Personally

At some point, I had a beanie with KAISA written on it as a child. Especially in CAPITAL LETTERS. Name beanies were fashionable at the time and I chose the product myself, but the service life was ultimately short. After fashion changed, wearing that beanie would have felt like walking with a bandana on your forehead. I started to wonder what's the point of getting anything branded. Can anyone but Lauri drink from the Lauri mug?

Then heirlooms started arriving at our home, which were personified to someone. Uki's cigarette case with initials engraved on the lid, granny's embroidered bed sheets. Suddenly it felt wonderful and wonderful to think that they had these in their hands. Each object had a story to tell the children – a story that connected to us.
Of course, there is no point in naming all the things, but I have started to appreciate more and more that a person has something personal, specifically acquired and given to him. Since we circulate children's clothes and toys, I decided that the first knives bought for the children would be engraved with names.

This spring, my children's cousin Oskari, who is in the ninth grade of elementary school, and big brother Jaakko, who is graduating with a master's degree in art from Aalto University, will receive personal gifts in honor of their graduations. Oskari lives in Helsinki but mostly spends the summers in Ilomantsi. Inside the box named in Oskar's gift is the HK Varma lure, which is promised to be walleye-proof, and will definitely be tried in Koiteree in the summer. As a gift from Jaako, I originally designed a named box for brushes. However, the ready-made gift boxes did not have a model long enough for this purpose, so I chose a named folder instead. It is suitable for storing diplomas, for example - I always lose them, at least.

Posting gifts was then its own operation. I recommend, at least for larger purchase batches, to use Kolo Design's own mailing service to avoid trouble. At the post office, there was a complaint that there was a shortage of packaging materials due to delivery difficulties. In the end, suitable packaging was found, and the gifts were on their way.

Kaisa Jänis, Joensuu 29 May 2020

The author's family company Fonari Oy cooperates with Kolo Design.