Open House, Helsinki edition

How many Finnish products are you familiar with? Did you know that Nokia is (was) Finnish before the sale of it's phone division to Microsoft a few weeks ago? Maybe if you are into fashion, you know Marimekko. Maybe you never purchased one of these products, but I would guess that you do have a Finnish product in your home, or that you have at least used one in your lifetime: Fiskars scissors. It was the one item on the list of school supplies while I was growing up that the schools recommended by name. If you own a pair you know why: they are high-quality and you have probably had them forever.

But the iconic orange (trademarked, by the way) scissors are not the only thing that Fiskars makes. Indeed, they also make kitchen cutlery and outdoor tools such as axes, shovels, and gardening tools. In addition, the Fiskars company has also added Iittala/Arabia, Hackman, Gerber, and Royal Copenhagen to its product portfolio.

This week, Helsinki is holding its annual Design Week. There are many events around the city highlighting every aspect of the broad term, design. One of them was Open House Helsinki in which normally closed to the public buildings are opened up for tours. We I selected the tour of the Arabia factory.

  


The name Arabia comes from the neighborhood in which the ceramics factory was built: Arabianranta (coast of Arabia). Other than that, I haven't been able to determine why this neighborhood in Helsinki is named Arabia. The company has been around for a long time. 

History of stamps found on the bottom of Arabia products

We took a spin through the Fiskars Company showroom first. This included artistic displays using their products:

Plates from Arabia

 Axes from Fiskars in a 'wood chopping sequence'. As our guide told us, all Finns know how to chop wood in order to heat their saunas.

Saws from Fiskars

Spoons from Hackman

Close-up of the spoons

We continued to the showroom where the most iconic Fiskars Company products were on display:

Finnish cartoon Moomin collector dishes from Arabia

Brent inspecting the array of Fiskars cutting utensils

iittala chalices

iittala vases designed by Alvar Aalto, and their tea candle holders

Royal Copenhagen table setting with iittala wine glasses

 It was Saturday, and so there was not much going on in the factory, only the kilns were in operation. The kilns are operational year-round, except for the month of July, presumably for all of the workers to take their holiday. But, we took a walk around the factory floor regardless (sorry, no pictures were permitted).

Arabia ceramics start out as a mix of earthen components, half of which are from Finland. Once formed into their iconic shapes and dried, the design is added. The hand-painting came to an end in 2005 and now they use decals with the paints embedded. These are applied, the whole piece is glazed, and they are sent for their 19-hour, single firing. Since the pieces are only fired once, the colors are specially made to handle this process.

Process of mug-making; we were told that attaching the handle is the most difficult part

After the factory tour, we were taken to the top floor of Arabia building to wander around the 2-room museum. This mini-museum contained artwork that made use of Arabia products as well as patterns from the discontinued patterns. Note: if you decide to buy any Arabia pattern and want the set, buy it all! I was surprised by the number of discontinued patterns.

Artwork utilizing Arabia ceramics: the robots were my favorite!

If you want to add a tour of the Arabia factory in your trip to Helsinki, it requires some planning-ahead for a reservation and a small entrance fee. Tours are normally only organized on weekdays and during limited hours. The museum would also have limited weekday hours. The factory is a bit out of the way from the center, but is accessible on tram lines 6 and 8. While there, be sure to stop in their outlet store to pick up a Fiskars Company product, or a discounted, imperfect (hardly noticeable in most pieces) Arabia piece.