Karelia History.

The beginning.
 

While studying architecture at the School of Architecture at the University of Toronto, I became aware of Scandinavian architecture and the Finnish architect Alvar Aalto became my hero. Not only for his humanist approach to architecture but in his broad scope of involvement from town planning, sculpture and painting and the design of bent wood furniture for Artek and award winning glass designs for Karhula-Iittala.

I learned more about Finnish architecture and design and discovered that many international magazines and publications were featuring projects and Finnish architects and designers that had won top prizes at  the 1960 Milan Triennale. The products were simple, beautiful and expressive of their material and in addition they seemed to posess a very powerful strength and spirit which made them uniquely Finnish. 

To my amazement, none were available in Canada. I decided to change that. i managed to find a Finnish trade publication that listed about twenty companies and their addresses. I wrote to all of them expressing my interest in importing their products and in becoming their representative in Canada. Soon letters, catalogues and samples started arriving in the mail. Most of the Finnish firms were delighted to work with us. We were probably the first company that had approached them from Canada.

The first Karelia on Bayview avenue, Toronto.

My sister Gundega , I and a Swedish friend Solveig Westman, decided to form a company. Solveig was a hairdresser and operated Swedish Beauty Studio at 729 Bayview Avenue, just south of Eglinton Avenue, beside the Norwegian Ski Shop. There was a waiting area and a large window facing the street. This became the home of the first Karelia Studio location.

We searched for a name. We wanted to be associated with Finland, however we did not want to call it Finland house or anything similar. We wanted a name that had some recognition and a name that was not too difficult to pronounce. Solveig suggested Karelia, as recognized in Sibeliu's Karelia Suite. We agreed that it was the right name. I later learned that Karelia has a deep significance for the Finnish people. The Winter War was bravely fought there and even later I found out that Armi Ratia, the founder of Marimekko, was born in Karelia.

At the time I was working for John B.Parkin Architects at the corner of Don Mills road and York Mills Road. this was not too far from Bayview and Eglinton and every lunch hour I would drive over, while eating my lunch in the car, to see what new correspondence or samples might have arrived. we displayed some things in the window and hoped for some customers.

My sister, who was practicing dentistry, decided that she did was not in a position to contribute to this young, fledging business. She recouped her $ 2000.00 investment by having some built in seating made fort her by a young Swedish, former policeman, cabinetmaker Bjørn Edmark.

Gerrard Street West Village.

We soon realized that we needed better exposure and more street traffic to promote our products. I started looking around various corners downtown and found a small shop on Elm Street, just west of Bay Street. It was just one large room, about 20 feet by 16 feet, with a whole front wall of glass. We managed to rent it  on a month to month basis. We had barely moved in when we heard that a two storey house was being vacated on Gerrard Street, just south of us. I was occupied by a prothesis supplier and the two front windows were full of hanging artificial arms and legs and things that I did not recognize. We managed to rent this house at 96 Gerrard Street West for, I believe $ 75.00 per month. We had to clear out a lot of debris from the two floors and basement. My father Arvids, who wad an architect from Latvia and a master builder and cabinetmaker, helped with the renovations. In the process we found a very old issue of Toronto Star stuck inside one of the walls. There was a rumour that Ernest Hemingway had lived in this house when he was working for the Star in the 1920ies.

The area, now known as the Gerrard Street West Village, was becoming a vibrant part of the city. The artist Jack Pollock, who had a gallery in the area was an active promoter and started Maytime in the Village, an annual celebration of spring with exhibitions, street dances, antique car shows and other activities.  We painted daisies on the sidewalks and invited people down.There was a French bookstore,Karelia Studio, a photographer's studio and Mary Johns restaurant across the street from us on the corner. Mary Johns was a family run restaurant operated by Finnish people who served wholesome, good food at very reasonable prices. It was popular with a lot of people who worked in the hospitals next door. 

Our product selection was still quite limited, however growing. We managed to borrow a newly designed, one piece telephone by L.M.Eriksson of Sweden in two colours, it might have been white and red. We displayed them in our window together with other items. They created a lot of conversation and one lady wanted to know how much the salt and pepper shakers were?

