EXCURSION TO VERLA AND FISKARS

SUNDAY 18.6.2006

The excursion departs by bus from Lappeenranta at 9.00 am. On the way we shall visit Verla, a paper mill museum in Jaala, near Kouvola. Afterwards the bus takes us within two hours and half to Fiskars. We shall visit the two exhibitions and some studios of Fiskars village. In Verla as in Firskars is possible to lunch at its own expense. The day ends in Helsinki at Senates Square about 21.00 pm.

Excursion price is 50 euros per person including transport and entrance fees. Payments should be made in advance by 3.6.2006 to TAIDEKÄSITYÖLÄISET TAIKO. The bank IBAN code is: FI 9280001401813911 and BIC: PSPBFIHH Write WCC/excursion.

EXCURSION REGISTRATION FORM

Please arrange your own accommodation well in advance in Helsinki

Further information by email mailakle@jippii.fi

VERLA

www.verla.fi

The idyllic mill village at Verla is unique not only in Finland but anywhere in the world. Anyone who has visited it will be in no doubt at all why the mill community and Museum were added to the prestigious UNESCO World Heritage List in 1996.

Genuine community
The Verla Mill Museum is a unique and genuine entity. Yet it differs from other museums, where the items on display have been brought from elsewhere and isolated from their original environment. At Verla the opposite applies: traditions are honoured and nothing has been removed. All the main machines and equipment are still there, and more or less in running order. For visitors to see, admire and even touch. Only the operators, the workers, are physically missing, yet even so they are present in many ways.

FISKARS: the artisans, designers and artists of fiskars co-operative

www.onoma.org

History. Industrial activity in the old Fiskars Ironworks (est. 1649) ceased during 1980's. While Fiskars Corporation grew and increasingly set its emphasis on international markets, the ironworks could no longer house sufficiently large production units; the plants were relocated in Billnäs Ironworks or driven down. The professionally active age group moved out, houses were left uninhabited and services withered.

The beautiful surroundings and vacant premises lured a number of craftsmen, designers and artists to the village. By 1993 more than 20 professionals in the fields of crafts, design and arts had moved to the village, and gradually an idea of a group exhibition grew within the community.

The founding of the co-operative. In 1996 there were already thirty professionals from diverse fields living and working in the village, and the broadening scale of the exhibitions made it necessary to establish a firmer base for the community's activities. The co-operative for the artisans, designers and artists of Fiskars was founded, and a full time executive director was appointed.

The membership has grown considerably during the years: today there are 92 members, representing just about all the arts and crafts imaginable – the majority of them cabinet-makers, ceramists, visual artists and industrial designers. 

EXCURSION REGISTRATION FORM