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along the way, so I’ve always been trying to bring it to whatever I do. I think it’s a state of mind and a way of thinking. It’s trying out different things, combining old and new and coming up with interesting ideas. It used to be all about sketching, painting and having fun but it has taken a slightly more corporate form these days. Tikari & Maininki We both have handicraft influence in our families. We have a seamster, a gold- and clocksmith, a toolmaker, a writer, an engineer, a builder etc., and we both also have entrepreneurs in our family. We have always seen how things are carefully made by hand, and how people can be
Tulva, Tulva, 2016. Feminist magazine. The Feminist Association Unioni.
creative in daily life. Being creative is a way of life for us, and we hope to pass it on to our son, too. Tulva Yes, Viivi spent her early years in girl scouts. Ville Tikka / Wevolve I guess every child is creative by definition, when they make sense of the world, experiment with it, and try to learn ways to cope with it and thrive in it. When I grew up, my version of creativity was mostly about thinking and understanding the world, often through the books that I hoarded from the local library. I read and daydreamed of things and the ways they could be, rather than tried to explicitly create them.
3 Finns have a strong sense of national identity. That is what is written in a lot of guides about your country. What does it mean? Christa Björkstam / Agency Leroy I guess it’s only natural for any people to develop a sense of identity and thinking. Historically we have had a lot of time to ourselves in a geographically secluded area with only little intervention from other nationalities to develop that sense of self. I’m quite certain that our sense of national identity seems special and perhaps more prominent to other nationalities because it has developed in a different environment compared to e.g. most other European nationalities. It’s also pretty apparent that we connect very closely and
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Agency Leroy, Christa Björkstam, Mood Coffee Roastery, 2015. Coffee Shop interior design (branding by Linus Vuorio).
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have great respect for unspoiled nature which we have a lot of here in Finland. Aki Suvanto / Aivan Do they? More than others? Maybe not. But being a quite a small population, probably people start to underline some of the less common and specific aspects of being born here. Daniel Bosch / Fjord I love the Finnish passion for craft, and how it comes out with its own dark and dry humor. But I am like most of the people I work with: I am from many places at the same time. If you look at our passports, we are 13 different nationalities. But that is
Slanted 29—Helsinki