This was the time that the new Toronto City Hall international architectural competition had been won by a Finn Viljo Revell and his associates and they had set up an office to work with John B. Parkin's office to develop the design and coordinate the construction documentation. I got to know Viljo Revell, Bengt Lundsten, Heikki Castren and Seppo Valijus, who took me to their homes to show me their Finnish dishes, glassware, textiles and furniture. They told me who I definitely had to see and which companies were important, such as Artek, Haimi, Muurame, Arabia, Iittala, Aarika, Marimekko, Metsovaara, Dora Jung, Kai Franc, Ilmaari Tapiovaara, Wirkkala, Sarpaneva, Nurmesniemi and others. 

My first trip to Finland.

I sold my old car and made arrangements to go on my first trip to Finland.

I have arrived in Helsinki. May 15, 1960.

My hotel is very central close to the main railway station, designed by Eliel Saarinen, and the Parliament Building. In Helsinki there is an abundance of cafes where you can purchase open faced sandwiches and many delicious kinds of pastries. On the street you can buy sausages, just sausages without bread. They are wrapped in wax paper, with mustard if you wish. They are delicious and most people buy five or six at a time. They are very reasonably priced - 35 cents for four sausages. Everything seems really inexpensive. My hotel room is $ 5.50 plus 15 % service charge, coffee 80 cents. A meal in a cafeteria style restaurant is two dollars  and in a  bit fancier restaurant 3 dollars. the business day here is really short and everyone seems to quit around three or four in the afternoon.

In the evenings I walk around the city, observe people and admire the store windows, which afe all full of beautiful and delicious goods. Fruit is displayed in beautiful glass and ceramic dishes or suspended from the air. Meat store windows are piled full of the most beautiful hams and roasts, ducks and chickens and a variety of smoked fish. The cafes are frequented mostly by a younger crowd and I have to admit that I have not seen a better looking group of young people. Everyone is well dressed, the girls in short, full skirts with bouffant hairdoos, the boys in suits and ties. Some cafes are quite elegant, in one there might be young fellow playing the violin and in another, one playing classical music on the piano. The centre of the city is quite small but the suburbs extend into the ever present natural landscape. Helsinki is situated on several rocky islands and the water, granite cliffs and pine trees create a memorable environment.

From my hotel room i had a good view of Mannerheimentie, a major street named after the famous Finnish general Mannerheim, as well as the Parliament Building. One day there was a major military parade and memorial. Groups of soldiers from various regiments were parading by - old cannons and army equipment, musical bands, veterans in their old uniforms. It was a very long, impressive procession that went on for hours. I was particularly moved by the veterans, some of whom were very old and frail. I observed one leading a vintage bicycle that had ropes for tires rather than rubber. The pride in their nation and their strong desire for freedom was evident in their faces and bearing of all the soldiers of all ages. I remember thinking that if there was a war and i had a choice, these were the soldiers that i would want to be with.

From a business point of view, I was surprised that to find that almost all of the export managers were young fellows who had their MBA's and who spoke English and several other languages. most of them were my age and it was easy to communicate. Many of them went to school together so they had a very strong network.

Antti and Vuokko Nurmesniemi.

Bengt Lundsten, one of the architects working with Viljo Revell, had introduced me to the Nurmesniemis, Antti and Vuokko, Eskolin Nurmesniemi. This year Antti had received the Lunning Prize from Denmark and he was presently designing the Finnish exhibition for the Milan Triannale in the fall. I went to his office where he showed me some of his work, and then to his apartment, which was on the second floor of a private house. I was served sherry, then red wine with appetizers, sandwiches, coffee and cognac. We talked about architecture and design. This was one of the first instances where I realized that it is possible to have a meaningful communication without speaking. We would be sitting quietly, sipping our sherry and there was extensive communication between us.

Fiskars.

