Antrei Hartikainen

Antrei Hartikainen has designed and manufactured place setting products for Metsä/Skogen using Finnish alder. The selection includes tableware such as a flat fruit bowl, a tray and a cutting board. Each product is finished using a natural oil and wax finish. One of Antrei’s strong points is his expertise in material combined with a sense of aesthetics. He knows the limitations of different materials and dares to push those limits to discover new forms.



“In Fiskars, where I live, nature is present everywhere. My favourite scenery is when you exit a tunnel as you go towards the centre. On one side of the road, there’s a lake with plants emerging from the water and reaching for the sky. On the other side, there are trees that get the brightest shades of green, orange and red during autumn. Occasionally you can even see a purple hue in the foliage.”

Jutta Ylä-Mononen

Jutta Ylä-Mononen has a background in journalism and interior design. Together with Antrei Hartikainen, she has designed and manufactured a tableware collection consisting of ceramics and wooden products. The ceramic bowls are made using a plaster mould and then finished using engobe colours. Everything is handmade and each bowl is unique. The colour palette ranges from green moss to the shade of sand in the bottom of a lake in the woods. The bowls go together beautifully with the alder tableware designed by Antrei Hartikainen. Metsä/Skogen has also bracelets Jutta made using Finnish red clay. They are available in terracotta colour, white, brown and black. The black bracelets have been smoked in the baking oven of the old family house.

“I spent my childhood summers in Virolahti, near the sea and the Russian border. My mother loved going to forage for mushrooms and berries and she always took my brother and I with her. She placed us on a big stone to eat our snacks. After we finished our sandwiches, we were both given a blueberry branch and we both sat there happy eating blueberries on a bed of moss on the rock. We would spend hours upon hours in the woods and we always had fun there.”

Hetkinen

Most of the ingredients used in Hetkinen natural cosmetics products come from Finnish forests. The company has designed a vegan sauna spa product collection for Metsä/Skogen. It includes products such as a heather scrub, a cranberry cream and a mask made from lichen. Hetkinen has also created Metsä/Skogen’s own scent. It can be used in a diffuser or by adding a few drops in the water you throw on the hot sauna stones. The products Hetkinen has made for Metsä/Skogen are packaged in brown glass jars with lids made from pine. The package symbolises the healing power of the forest. After you have used the product, you can repurpose the jar and use it, for example, as a jewellery box.

“As a child I spent a lot of time with my mother’s mother in Rauma on the west coast of Finland. There was a small forest area between her home and the grocery store. We often stopped there to marvel at the ants who were busy working hard and to smell the wonderful aroma of the pine trees.”
– Mona Isotupa, founder and CEO of Hetkinen

Kutomo Holopainen

Knitting company Kutomo Holopainen is known for their high-quality knitwear and the ability to manufacture varied knitwear items according to the client’s wishes even on short notice. Kutomo Holopainen has made Metsä/Skogen jumpers, cardigans and accessories such as beanies and scarfs. Every item is based on Metsä/Skogen’s unique designs. The products are made in Tuusula, near Helsinki. The mohair and merino blend knitwear’s colour palette is inspired by the colours of the forest.

“My most precious memory of spending time in the woods is from when we were children. We enjoyed the autumn season spent at our cottage. Our family went picking lingonberries and the tree leaves had already autumnal colours. We would then boil the berries to make a sweet dessert-like pudding. It is so delicious – especially when you have actually picked the berries for it yourself.”
–Ari Holopainen, CEO of Kutomo Holopainen

Jokipiin Pellava

Jokipiin Pellava manufactures household textiles designed exclusively for Metsä/Skogen. The selection includes textiles for sauna, an apron, a kitchen towel as well as both decorative and sauna pillows. The polyester filling is made from PET bottles by Lennol Oy. Jokipiin Pellava’s products are OEKO-TEX certified, made from linen and cotton blend and are manufactured in the village of Jokipii, in western Finland.

“My most intense memory of spending time in the woods has to do with my hobby, orienteering. The early hours of a June morning, the dew and the scent of a humid forest. You run by birch saplings and the morning dew makes the leaves stick to your skin.”
–Timo Laurila, CEO of Jokipiin Pellava

ProtosDemos

Design company ProtosDemos is behind the design and the manufacturing of Metsä/Skogen’s store furniture. The company has also manufactured kitchenware such as cutting boards as well as sauna products from ash and oak. ProtosDemos is also known internationally for their furniture brand Made by Choice and it has been showcased at Art Basel – one of the most important art fairs in the world. ProtosDemos represents design that is both bold and innovative. The company seeks to promote artisanal culture from the design perspective both in Finland as well as abroad.

“I still have a distinct memory of the primary forest by my grandfather’s house. We used to work on building a hut in the woods using only fallen trees. There were plenty of those in the preserved forest. The hut kept getting bigger every year. Unfortunately, it doesn’t exist anymore. For a child the forest is a great place to go on adventures.”
–Lasse Laine, CEO of ProtosDemos

Kaheli Design

Design agency Kaheli Design has designed and implemented Metsä/Skogen’s visual concept. The inspiration behind the space came from wanting to create an experience amid organic shapes and elements – for example moss, stone and wood – you see in a forest. The atmosphere is complemented also by sounds, aromas and a projection of a forest. During the evenings an image of a night-time forest is projected onto the street.

“The most precious, delicate moment to take in aromas and sounds is when you go to a humid forest during a very early summer morning. There is always something new to be experienced in nature and the scents are alive and ever-changing along with the forest.”
–Nina Enroth and Annika Salonen, founders of Kaheli Design