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CRAFTS – A JOURNEY IN TIME (2000)

1920–1970

In search of the present

Finland became an affluent country in the 1920s, 1930s and 1950s. The number of professional craftspersons decreased, although products made for personal and domestic use retained their position. Cotton replaced flax and hemp, wood gave way to glass, porcelain and metal in household ware. Trains, automobiles and bicycles replaced horse-drawn carriages and sledges. Rowing and sailing boats were replaced by the motorboat. Hand-made fishing tackle was left for leisure use and hobbies. Leisure time was now occupied by an urban lifestyle with its own novelties: movies, jazz, radio, television, magazines, advertisements, music, and personal hobbies.

Drawing: Tuula Ollikainen

Text and photos: Crafts – a journey in time -exhibition, if not mentioned otherwise.

MANUALS AND DESIGNS

Several dozens handicrafts manuals and series of designs and patterns were published from the 1910s to the 1930s in response to a shortage of teaching materials.

Photo: Suomen käsityön museo / Sami Kulju

THE SCARF

Hand-woven garment fabrics lost out to mill-spun materials in the 1920s. Homemade scarves, however, remained popular until the 1940s. The cotton scarf was the woman’s working headwear in the farmhouse, barn, or factory hall. Mrs. Elli Muikku from Valtimo wove her whole life scarves and fabrics.

Photo: Suomen käsityön museo

Tapahtumakuva Mikkelin läänin kotiteollisuusyhdistyksen työnäytöksestä Tampereen kotiteollisuusnäyttelystä. Kuva: Suomen käsityön museo, K0167/0341

EXHIBITION OF HANDICRAFTS 1922

In 1922 Lauri Kuoppamäki organized an exhibition of handicrafts, applied art and small-scale industry at Tampere, with roughly 2,900 exhibitors. Popular among the visitors were contests in various handicrafts skills: making nets, carving axe-handles, fitting hoops to buckets, making shinglebaskets, mending mittens, knitting socks, spinning thread, weaving cloth, making selvedges and patching clothes.

Tapahtumakuva Mikkelin läänin kotiteollisuusyhdistyksen työnäytöksestä Tampereen kotiteollisuusnäyttelystä. Photo: Suomen käsityön museo, K0167/0341

FURNITURE

In the rural areas professional craftsmen made furniture until the 1940s, because there were no furniture salesrooms in the countryside and people rarely bought furniture on their trips to town. A popular feature of homes were hung maxims with floral motifs, with texts such as “Home sweet home” etc.

Photo: Suomen käsityön museo / Martti Laaksovirta

SKIES

In the 1920s and 1930s Finland still had several ski workshops operating on the basis of craftsmanship and making skis for competitions and ordinary customers. Factory-made skis marked the end of this branch of handicrafts in the 1950s.

Photo: Suomen käsityön museo

FISHING TACKLE

Fishermen needed tackle and gear of various kinds. Nets, traps, and ropes were still made by hand until the 1930s. Fishing line was made of horsehair, and ropes were made from hemp and flax, in addition to pig-hair rope. The introduction of manila rope ended the making rope by hand.

Drawing: Pirkko-Liisa Surojegin

WEAVING IN KAUHAVA

The weaving of fabrics organized by inhabitants of Kauhava and adjacent parishes in Ostrobothnia in the 1930s was an exceptionally extensive sector of handicrafts as a means of livelihood. The weaving companies based their operations on commissioned cottage industry. In 1935 the dozen or so weaving firms at Kauhava were estimated to employ some 1,800 weavers on a daily basis. Weaving quickly recovered after the war and expanded in the lake district of Ostrobothnia. At the same time it became mechanized with mat-weaving enterprises appearing alongside it. Weaving for sale died out in the 1980s.

Photo: Suomen käsityön museo

POST-WAR SHORTAGES

During the Second World War the shortage of materials led to a reduction of operations in many sectors of handicrafts. After 1942 no cotton or wool was imported into the country. instead, homespun linen and woollen thread were used in addition to surrogate materials. Table-cloths, curtains, wall hangings, upholstery, corridor mats and shoes were all made from paper. Aspen carving work had a new renaissance, and birch-bark, reeds and straw were also used. Male crafts suffered the most from the war, as many workshops had to be closed down. At the front, men would engage in crafts in their spare time, especially during the period when the lines remained stationary.

Photo: Suomen käsityön museo / Hannu Aaltonen

CRAFT AS A HOBBY

Crafts had a particular role in social policies in post-war Finland. Crafts instruction and counselling were now concerned with improving the income of the sight-impaired, invalids and low-income groups. After the war, handicrafts were no longer important to the national economy, but they were nevertheless an alternative to industrially manufactured products. Crafts no longer enjoyed respect in professional terms, but on the other hand pastime craftsmanship increased in scope over the years.

Photo: Suomen käsityön museo / Ditte Stürmer


CRAFTS – A JOURNEY IN TIME

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