The Rise and Fall of Finnfeelings

Establishment

Finnfeelings is a Finnish jewelry brand founded in 1969 by Hans Sten and Karl Laine.

Vision & Style

The designs are often inspired by Finnish nature, such as berries and leaves , and combine organic shapes with clean lines.
I always like to compare it to islands separated by winding gorges.

Finnfeelings uses natural materials that can be found in Finland , such as rock crystal and Spectrolite (a variety of Labradorite).

Karl Laine was responsible for the designs and therefore the initials “KL” can often be seen on the side of the jewelry.
Hans Sten, on the other hand, was more concerned with business operations.

International breakthrough

Karl Laine's designs were not classic jewelry with a stone in the middle. No, the jewelry had an organic design in combination with rough textures and a stone that was usually asymmetrical in the design.

The jewelry fitted in nicely with the modernist movement that emerged in the 1960s and 1970s.

Hans Sten, in turn, had a nose for sales and set up export markets in Sweden and Germany.

The combination of the designs, the momentum and the business sense ensured that Finnfeelings gained international recognition.

Current Finnfeelings

The disadvantage of a collaboration is that differences of opinion sometimes arise.  These differences led to Karl Laine leaving the company in 1976 .
The company subsequently continued under the name “Sten co” and was taken over by an investment company in the 1980s, but eventually went bankrupt in 1991.

Did you know that…

the jewelry brand was first called “Sten & Laine”?
In 1970 the name was changed to “Finnfeelings”.