Yesterday I went to Fiskars metal factory which is located in Fiskars, a town some distance from Helsinki. The export manager and I took the train at eight in the morning and then we drove in the company limo to the factory, which basically makes up the village. We had a tour and saw how all the spoons, knives and forks were formed. Apparently eighty five percent of the work is done by hand, so you can truly say that the products are hand crafted. I saw how the stainless steel tableware Triannale designed by Bertil Gardberg was made. In my opinion it is one of the most beautiful lines of tableware and I and my sons and their families enjoy it daily.

 By noon we went to a separate cafeteria building to have lunch.We were three, the export manager, the plant manager and I. We were served dill potatoes, a variety of marinated herring and sardines, sausages and bread and butter. I was not sure if there would be more courses, so I ate well. Then came the warm course which consisted of thinly sliced ham baked into a pancake with a fried egg on top, delicious. Of course all of this was accompanied by lots of beer. While havng coffee and danishes, a higher up director and the manager of another shop joined us. Everyone knew each other, we all spoke  Swedish, it was a lively conversation. On the wall behind the director there was a buzzer to summon the server. Incessantly the director would ask " Would the gentlemen like some sherry?"and he would press the buzzer. In a little while he would ask again " Would the gentlemen like some cognac?" He kept pressing the buzzer and the server kept bringing. After a while we were treated to whisky and soda. Our lunch lasted until four o'clock.

We talked about business and about how Fiskars could increase their sales internationally. I made a suggestion that they should create a great poster and distribute it widely all over the world. That it should be of excellent design, not only to appeal to their wholesale customers and importers but also to a wider audience, that it should be made available at universities and other places. I stated that it was important to have their poster on the wall of a university dormitory, because in a relatively short time these students would graduate, start earning money and establish a household. They would already have been exposed to the Fiskars brand and could become likely purchasers. They all seemed to like the idea and the director immediately called the advertising manager to join us. We drank and debated and drank and concluded that as soon as possible, they would hire Finland's best graphic designer to create a poster to be sent to Canada and many other countries. We were driven all the way back to Helsinki.

Karhula-Iittala.

Today I went to the Karhula-Iittala glass factory in the village of Iittala, where they freely blow liquid glass as well as into wooden forms. Designers such as Alvar Aalto, Tapio Wirkkala, Timo Sarpaneva, Oiva Toikka and many others have designed some of the most iconic glass ever. Apparently you need to have twenty five years of glass blowing experience to become a " master blower". Karhula-Iittala has a very large collection of products, which we became the exclusive agents for Canada and which we exhibited at a number of industry events.    

On my visit to Artek I met Åke Tjeder, the managing director. It is the distributor and retailer of Alvar Aalto's furniture as well as a retailer of many other products and it also functions as an art exhibition space. Åke Tjeder was a very charming and elegant gentleman. He showed me around and explained the various features of the Aalto furniture. I liked most of it and placed orders, however I was not too sure about the # 66 chair. I was having some difficulty accepting the constructive aesthetic of the back of the chair being attached to the legs with screws. Ake was very persuasive about the chair being a best seller and a great success, so I agreed to order some. Today I have them in my home around the Aalto extension, dining table and I have learned to appreciate them. Åke was very kind  to offer us six months credit on our first order.  

Sauna.

Antti Nurmesniemi had invited me to sauna at the Palace Hotel, which was designed by Viljo Revell together with Reimo Pietila and for which Antti had been the interior architect together with Olli Borg. This was supposed to be the best sauna in Helsinki. It is located on the roof of the tallerst part of the building, with a magnificent view of the harbour and the city. At this time warships from the Royal Navy were visiting and were anchored directly in front of us. The sauna was beautifully outfitted. There was a steam room, where the temperature was 120 degrees celsius, a soaping table, showers and a lounge area with several beds. We sat in the sauna and absorbed the heat, after a while an older lady brought us whisks of leafy birch branches with which we beat our bodies. When we got too hot we went out on the balcony to cool off and enjoy the view. We went back into the sauna and enjoyed the birch branches some more. After that, each one of us in turn, had to lie down on the soaping table and the lady soaped and scrubbed us all over. We went back into the steam, showered and then rested on the beds in the lounge.

