Aarikka’s roots are in the Finnish forest. Aarikka loves and uses wood above all other materials, but often combines it with other natural materials. Only the best raw-materials are selected. Due to stringent quality requirements, wooden beads are only purchased from carefully selected suppliers to ensure balls with flawless turning and a good round shape, with no machining marks.
Only the best wooden beads are selected for production. The faces of characters, such as the elves, are hot-stamped on by hand. The stamp is always placed very carefully so that it aligns with the wood’s rings. This makes sure that the ring gives the elf a unique little nose.
All of Aarikka’s products are assembled by hand in Finland in workshops and by employees who work from home.
Wooden jewellery parts are dyed by hand using a method developed by Kaija Aarikka and her husband Erkki Ruokonen in Vallila, Helsinki. The surface treatment is characteristic to our products and a closely guarded business secret. The method gives the wood a beautiful opalescent finish. The wood as a material can be seen underneath the dye as we don’t want to completely drown the wood’s character with colour. The colour in our wooden beads also lasts beautifully.
The widest selection of Aarikka products can be found at the company’s own brick-and-mortar store in Helsinki. Aarikka also has an extensive, global network of retailers and an online store.