Ninety kilometres west of Helsinki, an ironworks founded in 1649 gave its name to the Fiskars brand. In the mid-1980s the scissors factory moved to Billnäs and the houses emptied. The houses and workshops were then let to craftspeople, designers and artists.
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In 1994 they exhibited together for the first time; in 1996 they founded Onoma, their cooperative, which runs a shop and galleries and co-produces the village’s Art & Design Biennale, whose fourth edition ran from 7 June to 30 August 2026. About 600 people now live on the former industrial site.
The village keeps the manor Charles Bassi designed in 1818. The Torby hotel fills the old cutlery mill: 24 rooms furnished by Nikari and Poiat, local makers, meeting rooms for 40 to 50 people and a sauna. The village’s venues take up to 200 participants. Take the train from Helsinki or Turku to Karjaa, then a taxi or local bus.
Photo credits : Abc10 (Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0) ; Guntars Mednis (Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0) ; JIP (Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0) ; Jari Kolehmainen (Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0) ; Tamburator (Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0) ; Teuvo Salmenjoki (Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0)
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