After sauna Antti and I went to dinner at Monte Carlo, which was supposed to have the best food. During dinner Antti telephoned his friend Olli Borg, who is a well known designer and teacher. He arrived around eight o'clock and we drank coffee and cognac and we talked about architecture and design. Around twelve o'clock we decided that we should visit another establishment. As se left Monte Carlo, we noticed that some horse and buggy vehicles had arrived. The three of us piled in. The horses smelled like horses and we were in a happy mood. By the time we arrived at another bar, it was already closed. We did not give up and proceeded to walk to another bar. On the way we saw many drunk English sailors supporting each other on the way back to their ships. On one of the main streets wev saw a well dressed gentleman standing on the edge of he sidewalk and aiming his natural juices into the gutter in all seriousness. When we arrived at our destination, this bar was also closed. then Olli Borg, who was the head of the Academy of Art, took us to his school where there was supposed to be a bittle of sherry. Unfortunately, when we got there, someone had already drunk it. We headed to my hotel, which was nearby. On the way we each ate three sausages. Apparently you are not allowed to have visitors at this early hour so the doors were locked. We rank the door bell and summoned the night watchman. I had bought a bottle of cognac at the duty free for just this kind of an occasion. We chatted for about an hour and they left. Saturday afternoon Olli showed me around his school and student work. We went for a walk around the city. Around seven, Antti picked us up and we went on a sightseeing tour of some of the newer districts and saw some important buildings. We saw Alvar Aalto's home and studio and some apartment buildings designed by Viljo Revell in Tapiola.  The architecture overall was of very high quality and well integrated into the landscape. Around ten in the evening, as it was getting dark, we drove to Olli Borg's home, where Olli's wife and Antti's wife awaited us. We were served an Italian dinner. we ate freshly made pickles,cheese and grapes. Drank red wine and debated weather Kaij Franck was greater than Alvar Aalto or vice versa. Our discussion lasted till about four in the morning and then Antti drove me to my hotel.

On another occasion, Antti took me to the home of Kaij Franck for a visit. He lives in a very interesting new residential neighbourhood. Kaij Franck has been called the Grandfather of Finnish Design and works in glass and ceramics.

Today, May 23, I met with Kai Franck and we drove to the Arabia factory where they create art ceramics and porcelain and where the various designers have their studios. There are a number of regulations at Arabia that the designers have to observe. They have to use a time clock to check in in the mornings and out in the evenings. They are not allowed to leave the building during the day. They may also not take home anything that they produce. If they want to take home something that is cracked or damaged, they have to ask for special permission and the parcel has to have a special red tag to be allowed out of the building. Their reward is the freedom that they can create anything that they wish and  that enters their mind. This of course is an important freedom. I had a tour and met several designers. A ceramic artist Kylliki Salmenhaara gave me one of her works which I had admired. She works in very textured red clay. The piece was one of a series of upside-down pyramid type containers balancing on a very small footprint. She even managed to arrange for the red sticker. Kaij Franck gave me one of his rooster glass bottles and a young glass designer one of his vases. All the items were wrapped together in one parcel and the red sticker attached. Kai Franck carried the parcel out through security and the gates. I still treasure all of the items.

Pori: Textiles and cast iron, May 29, 1960.

Last Thursday evening, a young marketing manager and I flew to Pori (Bjørneborg in Swedish),where there are two companies that we represented, Porin Puuvila, a extile manufacturer and Rosenlew, which makes cast iron cookware. Tomo Sarpaneva is the designer for both lines of products that we were working with. When we arrived at our hotel we were met by the export manager of Rosenlew, who treated us to dinner. We ate a delicous paper-wrapped whitefish ( Siika in Finnish). After dinner we enjoyed coffee and cognac and chatted until midnight. The next morning we went to the Rosenlew factory and saw how they make the cast iron pot with the removable teak handle and other casseroles that looked like sputniks. We had a quick lunch at the factory and went back to the hotel for a rest.

