did not scream "artsy!!" from my closet.

i have a few outfits i rely on when in a hurry. here's one of the ensembles i have grown to trust: dark drainpipe jeans by julian red, silk blouse with ruffles from zara, leopard print pumps by christian louboutin and epi leather clutch by louis vuitton. and i had time to snap a couple of shots, too.



(the flash does not do the shoes justice nor is my waist quite that high up. i also changed the belt to a subtler one after seeing the photo. yikes.)

if you're into musicals and don't mind the fact that the theme relies on assumptions of anglo-american hypocrisy to really prove its point, spring awakening is worth seeing. honestly, i looked forward to the meal served afterwards more than what came after the intermission since it was just a tiny bit too obvious. and the food was yummy, yay!

sharing.

our simian friends never cease to bring a smile on my face.

diet pop.

in the world of major brand soft drinks, low calorie is the punchline du jour. the market for diet drinks is huge despite the controversiality of artificial sweeteners; it seems strange for an age when organic and natural are increasingly common seducers of consumers. since dieting is considered essentially a female activity, but staying fit is a demand everyone regardless of their sex needs to fulfill, coca cola came up with zero, the light cola for the heterosexual man who is insecure enough to order a low-calorie drink. the advertising clips for zero vary from blatantly sexist to annoyingly stereotypical and, in my opinion, actually demean their target audience. but masculinity can sometimes be a fragile thing...

pepsi max avoids the pits of gender stereotypes by shunning the value laden words "diet" and "light". but they are definitely not exempt from pushing their product and fighting for a cut of the market. their promise to be "the one calorie cola" inspired a compelling campaign that uses visual imagery quite unlike those usually associated with soft drinks. moreover, the german advertising agency bbdo went slightly macabre. the new campaign is based on the loneliness of the poor calorie and the images show the lonely lump desperately trying to end his/her days. it's a brave and borderline vulgar move from the company.

flash mob advertising.

flash mobs are something you're bound to bump into these days. if not personally, at least they'll get news coverage.

originally derived from a type of performance art, flash mobs gather a crowd in public spaces where prearranged action takes place and after a certain, usually short, time, the people stop doing whatever it is they were up to and leave the scene as if nothing happened.

in 2006, harper's magazine editor bill wasik took credit for the invention of the flash mob by revealing how he organized the first two in nyc in 2003. the term was coined by, who other but, some random blogger. the schtick itself is familiar from candid camera shows, but wasik's invention was to utilize people's willingness to be part of something hip and novel, i.e. change the focal point of the joke: for him it was trivial how many people walked off boggled, but success amounted to an eager big group of strangers bringing an element of surprise to perhaps just one person.

since wasik's originals, flash mobs have appeared at various locales around the world. sometimes a deeper message is being conveyed; for example last winter's flash mob in the centre of helsinki where people would stop, put a mask on, and stare at the biggest department store in town was a protest to consumer craziness and haste. oftentimes, the mob is a pure prank. undoubtedly, the appearance of something unusual is a perfect method to distract people from their routine and either provides an opportunity to realize how much time is spent in a kind of an unreflective haze or, as is often the case, scares and annoys people tremendously.

eventually, mobs would find their way to marketing where the craze to utilize unconventional methods to get free coverage is more prominent than ever. the most demanding task is to keep the event positive but effective, i.e. minimum irritation, maximum pleasant surprise, and here's one success story from last thursday. liverpool station in london gets flash mobbed by t-mobile.

scientific bull.

as i was browsing through the news, i came across a headline: stem cell correcting cream [edit: they have actually corrected the headline: now it states "stem cell protecting cream". i'm wondering... might this little thing have something to do with the editing of the article? i'm joking; surely the company itself corrected the misleading promise...] and a short article on how the new stem cell technology can preserve and correct your skin's stem cells. wtf, i thought. knowing the scientific skills of beauty journalists, i had to check out what the manufacturer claimed the product could do. as i suspected, the reporter was slightly clueless about the facts.

the news-breaking product is a new skin cream from lumene called excellent future. the site raves about the product as any cosmetics company would:

