Fiskars, Finland
Encyclopedia
Fiskars is a village in the town of Raseborg
Raseborg
http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Raseborg&action=editRaseborg is a town and municipality of Finland. It was created on January 1, 2009, when the municipalities of Ekenäs, Karis and Pohja were consolidated into a single town....

 (Raasepori) in western Uusimaa
Uusimaa
Uusimaa, or Nyland in Swedish, is a region in Finland. It borders the regions Finland Proper, Tavastia Proper, Päijänne Tavastia and Kymenlaakso...

, Finland
Finland
Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...

. The village is the site of the former Fiskars Bruk, which was founded in 1646 and gave rise to the company Fiskars
Fiskars
The Fiskars Corporation is a metal and consumer brands company founded in 1649 at Fiskars Bruk , a locality now in the town of Raseborg, Finland, about 100 km west of Helsinki on the old main road from Turku to Vyborg...

.

The most notable attraction of Fiskars is a mansion designed in 1818 by Charles Bassi. The village, which has less than 1000 inhabitants, is a popular tourist destination in summer, and hosts an artisan
Artisan
An artisan is a skilled manual worker who makes items that may be functional or strictly decorative, including furniture, clothing, jewellery, household items, and tools...

 and artist
Artist
An artist is a person engaged in one or more of any of a broad spectrum of activities related to creating art, practicing the arts and/or demonstrating an art. The common usage in both everyday speech and academic discourse is a practitioner in the visual arts only...

 community. The river Fiskars å (Swedish)/Fiskarinjoki or Fiskarsinjoki (Finnish) has contributed to the industrialisation of the village.

History

The village of Fiskars developed around the ironworks
Ironworks
An ironworks or iron works is a building or site where iron is smelted and where heavy iron and/or steel products are made. The term is both singular and plural, i.e...

 founded by German
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

-born Petter Thorwöste in 1649. The ironworks also produced copper
Copper
Copper is a chemical element with the symbol Cu and atomic number 29. It is a ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. Pure copper is soft and malleable; an exposed surface has a reddish-orange tarnish...

. In 1822, John Jacob von Julin bought the ironworks and founded a fine production facility in 1830 and Finland's first workshop
Workshop
A workshop is a room or building which provides both the area and tools that may be required for the manufacture or repair of manufactured goods...

 in 1836. The development of the industrial community was fast, and the factories and workshops produced utility items from scissors
Scissors
Scissors are hand-operated cutting instruments. They consist of a pair of metal blades pivoted so that the sharpened edges slide against each other when the handles opposite to the pivot are closed. Scissors are used for cutting various thin materials, such as paper, cardboard, metal foil, thin...

 and puukko
Puukko
A puukko is a small traditional Finnish belt-knife with a single curving cutting edge and a flat back.- Design :The basic components of a puukko are a hilt and a blade along with a sheath, which can be attached to a belt. The blade is short, typically less than 100 mm.The flat back allows the...

 knives to plough
Plough
The plough or plow is a tool used in farming for initial cultivation of soil in preparation for sowing seed or planting. It has been a basic instrument for most of recorded history, and represents one of the major advances in agriculture...

s and power transmission devices. In order to transport the products, a narrow-gauge railroad from Fiskars to the Pohjankuru harbour was in use from 1891 to 1952. The history of the Fiskars company begins from the Fiskars Bruk, but the company no longer has active factories in the village.

Current situation

Nowadays, the factory is a lively centre of Finnish art and design. There are about 600 people living in the factory area and it is very popular among artists, artisans and designers. Especially in summer, the Fiskars Bruk is a popular tourist destination. Also in winter, various exhibitions and conference, accommodation and restaurant services, as well as workshops and shops provide things to see and experience.

External links

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