"In fact, since we’re on the topic, we’ve made this into quite the storm in a teacup back home,” Stubb quipped in an Yle morning TV interview Tuesday.
According to Stubb, the discovery that Marimekko had copied designs without authorization has no significance for the Finnish economy and does not affect the reputation of Finnish design.
“This is not a stain on our design reputation in any way,” said Stubb. “Every company and every person makes mistakes from time to time, and then they’re repaired and we move forward.”
Marimekko has been plagued with plagiarism scandals in recent months. The latest culminated in May this year, when the company ended its long-standing cooperation with designer Kristina Isola after it was revealed that she had copied a print from a Ukrainian artist.