[2] Undisputedly the most famous textile designer... at Marimekko[3]Isola exhibited across Europe, including at the Brussels World Fair and the Milan Triennale, and in the USA.

She was inspired by a display of classical era pots at the Oslo Museum of Craft and Design to create her Amfora ("Amphora") print.

[18] From 1965 to 1967, Isola worked on the theme of sun and sea, creating at least nine designs that were adopted by Marimekko, including Albatrossi (Albatross), Meduusa (Jellyfish), and Osteri (Oyster).

[22] In 1974, Isola designed the popular pattern Primavera, consisting of stylized Marigold flowers; this has since been printed in many different colours for tablecloths, plates and other items.

She spent the year painting, walking, and doing yoga, inspired by the scenery of the Appalachian Mountains, which she said reminded her of her home town, Riihimäki.

[25] On returning to Finland, 160 of her works, including paintings and sketches but not her print designs, were displayed at a retrospective exhibition in a Helsinki gallery in 1979.

[35] According to FinnStyle, Isola was "undisputedly the most famous textile designer to have existed at Marimekko",[3] and she "created over 500 prints during her long and colorful employment.

[5] Ivar Ekman, writing in the New York Times, quotes Marianne Aav, director of the Helsinki Design Museum: "What we understand as the Marimekko style is very much based on what Maija Isola was doing".

[29] Ekman comments "The range of prints that Isola produced for Marimekko is astounding", as the patterns span "minimalist geometric", "toned-down naturalistic" and "explosion of colors".

[37] Hannah Booth, writing in The Guardian, explains that Marimekko's founder, Armi Ratia, "recruited Maija Isola, the first and most important of many young female designers, to create original prints".

[38] She describes Isola as unconventional, leaving her daughter Kristina "to grow up with her grandmother so she could travel the world to find inspiration for her textiles".

[38] Booth quotes Finnish novelist Kaari Utrio as saying Isola was "a dangerously original character"; she "belonged to a trailblazing generation" which enabled young women to move freely into the arts.

[38] Lesley Jackson, in a chapter titled Op, Pop, and Psychedelia, writes that "from Finland the exuberant all-conquering Marimekko burst on to the international scene" in the 1960s; she illustrates this with one pattern by Vuokko Nurmesniemi, and three by Isola – Lokki, Melooni, and Unikko.

[39][a] Of Lokki, Jackson writes "Isola revolutionized design with her simple, bold, flat patterns, printed on a dramatic scale.

"[40] Of the famous Unikko, Jackson says "This huge, exploded poppy pattern embodies the unbridled design confidence of the mid-1960s, and presages the ebullience and sizzling colours of the flower power era.

"[42] In 2011, Marimekko flew a hot-air balloon decorated with an enormous version of Unikko over Helsinki, reflecting the iconic status of the print, nearly half a century later.

[43] Marimekko's marketing policy is to reissue "classics from its fifty-year back catalogue, notably a large group of patterns from the 1950s and 1960s by Maija Isola.