Photo: Courtesy Tom of Finland Foundation.
It’s been a good year for Tom of Finland fans—after being featured on a set of postage stamps in his home country, the late artist, who passed away in 1991, received his largest solo show to date at Artist’s Space in New York.
This month, the Tom of Finland Foundation is partnering with One Condoms to feature sketches by Touko Laaksonen, aka Tom of Finland, on the cover of condom wrappers. The special edition rubbers will make their official debut on September 27 at San Francisco’s Folsom Street Fair, heralded as “the world’s biggest leather event,” and one of the premiere celebrations that make up the city’s “Leather Pride Week.”
The partnership is part of the brand’s Lust For Life campaign, an ongoing series of collaborations with artists who are committed to promoting sexual health and awareness.
Photo: Courtesy Tom of Finland Foundation.
The late artist is widely heralded as one of the most influential and pioneering creators of openly homoerotic art, and his work has had a lasting impact on the gay community. In the 1980s, during the height of the AIDS epidemic, Laaksonen began including condoms and pro-condom slogans in his drawings to help encourage safe sex among gay men.
The series features 24 unique wrappers, each with an original black-and-white Tom of Finland drawing. See some of the images below.
Photo: Courtesy Tom of Finland Foundation.
Photo: Courtesy Tom of Finland Foundation.
Photo: Courtesy Tom of Finland Foundation.