The Story of Kalevala Jewelry

To raise the funds, they produced replicas of ancient jewelry. Forty pieces were selected from the collections of the Finnish National Museum, and artist Germund Paaer created new designs based on them. The first pieces were presented at a tea hosted by the President’s spouse Kaisa Kallio on 8 December 1937. The collection received an enthusiastic response, marking the birth of a new company – Kalevala Jewelry.

In the fall of 1939, World War II broke out, and the statue project had to wait. The Kalevala Woman Monument Committee, established by Elsa Heporauta, decided to use the funds to help those in need.

The committee founded rest homes for mothers of large families, supported orphanages and temporary homes for evacuees from Karelia, and employed war invalids at Kalevala Jewelry. Bridal crowns from the collection were rented out, and the rental income was donated to support blind veterans. Up to 80% of the company’s profits were used for charitable purposes.

After the war, in 1945, the bronze statue Louhi, Mistress of the North, created by sculptor Emil Halonen, was finally completed. The statue is now located at the offices of the Kalevala Women’s Association in Helsinki.

After Kalevala Jewelry was founded, President Kyösti Kallio suggested that men should handle the company’s legal and business matters, while the “emotional” women focused on its artistic side. Elsa Heporauta and Aino-Mari Mecklin strongly disagreed – and Aino-Mari became the company’s first CEO. From the very beginning, Kalevala Jewelry has been led by women. Since 2019, Kirsi Paakkari has served as the company’s eighth CEO – all her predecessors have also been women.

Even today, Kalevala Jewelry is owned by the Kalevala Women's Association, a continuation of the work of the Kalevala Women memorial committee founded in the 1930s. Kalevala Women's Association supports and promotes Finnish cultural work.

Kalevala Jewelry, in cooperation with the Kalevala Women's Association, distributes grants for the promotion of Finnish culture through its own cultural foundation. Kalevala Jewelry Cultural Foundation grants to private individuals or communities for projects promoting cultural heritage.

Kalevala Jewelry appointed its first female chief designer in 1963, at a time when applied arts and design were dominated by men. The company boldly entrusted fashion artist Paula Häiväoja (1929–2011) with full creative freedom to realize her daring, futuristic visions.

Later, Master of Arts Kirsti Doukas worked for many years as the chief designer of Kalevala Jewelry and its recent subsidiary, Kaunis Jewelry.

Today, Aino Ahlnäs serves as Creative Director, upholding the principles of timeless and sculptural design while boldly renewing the house’s design language. For nearly 90 years, Kalevala Jewelry has been a pioneering force in jewelry design, drawing inspiration from the power of northern nature.

Through its jewelry, Kalevala Jewelry has highlighted numerous women who have had a significant impact on the development of Finnish society and culture.

Minna Canth, the pioneer of equality, Aurora Karamzin, , the founder of the Deaconess Institute, and Birgitta, the only female saint of the North, have received their own jewelry pieces. Helene Schjerfbeck, one of
Finland’s most internationally renowned painters, Aino Ackté, the first Finnish opera star to achieve international fame, and the pioneers of modern Finnish poetry, L. Onerva and Saima Harmaja, have also been honoured with their own jewelry.

Designed to celebrate the 100th anniversary of universal and equal suffrage, Dream jewelry honours the pioneers of equality. Designed by Kirsti Doukas, the piece combines delicate, shimmering elements with a strong structure — a symbol of individual courage and the power of voices coming together.

The Dream pieces haveremain already become a design classic and remains part of our collection. Likewise, the Female Lion pendant, inspired by the official heraldic Lion of Finland, fearlessly looks to the future and can be worn by anyone who holds equality, fairness, and justice close to their heart.

In 2017, Kalevala Jewelry launched the Spitting Girl jewelry in its 80th anniversary year.

In the jewelry by visual artist Kim Simonsson, spoiled little girls fulfill themselves by metaphorically spitting in the face of society's norms, regardless of what they are expected and assumed to do - or not do - as girls.

In some countries, gender still limits the study opportunities of many children and young people. That's why we established the Kalevala Training Center in Kenya.

In 2020, Kalevala Jewelry set a goal to use one-third of its profits for good causes and staff well-being.

That spring, Kalevala Jewelry began collaborating with the Home Street Home association to launch the Kalevala Training Center in Makongen, Kenya, providing vulnerable young women a path to a profession and independent livelihood.

The center offers three programs for girls and young women aged 16–25. Over five years, more than 600 have graduated, and 78% have found a job, started a business, or continued their studies.

Women and girls with disabilities are still a discriminated and invisible minority in our society. We started cooperation with Rusetti ry in 2022. Our goal is that girls and women with disabilities create opportunities for each other to become empowered, to have role models, to meet and become visible.

With funding from Kalevala Jewelry, vammaisettyttöt.fi-media was founded , which is Finland's first website for disabled women by disabled women. In addition to the website, we organized two empowering camps for disabled girls.