We are Aito

When I started Aito Nordic webshop a few years back I definitely wanted the name to reflect my Finnish heritage. The title had to have in my vision a Finnish word, which also had to be easily pronounced but also with a deeper meaning. It took a few days of reflecting and then it hit me, asleep. I woke up and had the perfect name for my webshop: Aito Nordic. 

Let's start from the beginning and say that I wanted to open up a webshop for many reasons. I felt the need to connect again with my culture and heritage, and to show what I'm made of - this means mostly what we Scandinavians are made of. Also, at the time I had had my first child so I also wanted to something which would allow me to take care of my son (now sons) but to keep on working (that too is something very Nordic I think), which is quite the tricky thing to do when you live abroad with no relatives nor family of your own.

I've grown up mainly with Finnish Design. It was something so natural I never really tought about it. When Aito was still an idea, what came to me is that my heritage and culture are very well reflected on the beautiful designs of Tapio Wirkkala, Timo Sarpaneva and later on with Harri Koskinen and other great Finnish designers, just to name a few. 

Finnish Design objects as well as any product of Scandnavian Design in my opinion grow out of nature. That is something endogenous also in every Scandinavian: nature is very dear to us. And the peace and quiet is beholds.

The love and passion I grew to Scandinavian Design comes from very deep within: it's a part of me as I think most Scandinavians will find out living abroad. These are reasons I found myself thinking of opening up a webshop of Scandinavian Design - it truly describes the Nordic world and people so well. 

Aito means genuine, true, real. That's how I feel Finnish people are. They are honest people, down to the bone, which makes us Finns sometimes a little less Europeans in our attitude and our way of behaving, but this characteristic at its best is a pure diamond. I'm very proud to be a Finn and can't imagine myself of being anything else, and the same time I hope I've learned a lot from the culture that gave me the two most beautiful things in my life: my Finnish/Italian sons. I hope to repprensent my culture through the world of design well.

So let me introduce you a Finnish hashtag, to accomapany the well known #hygge or #lagom, for anyone who loves anything Scandinavian.

 #aito