Moominpenny, Little My and other familiar Moomin characters are now adventuring at the reception of Lasten Mehiläinen and on the staff's work shirts. The likeable characters make the children's medical service stand out in a new way. The high-quality Moomin collection was created in collaboration with Medanta.
Play and stories are invaluable to children's well-being. Several generations have learned gentle life lessons from Tove Jansson's Moomin stories, which combine friendship, respect for others, and acceptance.
The fascinating stories and beloved Moomin characters are now delighting families with children at Lasten Mehiläinen. In a collaboration between Mehiläinen and Moomin Characters, the familiar characters and Moomin philosophy of life are being brought to children's medical services in a new way.
"There are many themes intertwined with health and well-being in the Moomin stories. A good childhood consists of a balance between health, the child's needs, and family and social relationships. The Moomins and Lasten Mehiläinen share common values, and with the help of familiar stories, we can talk about important themes in a relatable way," says Mirella Girs , Marketing Manager at Mehiläinen.
The Moomin collection continues its good cooperation
The cozy atmosphere of Moominvalley begins right in the reception area of Lasten Mehiläinen: the characters are adventuring on the walls and in the staff's work clothes.
Mehiläinen has been using Medanta's workwear since 2016, and creating the Moomin collection together with Medanta was a natural continuation of the well-established collaboration.
High-quality, good-looking, uniform and versatile clothing is the work of Medanta designer Helena Manninen .
“The compact collection made for Mehiläinen four years ago has proven to be very functional: it has three tops, pairs of trousers, a jacket and an apron, which can be easily combined. Moomin characters were embroidered on the work shirts in the collection,” says Manninen.
The staff's green shirts will delight children with five favorites: Little My, Snorkmaiden, Moomin, Stinky and Sniff.
According to Manninen, designing the Moomin collection was fun, but intense and challenging work.
"Even though the characters were ready, there were a huge number of technical issues involved in creating the collection that I had to solve. Along the way, we had numerous discussions with the Mehiläinen team, considering options and bouncing ideas around to achieve the best possible outcome."
Nipsu's mustache hairs – and other important details
Helena Manninen says that, of the characters chosen for the clothes, making Stinky, for example, required a lot of tinkering and fine-tuning: we had to figure out how to make the character's fur as three-dimensional as possible. Should the white dots on the fur be embroidered separately or should they be part of the color of the base fabric?
"We wanted to create the Moomins with the utmost quality and detail. We went through their implementation character by character: how thin a line can be used, whether it is worth thickening a line to make the character look better, and how to make Nipsu's moustache hairs," he says.
The characters also had to be of a certain size in relation to each other – Little My is the smallest and Nipsu the largest of the characters.
Mirella Girs says that the characters on the shirts are Tove Jansson's original black and white Moomins - although with later animated series, the Moomins that are more familiar to different generations may look slightly different.
“The decision to go black and white was made right at the beginning: the characters stand out well from Mehiläinen's brand color, green.”
Moomin shirts have received an enthusiastic reception
In healthcare, patient care clothing must withstand multiple washes in hot temperatures. Helena Manninen says that the embroidery, made from high-quality and durable threads, withstands washes and heavy wear in the same way as Medanta's technical and antimicrobial fabrics.
According to Mirella Girs, after several options presented by Manninen, the placement of the Moomin characters was decided on the chest of the work shirts. This way, the eyes of a tired child coming to the reception or a child who is nervous about the procedure will naturally be drawn to the familiar character.
Girs says that initially the Moomin clothing will be tested by staff at six Lasten Mehiläinen locations.
“Each person gets five shirts – one for each Moomin character. When they come to work in the morning, they can decide for themselves which character they like the most. The staff has been excited about the shirts, and we have also received positive feedback from customers.”
Girs and Manninen say that in addition to the jobs that have already been completed, other Moomin-related collaborations are also planned.
"The collaboration has been particularly wonderful because the Moomins are such warm and human characters. They teach life lessons to both children and us adults. You can happily learn from the Moomins' gentle and unique way of looking at the world and apply them to your own life," says Manninen.
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