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e Magazine | Special Theme | Finnish Jewellery Design Scan
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Owner Sanna Leinonen with a large-scale model of her lollipop piece.
A leap of faith into sweet happiness When cancer stopped Sanna Leinonen in her tracks in 2009, she made the decision not to take life for granted. Nearly a decade later, her courage and determination have brought her new adventures, as well as a successful business, Elvari. From her pink workshop, she is spreading happiness in the form of sweet-shaped jewellery. By Ndéla Faye | Photos: Satu Mali
In 2010, having taken time off from her career as a restaurant manager following a cancer diagnosis and treatment, Leinonen received two packs of modelling clay from her mother, who hoped that it would provide Leinonen with a nice, relaxing hobby. Those two packets, however, were just the beginning, as Leinonen’s new hobby quickly took on a life of its own. “Initially, I would only do abstract shapes and turn them into jewellery,” Leinonen explains. “My friends and colleagues quickly got interested, and one of them asked if I would make her an earring shaped like liquorice all26 | Issue 115 | August 2018
sorts. I wasn’t keen on the idea, but she persisted and I finally obliged, and posted a picture of the finished earrings on social media. Overnight, I received tens of messages from people who wanted to know where they could buy jewellery shaped like sweets — and the rest is history,” she laughs.
pink, and toured around Finland selling her sweet jewellery. The hobby soon became a job, and now Leinonen has a jewellery factory built in her backyard. Inside the factory, everything is painted pink — pink microwave, pink sofa and cushions, pink carpets and a pink fridge. “I love the colour pink; it brings me so much happiness,” Leinonen says. “When I sell my jewellery at stalls around the country, I always note how people are in such a rush, but when they walk past my stall, they often stop in their tracks and take a
A pink factory spreading joy For a while, Leinonen would make jewellery on her kitchen table, but, as her business grew, she soon realised that she needed somewhere bigger to work. She therefore bought a van, painted it
Lollipop and donuts.