Author Archives: Jonas

Elna Kiljander was born in 1889 and is perhaps best known as one of Finland’s earliest female architects of model homes and kitchens but also for her furniture designs, many displayed at her concept store Koti-Hemmet home in Helsinki. Kiljander was a feminist, becoming a member of Architecta, the Finnish women’s architecture association, from itsContinue reading “Elna Kiljander”

Lyyli Inkeri (Li) Englund (née Uotila 1908 – 1993) was a Finnish costume and textile designer. She attended the Ateneum school from 1930 to 1933, studying to become an art teacher. It was here that she met her future husband, Kaj Englund, who at the time was a teacher at the school. They married inContinue reading “Li Englund”

Maija-Liisa Komulainen, known to her peers as Maikki, was born on 29 January 1922 in Kajaani, Finland. She graduated from the Institute of Crafts and Design in Helsinki in 1949 and opened her own practice in the city the following year, where she would remain for the next seventeen years. She came of age professionallyContinue reading “Maija-Liisa Komulainen”

Hilkka Mekri (Säynäjärvi) (nee Otsakari) (1917–88) studied at the School of Industrial Arts in Helsinki, graduating in 1945, and started working at Arabia that same year. Most of the students at the time were women, as were the ceramists at Arabia, and in time they would become renowned for their work. After the Finnish WinterContinue reading “Hilkka Mekri (Säynäjärvi)”

When it comes to good design, we quite often take it for granted. One of the best examples of this is the dish drying cabinet – a shelving rack placed above the sink, with an open bottom and shelves made of steel wire or dowels to allow washed dishes set within to drip into theContinue reading “Maiju Gebhard”

Eva Hidström studied at Ateneum under among others the renowned designer Bertel Gardberg (who urged her to start working with enamel) in Helsinki in the early 1950’s and from 1956 until 1967 she had a studio in Salo, with work and study stints in Germany and Switzerland as well. Her teacher Max Fröhlich helped herContinue reading “Eva Hidström”

Heidi Blomstedt, born Sibelius in 1911 at the Sibelius residence Ainola, her father being composer Jean Sibelius. Blomstedt would excel in her ceramic work, her designs breaking with the style at the time. Blomstedt was home schooled by her mother but later studied ceramics at the University of Art and Design in Helsinki, graduating inContinue reading “Heidi Blomstedt”

Marjatta Metsovaara-Van Havere (né Metsovaara (1927 – 2014) is especially known for her rugs and colourful printed fabrics , some of which are still in production. Metsovaara was born into a multicultural family, and her father Aleksander had started a textile factory in Urjala in the 1930s. She attended The School of Arts, Design and Architecture in 1949, studiedContinue reading “Marjatta Metsovaara”