Moomin mug illustration from rarely seen Christmas letter by Tove Jansson – the history of Moomin mugs by Arabia, part 14

#54 Mymble’s mother 2012-

Little My’s, Mymble’s and Snufkin’s mother, Mymble older is also known as Mymble’s mother. She is roundish and very happy and besides the three children mentioned, she has 34 other children we meet in the book Moominpappa’s Memoirs.

Arabia’s Moomin mug, Mymble’s mother, was introduced to us in 2012 and has so far maintained its place in continuous production. The original illustrations of the mug are from Tove Jansson’s comic #7 Moomin Builds a New House (1956). Coloring and composition of the Mymble’s mother ceramic products are made by Arabia’s designer Tove Slotte. As a difference to the original illustrations, Slotte has added two boys for the ceramic product designs inspired by Jansson’s originals in various comics and books.

Did you know that Tove Jansson has once drawn family trees for most of the main characters of the Moomin stories? Our blog post presenting the family tree of Snufkin and Mymble also reveals how does the oldest Mymble look like and in which story does the Mymble’s mother’s aunt appear.

#55 Primadonna’s horse 2012

The first summer mug with the yellow-blue background was launched in spring 2012. Illustrations of Moomintroll and Primadonna’s horse are both from Tove Jansson’s comic #9 Moomin Falls in Love (1956) which decorative designer Tove Slotte has interpreted into this seventh summer Moomin mug. The beautiful flowers on the border of the mug are from Jansson’s comic #4 Moomin’s Desert Island (1955).

The mug was launched together with the Moomin summer bowl with the same design.

#56 Stockmann 2012

In August 2012, a traditional Finnish department store Stockmann accidentally released a special item on its webshop. This special product designed to honor the 150th anniversary of Stockmann was Arabia’s Moomin mug featuring Moomin characters as Tove Jansson had designed them for Stockmann’s wrapping paper in the late 1950s.

The information about the special mug spread wildly among Moomin fans in social media and soon the mugs were sold out according to Stockmann’s webshop. Soon the customers who had completed their order on the webshop received a message that the mugs were accidentally released for sale too early and their deliveries would only begin later. At the same time, Stockmann’s customer service was trying to calm down the Moomin mug collectors who didn’t get the mug in time by giving them information that there are a total of 25,000 Stockmann Moomin mugs produced and probably they would not be sold out immediately when they are officially released for sale.

However, Stockmann’s Moomin mugs were soon sold out after their official launch in September, and in December, Stockmann announced about the extra patch of the special mug with a purchase limit of 6 mugs per customer.

Stockmann’s 150 Edited Collection included unique numbered special products that were only available in Stockmann. Stockmann’s Moomin mug was a special product no. 125. Other products inspired by Tove Jansson’s wrapping paper were, for example, tea and coffee jars, coasters, trays, and a kitchen towel.

Since then, Stockmann has also launched a plate (2015), a pitcher (2016), and a jar with a lid (2017).

#57 Winter Forest 2012

Winter season mug for 2012 is called Winter Forest. As the other seasonal products, this mug was also on sale for a limited time during the winter 2012-2013.

Moominpappa on the back of the mug is from a comic #41 Moomin and Aunt Jane (1964) which Tove Jansson’s brother Lars Jansson has written and drawn. Designer Tove Slotte edited Moominpappa for a bit by moving an ax to pappa’s shoulder, for example. Snowy trees on the mug are from the same comic panel with Moominpappa.

The Little My presented on the mug is picked from the comic #17 Moomin and the Comet (1958). The comic was illustrated by Tove Jansson and co-written together with her brother Lars Jansson. For the mug, Tove Slotte has changed Little My’s dress, added a scarf, and slightly turned her.

An inspiration for the reindeer presented on the mug is from an English-language letter written by Tove Jansson in 1963. Designer Tove Slotte got the idea of the reindeer for the Winter Forest mug after reading a letter written and illustrated by Jansson. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Finland had in 1963 ordered a Christmas letter from Tove Jansson to make Finland known abroad. In that time, the representatives shared the letter in their territories so that as many children as possible who had once written to Santa Claus in Finland would receive the answer.

Read the letter from Santa Claus from our previous blog post below:

At the same time together with the mug, Arabia launched also the mini mugs, like a year before. The new product for 2012 was the ceramic Moominpappa and Little My ornaments.

Featured image and the original illustrations: Moomin Characters
Mugs: Fiskars