Back in December I wrote a post about my visit to the historical Porkkala with the Global Degree team and I have finally got around to posting this story from the afternoon.

Fiskars Village is around 80km west from Helsinki. The village grew around the production of iron and copper which was found in 1649 by Petter Thorwöste. In the 1800’s the industry grew fast as they began to product scissors, knives and ploughs.

Fiskars has grown into an international company and well known brand. It is best known for its orange handled scissors, created in 1967, the first pair of plastic handled scissors which are found in almost every home.

As production moved elsewhere there was no need for the factories and the buildings became empty. The idea came about of renting the buildings cheaply to artists, saving them from being abandoned and eventually becoming derelict. This move saved…

Winter, snow and freezing cold temperatures – we have it all in Finland! But to be honest, this winter has been a kind of strange when it comes to weather. At least here in Helsinki, the capital of Finland. Temperatures continually fluctuate above and below zero meaning that it is either too “warm” with the snow melting or it is way too freezing cold with arctic winds.Currently we do have a thin white covering of snow in Helsinki but it seems to come and go. Lots of grey misty winter days with rain. But luckily also some pretty glorious sunny days when it totally feels like a true white winter wonderland!On a bright winter day nothing is better than going for a long walk by the seaside to enjoy the fresh outdoors and crisp sea air. If the weather stays freezing cold for a longer…