Studio Widnäs

A wooden studio was built on Hasselbacka hill in Fiskars. The building is located at the edge of a historical factory area, and stands apart from the old buildings. The studio is a home, a work space, and at the same times an experimental laboratory for Karin Widnäs’s ceramic products including bricks, tiles for shaping, level areas and stoves, as well as basins.

The building has three parts. The work spaces, home and sauna are separated from each other. The parts are connected by a flat copper-upholstered roof.

There is a two-story section on the forest side with windowless walls. There is a covered external gallery between the atelier and home, a kind of entrance square. There is a beautiful view of Degersjö lake from beneath the long eaves of the study and living room.

The parts of the building have been built in stages. The cribwork timber walls of the turf-roofed sauna, which forms the third part of the lay out, already stand.

The building was constructed from local timber and using the expertise of the people of Fiskars. Different kinds of wood were used for the purposes best suited to each. The massive beams are made from spruce that fell in storms, the outer walls are covered with spruce planks, and the outdoor terraces are made from larch. The timber sauna and the flat, tarred roof of the northern part are made from aspen. The indoor floors are made from smoothed spruce planks waxed with oil.

The wood and ceramic surfaces are always within reach of touch and thus perfectly suited for handiwork tasks. The colours of the interior’s light wood surfaces match Karin Widnäs’s stove ceramics and red clay tiles. The inner staircase was designed by carpenter Kari Virtanen. The windows and doors are the work of carpenter Peter Schmied. Carpentry workers Risto Niilimäki, Marko Niilimäki and Olli Kautto helped to carry out the building work.