National Romanticism

The Kalevala, Karelian motifs and the 1900 world's fair in Paris gave Finland a design of its own.

Under Russian pressure around 1900, artists and architects sought a Finnish identity in the folk epic Kalevala and in the villages of Karelia. Akseli Gallen-Kallela painted, but also designed furniture, textiles and ryas; his rya Liekki, The Flame, was shown in Paris in 1900.

The Finnish pavilion in Paris in 1900, designed by Gesellius, Lindgren and Saarinen, was a success. The Iris factory in Porvoo, founded in 1897 by the Swedish count Louis Sparre, made furniture and ceramics in a new, simple style.