Innovative and powerful Lumene cream that utilizes modern stem cell technology. Skin contains cells that play a key role in preserving its youthful appearance, stem cells. By protecting these vital cells the cream helps to promote the skin's ability to repair itself.

a while ago i stumbled across a cream called amatokin that was marketed as using stem cell technology to stimulate the activity of endogenous (meaning: present in your own body) stem cells. one of my pet peeves is pseudo-scientific bullshit cosmetics firms love to promote, and these two, albeit different, seem so ludicrous i just have to do an exposé of a sort.

stem cells 101 it is then. first of all stem cells are unique because they can undergo two kinds of division: symmetric and asymmetric which means they can self-renew and have a potency to create progenitor cells which differentiate to either embryonic cells (i.e. every single cell of an organism equaling totipotency) or almost every possibe cell (pluripotent). sometimes cells which are multipotent, i.e. have a potency to differentiate as several cell types which are limited in number, are referred to as adult stem cells, but strictly speaking multipotent cells are progenitor cells. there are some researchers who believe unipotent stem cells can exist, but obviously it contradicts the accepted definition.

the vagueness in terminology facilitates providing misleading information. what cosmetics companies are talking about as stem cells are progenitor cells, a cell type which is usually unipotent i.e. has one target mature cell it will develop into, and skin cells are a prime example of such unipotent suckers.

the thing is, we know quite a bit about stem cells (and the controversy they create because of their main source, the human embryo), but scientific articles about progenitor cells are still at the stages of suggesting that there may, in fact, be multiple classes of progenitor cells maintaining skin. i stress that we are talking in terms of "may" and "possibly". (and here my clever reader will note that my claim about skin cells being "unipotent suckers" depends on whether the newest research is accurate or not...)

the thing is also, that stem cell therapies are a novelty which creates tremendous hope for the future of health care. their potential is huge. this means they're the hottest sh*t science has to offer and, naturally, cosmetics companies are all for sounding as scientific as possible. the problem is that stem cell technology is not developed enough for such commercial applications. therapies are still in developmental stages although there have been significant breakthroughs. therapies utilizing adult stem cells are even quite commonplace: for example, bone marrow transplants to treat leukemia is a form of multipotent progenitor cell use.

in other words, the stuff they're promising is not quite out of the lab yet. there is no scientific evidence provided for amatokin and they're required to submit their advertising to asa in the uk due to misleading information. and while lumene takes it a little easier by only promising protection for the precious cells, i'd like to see some kind of scientific proof. more accurately, i'd like to know how the application of "apple extract and arctic white peat" on your skin becomes stem cell technology if you're neither applying stem cells on your skin nor affecting the stem cells' activity? [edit: now the article claims that the apple extract has apple stem cell extract so they are using plant stem cell technology.]

as far as i can tell, it utilizes [human] stem cell technology only as a reference, that is saying that there are stem cells (which are actually progenitor cells) in the skin of your face, [edit: and you're adding the apple stem cell extract] because whatever "protecting" the cells actually means (promoting hibernation which means less activity? increasing activity which may, at worst, mean cancer? no, only "protection") it basically amounts to nothing new. supposedly, apple stem cell extract could guard against uv-rays, but we've got sun screen already, don't we girls? and i actually prefer one that protects all my skin cells (hahahahaha). the cream itself may be an ok moisturizer, as probably amatokin is, but the sales pitch is bull.

i hate it when they act contemptuous. we're not suckers, now are we?

***
[edit: wow! it took somebody at the company behind lumene about 30 minutes to find my posting after their web-solutions company tracked my little rant... well, perhaps they'll provide some extra info for us, then.]

fab fibres of the 70's.

this amazing and, at the time, technically advanced commercial was used to promote the happy synthetic fibre revolution of the mid-seventies. naturally, new fabrics required new detergents which were able to cleanse at low temperatures -- the fibres were more or less plastic and could not cope with warmth.

i still remember quite clearly that while i was growing up the promise that made a successful detergent was cleansing power in cool water. while these days cool temperatures are tantamount in importance, the reason does not derive from the fibres themselves as much as from saving energy and water.



to keep it real, instead of coral, try these detergent nuts a.k.a. sapindus mukorossi out. they work and are environmentally friendly!