At three o'clock I had to be at Porin Puuvila. When i left Helsinki, the weather was sunny and warm and I wore my suit without a coat. Around two thirty a storm moved in, there was lightning and thunder and the rain came down in buckets. I did not have much choice. Luckily I managed to hail a cab right in front of the hotel door, so that i was hit only by a few drops of rain. I was met by the export manager who introduced me to the managing director. When he saw my business card, he exclaimed "You must be Latvian". As it turned out, before the second World War,he had been the salesman for Porin Puuvila in latvia and knew the country quite well. He had been a personal friend of Jānis Rozentāls, who was one of Latvia's most famous painters and he could also say God Save Latvia in Latvian. He was very jovial and friendly and even went and got his personal raincoat for me to wear as we walked among the buildings. They employ approximately 2500 workers and manufacture all kinds of textiles. The export manager came back to my hotel where we had dinner. After dinner I went straight to the airport as my flight was leaving at seven thirty. A little before nine, I arrived at Helsinki airport.

Metsovaara.

 Previously I had visited the Metsovaara showroom where I saw many textiles, some very unusual woven from strips of plastic and threads as well as some prints. At this time in Finland there was a scarcity of raw materials and unconventional materials were being explored. I met Marjatta Metsovaara, one of Finland's best known textile designers and Mrs Janson, the export manager. They both spoke Swedish with each other, made complimentary remarks about me, were most gracious while discussing which price they should quote me, without having the slightest idea that I spoke Swedish. We had a pleasant meeting and I was invited to dinner the next evening when I would return from Pori.

At the airport i was met by Madame Marjatta Metsovaara in her Jaguar and Mrs. Janson. We went by my hotel to drop off my SAS travel bag and then on to The Fisherman's Cottage,(Kalastajatorppa in Finnish), which is one of the nicest hotels, nightclubs and restaurants in Finland. it is located on the seashore among rocks, water and pine trees -a truly spectacular setting.There were masses of people. We could not get into the main room and ended up in the Grilli. The place was crowded, many people got drunk pretty quickly and started singing and shouting so hat it was difficult to hear the music. There was a small spot where people were trying to dance and we danced a little. We drank espresso and Cordon Bleu cognac and talked about business and many other things. The evening confirmed what I had sensed earlier at their showroom - that Marjatta had a bit of a crush on me. Marjatta and Mrs. Janson were speaking Swedish with each other as Marjatta's English was limited. They would discuss in Swedish what they wanted to say and then Mrs. Janson would tell me in English. They were struggling for a long time to find the appropriate  English word for a particular Swedish word. They were not succeeding and the struggle kept going on. Finally I volunteered the word that hey were looking for. They were both amazed and furious to find out that I spoke Swedish, particularly as they had been speaking behind my back, or so they thought. We did however become their representatives

On Sunday I went to Marimekko. 

Armi Ratia and her husband Viljo picked me up and we went to their showroom and factory. We looked at dress design and many fabrics and had a tour of the hand printing factory. On Wednesday there will be a marimekko fashion show in an open air cafe on the Esplanaadi which is the heart of the most fashionable area of Helsinki and where all the major brands have their retail shops including marimekko. I was invited and participated in my first, of many marimekko fashion shows. After the show Armi invited me to join her and her entourage for dinner at Palce Hotel. The show was a great success and we had a joyous evening. My table companion was Vuokko Eskolin Nurmesniemi, who with her husband Antti became dear friends. On one occasion, I arrived at Armi's apartment and found a celebration in full swing. People were drinking Campari and soda, singing and dancing and celebrating the arrival of spring. Everyone was young, beautiful , full of energy and enthusiasm and committed to the common vision of Armi's Marimekko. 

At my first meeting with Armi, she invited me to come to Bøkars that evening. Bøkars was Armi's manor house and country property. A place to work and to relax, to entertain clients and the press, to celebrate life and to share. Bøkars was located near the old fishing village of Porvoo, east of Helsinki right on the Baltic sea.  A car picked me up , we drove about an hour and arrived in the late afternoon. In addition to the manor house, there were a number of farm buildings which had been renovated into exhibition spaces, meeting and presentation rooms as well as studios.

