11 July 2023
Lapuan Kankurit is a company with a storied history, specialising in the production of textile products using certified flax fibres. We look into its origins and celebrate the Finnish company’s 50th birthday.
The brand Lapuan Kankurit can light 50 birthday candles in large part thanks to the courageous spirit of its creator and its authentic family background. The company’s origins go back to 1917 when Juho Annala opened his first factory producing felt boots; he wanted to help prepare residents of his hometown for the long, snowy winters ahead. And ever since the brand has continued to cater to the needs of people living in the small Finnish town of Lapua.
In 1973, grandson Juha Hjel took over running the business and the company was truly founded. Managed today by his son Esko Hjelt, over the years this family business has become a renowned linen weaver.
Since its formation, the brand has emphasised its fundamental values; the will to pass on and share the family legacy, the cornerstone of Lapuan Kankurit’s roots. Looking beyond family history, the brand is extending the family feel to all of its employees and associates. It is thanks to this foundational idea that Lapuan Kankurit was able to grow, which it continues to do to this day.
The same holds true for techniques used to make the traditional jacquard weave, which is emblematic of the brand. This famous Finnish company was also built on the values of respecting people and the environment. To this end, production cycles are organised at human scale, so that each link along the production line remains traceable. Unlike large-scale businesses, the brand prefers producing limited volumes of products.
Matti Pikkujämsä is an independent Finnish illustrator and graphic designer who draws inspiration from the power of freedom and the unexpected. He has been working with Lapuan Kankurit since 2010. The brand has given him a vast space for creativity in terms of both product inspiration and design.
He first teamed up with Lapuan Kankurit when designing new sauna towels for this Finnish company. Aware of an artist’s need for freedom, Lapuan Kankurit has always granted its star designer free reign with respect to design and execution. On his end, Matti Pikkujämsä continues to promote the high quality of his materials and how important they are in his design work.
copyright Lapuan Kankurit
The values of freedom and liberty play a fundamental role in the work of Matti Pikkujämsä in part because he draws inspiration everywhere, from all domains. The designer has always hoped to develop a sufficiently distinctive world and artistic approach to avoid being boxed in by just one style.
To do this, the illustrator seeks inspiration from wherever it may strike - from the unexpected, somewhere off the beaten path. He began his career by creating magazine illustrations and children’s books, and today he continues to draw inspiration from the nostalgia and naivete of childhood.
For this reason, and to satisfy his curiosity, he is constantly looking for new sources of inspiration. Books, magazines, Pinterest, or just a pattern on a piece of fabric - he is ready to mobilise every creative resource.
As part of his collaboration with Lapuan Kankurit, Matti Pikkujämsä created the new design he called Veranta. It was inspired by the atmosphere and graphic style of the 1940s and 1950s.
He wanted to blend different styles based on the decorative elements of an old house, such as ceramic vases or beautiful wildflowers. This is both a familiar source of inspiration, one which embodies the spirit of the family home, and an innovative one, thanks to the brand’s new fabrics, all created in black and white.
Flax-Linen, the fibre of civilisation(s): the event book that unveils the history of a thousand-year-old textile
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