Finnish Jewelry: A Tour of the Kalevala & Lapponia Jewelry Factory

A Tour of the Kalevala & Lapponia Jewelry Factory in Helsinki, Finland

While I was in Finland, I had an opportunity to take a tour of the facilities of Finland's premiere jewelry manufacturers: Kalevala Koru and Lapponia. Kalevala jewelry is crafted using ancient traditions in gold, bronze, and silver. Lapponia is an innovative jewelry line started in the 1960's, which was recently acquired by Kalevala.


The factory tour was very interesting as we were shown the techniques in use for making lost wax casting. First, a designer creates the original design. Then, a mold is made of the design. Wax is then poured into the mold until the surface of the mold is covered with a thin, protective barrier. The next step is to pour the molten metal into the mold. Once the metals hardens, the plaster and wax molds are removed. Then the piece is polished, perfected and finished.



The necklace above is one of my favorites from the Lapponia line. It's called Galactic Peaks and was designed by Bjorn Weckstrom. If you are a fan of Star Wars, you'll recognize that this is very similar to his Planetary Valleys design that was worn by Princess Leia in the Episode IV. Pretty cool, eh?

The interesting part of their jewelry manufacturing processes is that every aspect requires the effort of a skilled tradesperson. After seeing these processes and tradespeople at work, its my opinion that their jewelry is in every way handmade. The company employs a huge team of about 180 jewelry professionals - every skill from design to production to sales. And, I believe they said that between 80-90 of them were strictly silver and/or goldsmiths.


Some of the other gorgeous designs are pictured above. And another one of my favorite designs from the Kalevala line is pictured above. It's gold fabulous?

Anyway, that's a peak at part of my day in Helsinki, Finland. I hope you enjoy seeing this beautiful Finnish jewelry as much as I did!