Let's go on a little journey through time.
It's 2010. I'm walking through the corridors of the Stockholm Furniture Fair in Älvsjö, Stockholm. I work and am an exhibitor for a Finnish company. I look at other companies and brands, I sense the general mood. Spring and brightness have hit my consciousness, it feels like my step is at least a few centimeters off the floor, it makes me smile. The thought comes to mind: "sometimes I'll come here again with something of my own". That moment stuck in my mind, you know, in that way when only some moments stay and thump in that place in the memory box, from which a memory always comes back to mind.
Then we jump to 2023. We have just finished Ehea's stand and the next day exhibitions starts. It's really exiting. It's been two years since I launched Ehea in the same place at the same exhibition where I got a little idea (dream) for something of my own. Only now did I know how to combine these two ideas. Indeed! Wau! Mission accomplished.
Let's continue our time travel a little further.
Let's go back to 2002. I'm studying to become a business economist and doing my last internship at a company. My duties included all kinds of office work, including making coffee, which I didn't particularly like because I didn't even drink coffee (of course, now I understand how important coffee is to us Finns at work). An email popped up in my inbox, asking me to go study Japanese economics. Okay! You had me at hello! I'm ready. I'd rather do anything than make coffee! And so I set off for Tokyo.
I was one of the first students at Seinäjoki University of Applied Sciences at Chiba University. I was lucky that back then students were accommodated with families and I got to stay with the most wonderful Kimura family. We have kept in touch to this day, almost weekly. We built a bridge between our homes.
We have kept in touch, almost weekly. We built a bridge between our homes.
I took Ehea to Japan for the first time in the spring of 2022, twenty years after my first trip. At that time, I hadn’t launched Ehea yet and had to keep everything a secret. I set out to explore the Japanese interior design market in more detail together with other Finnish companies. Now it’s 2025 and guess what? Yes, I’m going to Japan again. This time as a new Finnish interior design brand. Ehea was curated for the NEXT area of the Interior Lifestyle Tokyo fair, where new brands are introduced.
The wall of my office is covered with white papers, on which I have written down spring tasks before the fair. Sometimes I pinch myself and wonder how this happened.
The wall of my office is covered with white papers, on which I have written down spring tasks before the fair. Sometimes I pinch myself and wonder how this happened.
I'm spending Midsummer in Tokyo - bringing with me Finland's nightless night, light, hope and the magic of midsummer. <3