Handmade glasses from the Saariston glass factory
Saaristo glass factory, our small glass blowing factory, has opened its doors in the summer of 2018 in the archipelago municipality of Kustavi. Of course, the activity fits perfectly with the activities of Kustav's handicraft village, but where on earth did such an idea come from? It is often said that in Finland it is no longer worth doing production by hand, whether it is clothes, ceramics or now, for example, glass. Well, there is certainly some truth in that too, but this decision was not made by reason alone...
It turned out that my father Jussi, who has been making glass and ceramics in Åland (Jussis Keramik) since the 80s, has reached the respectable age of 74, and of course that is a perfect time for an entrepreneur to retire. 🙂 He had the idea that Glass Manufacturing would suit us here in Kustavi, which was of course completely true. I personally had to digest the matter somewhat, when I felt that my own time with the candle shop and store, as well as the new online store, was already on the cards. On the other hand, the thought that my father's life's work and the production of his wonderful glass products would just suddenly end felt bad. In the spring of 2018, we were on the verge of big solutions.
Jussi dreijaa, picture from the 90s.
Yellow wine glasses from Juss from Åland.
Advertising poster from Juss from a few years ago 🙂
I guess I've always done things a little differently than many, and many decisions have been made based on feelings. I had already been at a crossroads in my life years ago, when my sister Essi and I continued my mother and stepfather's company Kustavin Savipajaa and handicraft village. In this case, the situation was different, their departure too early from this worldly life made us sisters make decisions. But now I was in a situation where my father and I were able to talk about the continuation together. That's how it happened that we decided to start moving production from Mariehamn to Kustavi. I picked up the phone and started looking for a contractor for the building...
This started, Timo Urpo from Kustavi did the groundwork for the building in mid-May.
Ilpo Engdahl's construction company did a wonderful job under the summer rush, big thanks to them! Thanks also to the Sähkö Se-V team, without them we probably still wouldn't have electricity 😀
In the middle of June it already looked like this! Of course, the construction did not proceed in such a straight line, and sometimes I felt like I was watching some kind of suspense drama from the sidelines, where, for example, saws are coming to the site every other week, and every other week I get a notification that they will come in the fall. But through difficulties to victory!
Paula Pääkkönen is the second glassblower in our cabin. He graduated from the Nuutajärvi Glass School at the turn of the year, and had already worked for Jussi before. You can see Paula's stories, for example, on the Instagram side with the account Pau_ladesign.
We had great luck when we got Jaakko Liikanen, who is one of Finland's top blowers, as Paula's friend for the opening week. And on top of that, a super nice guy. Jaska <3
We started by making small glass balls in summer colors!
We got a master blower in our team, who travels around the world in selected places. Jan Vyskocil came to us at Kustavi straight from the heart of Hong Kong. At first, there was a bit of (positive) shock in the air when he came here to us in the middle of the summer archipelago landscape.
The balls were one of the favorite products!
At the end of the summer, we could clink glasses made by Jani and Paula!
I look back on the summer of 2018 longingly... Great new winds from running the glass cabin, an absolutely super-great team with me (Lore, Paula, Piia, Hanna, Somaya, Umayma, Jaska and Jan)... Without forgetting, of course, my father, thanks to whom we now make glass here! We kept the store open for three months every day from morning to night, made glass and candles and were able to serve lovely summer vacationers <3 And the heat... Huh huh!
With gratitude,
Soon