June 2, 2019. Helsinki, Fiskars Village, Espoo — Long Day

Moi Moi –

It’s midnight in Helsinki and it’s not pitch black out there yet.. See photo above taken at the Railway Station (Rautatieasema) as we got off the train from Espoo at exactly midnight. Also see photo of train station statue of the “lantern bearers” — lyhdynkantajat, in Finnish– bedecked with regalia from Finland’s win in the world cup ice hockey championship – with an amateur team that had never played together. Naturally, the small country is elated!

It was a long and busy day. Left hotel after a quick morning snack at the St George Bakery, for the train station where we quickly picked up flowers (Finnish tradition to always bring fresh flowers when visiting – summer or winter, as Finns love colorful flowers) and then we took the train (overground, not the Metro) to Espoo which is about 35 miles from downtown Helsinki and is its own jurisdiction. It took about 18 minutes, with the reader board on the train showing the exact minute when the train would be at each stop and it was exact. We were met at the station by Antti and Heidi in their 19-year-old and very functional Volvo, and off we went to Fiskars Village. We had been there about 10 years before, but now there was a biennale and it’s hard to explore all of the village in any one visit. So it was nice to go again.

Fiskars was begun as an ironworks company in the 1700s; they also produced copper. It developed quickly as an industrial community with workers living in the small village located about an hour west of Helsinki on a beautiful piece of land with a river running through it. The factories and workshops produced items like scissors (those great ones with the orange handles that many of you probably own) as well as knives and other tools, especially gardening and agriculture tools, and later power transmission devices. For about 100 years there was a railroad that went from Fiskars to the harbor. Today there aren’t any active factories on the site… it’s been transformed.

In the 1990s, the owner realized he needed to reinvigorate the small 300-year old village where the company was founded. The town had thrived as an industrial and commercial center for three centuries, but by the 1980s, it became clear that the ironworks were too small to support a global business. Fiskars shifted its operations to larger facilities and then many of the factories and homes sat empty and were deteriorating. But Lindberg was determined to do something. He recognized that these spaces and houses and this idyllic setting could be attractive to artists. He offered to rent spaces at very affordable prices, and artists came to work and live in Fiskars. Now 30 years later, there are about 600 creative people living in the village spread out over hundreds of acres. There are furniture makers,  glassblowers, jewelry designers, and other creative artists and craftspeople. There’s a restaurant, a hotel, and a café and other amenities spread out on the grounds as well.

The Biennale was focused on diversity and sustainable development. There were some interesting projects, including the concept of “social seating” – which invited a diverse set of artists to design “benches” since benches are meant to be enjoyed with others (as compared to chairs that seat just one person). The benches were scattered all around the site. One artist created an economic nutrition guide for various products to show the percentage of time and cost for labor versus materials, etc.

We had a simple lunch at the café (a wonderful risotto with fresh peas, local mushrooms, local herbs… ) and we continued to reconnect. After several hours exploring, we drove back to Espoo where Antti and Heidi have a wonderful 80-year-old farmhouse on a few acres at the edge of a large lake. While their permanent residence is downtown Helsinki, they live at this house several nights a week and always on the weekends. About 10 years ago they built a second house on the property for their daughter Hannah (an active Green Party member) who now has two daughters (ages 9 and 7) who were eager to give us a tour. We had been to this Espoo house several times over the past years, but had never seen Hannah’s house. The kids are also into this strange Finnish craze about hobby horses (the ones with the head of the horse and the stick that you sort of ride around on). They did an “equestrian” show for us jumping over hurdles. They “sold” tickets for this “show” and we watched as they galloped and trotted. By the way the horse’s name is Milton.

The farm house is delightful and a stark contrast to Hannah’s very modern Finnish house. Antti and Heidi cooked a great dinner, with wonderful wines and we chatted until we had to catch the last train to Helsinki.

It’s late now and I’m going to crash. Hope things in the states are ok.. We are keeping up with politics and world news by watching Al Jezeera. But frankly, it’s been good to be this distance and to be in such a sane and thoughtful place. Our friends sound hopeful regarding their recent parliament elections with an expansion in the number of seats for Green Party and for Left parties.

Oh, one last thing I forgot to mention yesterday. While at the library, I used the WC, and then went to wash up at the sink. As I extended my hands hot air seemed to burst from the faucet. I was a bit embarrassed and tried to see if I needed to push anything to get water for my hands. Eventually I must have used the appropriate hand motion and water came out of the faucet and then I gently moved my hands to the right and left and the hot air to dry my hands started to spray. They have an all-in-one water and air drying system for their sinks. How cool is that? No need to walk with dripping hands to the dryer. I’m telling you, we are way behind.

Only two more days and we are back. Maybe we should stay? We considered staying in Finland when we lived here, but realized that you can never really be a Finn unless you are born here.

All the best.

Fern