Kalevala Koru - roots firmly in Scandinavian culture

The story of Kalevala Koru (Jewelry) began in 1935, when the city of Helsinki celebrated the 100th anniversary of Finnish national epic, Kalevala. A writer Elsa Heporauta was so inspired by the centenary that she started to contemplate a way to recognize the strength of our national heritage captured in the Kalevala, and to bring the ancient culture embodied in it back to life.

Elsa Heporauta gathered a group of progressive Finnish women who shared the same desire to create something tangible to express respect to the women of the Kalevala. A committee was founded to raise funds for a monument in honor of the Finnish Woman. The initial attempt to raise money for the monument by public subscription yielded very limited results. In spring 1937, a proposal arose to make replicas of ancient jewelry and the sales of it would be donated to the monument fund.

Instead of the original plan for four, forty items were chosen and sketched from the collections in the National Museum of Finland. The jewelry was made and went on sale in autumn 1937. However, the plan for building a monument gradually faded away. The Winter War broke out in 1939. The committee was aware of the need for using the fund on charity was greater than on a statue.

All ideas from the committee matured and grew as time went by. The Association of the Women of Kalevala was established and funds were distributed to places in need through the association. In 1941 a company named Kalevala Koru Oy was registered.