Haimi.

Haimi made contemporary Finnish furniture, primarily designed by Yrjø Kukkapuro. In my opinion he has designed the most comfortable lounge chair.

You do however have to be a certain height for it to fit you most comfortably. Fortunetly, I am and do enjoy it every evening.

We were getting great support from the architectural and design community, many of whom became regular customers who also selected our fabrics and other items to furnish their projects. We were however not in a very visible location and our space was very limited.  We were approached by a very energetic and persuasive lady real estate agent who was the leasing agent for a small, new infill development off Bloor street, the Lothian Mews. It was not on Bloor street, but it almost was. It was very tempting. The rents were more than we had ever contemplated, however we could take a relatively small space and we would be exposed to the Bloor street clientele. We leased a narrow space on the ground floor and a double width on the second floor. We built a stair and lined the walls with pine boards, with integral shelf support system, built some display islands with pine columns and glass shelves.

By now we had quite a large selection of textiles and products and were being discovered by a larger and more diverse audience. We were getting excellent coverage in the media and I even made it to the cover of Canadian Interiors, June 1964.

One of our frequent visitors and customers was George Minden, who was very interested in Scandinavian and contemporary design. I learned that his father had bought the Windsor Arms Hotel a few years ago and that George was becoming the manager of the hotel. He introduced me to his father's legal firm Minden & Gross for whom I designed a number of executive desks for the partners. At this time Design Research, a retailer of contemporary products and marimekko, similar to Karelia, was opening their Manhattan store on East 57th Street, and Armi Ratia was coming from Finland. I was planning to attend. George was also interested and decided to come along. At the opening reception and party, George got immersed in good architecture and design, a bit of Finnish culture, marimekko and Armi.  Upon our return to Toronto, I learned that George Minden was planning to convert the existing dining room in the basement of the hotel into the best restaurant serving the best food and wines. George had done a lot of research and was very knowledgable about the best chefs internationally, their food concepts and the best vineyards and bottlers. Our discussions about basic values, quality and design integrity led to him hiring me to design the restaurant and everything within it, including the waiter's uniforms. But that is another story that I will cover elsewhere.

Looking for more space.

Our space in the Lothian Mews was working quite well, however we were making more contacts with excellent suppliers in a number of countries and wanted to carry their products. Unfortunately the space we had was very limited and we needed more space. Such an area was the old part of Toronto near the first City Hall and the St. Lawrence Market. There were a number of old warehouses, in pretty rough shape, on the south side Front Street East, west of the market, that were being used as storage  buildings by the merchants at the market. The building at 67 Front Street East was used fior potato storage and was overrun with rats and other critters. It did however have a high ceiling and a large window facing the street. I could immediately see its potential, even if i was the only one. I found out who the owner was and approached him. It turned out to be Max Swartz, an older, charming gentleman who owned a number of old buildings in the area and shared my vision for the area. I believe we made a deal for a five year term for five thousand square feet of space at $ 3.75 per square foot or thereabout.

Most of my friends thought that I was mad to consider leasing such dirty, run down, unfinished space. It needed a tremendous amount of work to clear out a hundred years of dirt and debris, rotten potatoes, wildlife, make repairs to floors and walls and to make the space habitable. My wife Helga and I and Helga's mother Lucy spent many days and nights shovelling and cleaning. I designed a mezzanine with wide steps near the front of the store with a walkway leading to the existing back mezzanine. Again my father, the master builder, helped with most of the construction. We  installed all new electrical track lighting using inexpensive clamp-on spot lights throughout. The old wood floors were so bad that they could not be refinished, so we installed a sisal carpet. We put some wide, pine boards on some of the walls which also served as a system to support shelving.

We moved in and planned an opening party. We invited all our friends and architects and designers and regular customers. Helga and her team of friends and neighbours were busy baking piragi (Latvian bacon buns,) and making open faced sandwiches for hundreds of people. We had wine, beer and drinks, music and a Marimekko fashion show. A great turn out and a great celebration.