THE HISTORY OF LAURI TUOTTEET OY

Goldsmith Johannes Lauri came from Southern Ostrobothnia to Rovaniemi in the 1920's. In 1924 he started up a knife factory on Pohjolankatu.

Along with knives, Lauri's workshop manufactured traditional Lappish handicrafts. The main raw materials were reindeer antler and goat willow's root. Those were also the materials for the knife handles. About twenty people worked in the Lauri factory during the busiest years.

The factory was destroyed during the Lapland war in 1945.

Immediately after the war, the manufacturing of the knives and other reindeer antler products was continued in a small house that was meant to be temporary. Johannes Lauri had planned to bring an Ostrobothnian log house to Pohjolankatu. The plan was finally realized in 1968 when Johannes Lauri's successors relocated the house of Rapakko from the village of Alanampa to Pohjolankatu. The log house became a workshop.

After Johannes Lauri's death the business was continued in the 1970's with different names until in 1978 Lauri tuotteet Oy was established. Lauri tuotteet Oy bought the property, renewed the log house and brought a new warehouse building from the village of Kuivaniemi.

In addition to continuing to manufacture the old designs, new products were designed and made of curly birch. Also new knife and jewelry designs were introduced.

The building complex grew with a provincial style log house that was relocated from Pudasjärvi. In the beginning the new house acted as a workshop and cafeteria. From the beginning of the 1990's it has been a place for private functions such as commemorations, weddings, christenings and birthdays as well as other meetings.

The production and sales of handicraft that Johannes Lauri established in Rovaniemi nearly 90 years ago continues onward.