My grandfather was a fisherman and hunter. He spent his life living off the forest and what it had to offer. He truly lived in harmony with nature. He never bought meat or fish from commercial markets and therefore his carbon footprint was nearly zero. He lived from nature, and he lived for nature. He lived at the rivers edge and made his living as a supervisor at logging sites near Ounasjoki, a river that runs more than 290 km through remote areas of Finnish Lapland. The longest freely streaming river in Finland.

Since the end of nineteenth century, every winter, some brave and sound lumberjacks all around the country arrived at my family home where they started planning yet another trip into the wilderness. At this, the coldest time of the year it was time to leave their families. Usually the work was done in very harsh weather conditions and all food, clothes and accommodation was provided by themselves. Besides their own manpower they used horses. The strong, Finnish 'cold-blood' breed, was their best friend there in the North.

When summer finally arrived it was time to move the cut logs to their destination. This was achieved by floating a mass of logs along the river. The lumberjacks walked all the way from Enontekiö through Kittilä to Rovaniemi beside the river's banks, almost 300 km in order to claim their payment which was already agreed upon over half a year before.

The men of Finnish logging sites have been strong and raw throughout history. Their heart was gold and, at least by modern standards, they served a noble cause, not only for their families nor themselves, but also to build the nation of Finland.

The work they did, transferring this fine structured 'green gold' as a basic building material was one significant step in the growth of Finland's economy and its civilized society. It also set the stage for some of the biggest industries in Finland since, such as the pulp and paper industry, and was definitely a key element in our culture - enabling famous Finnish design and architecture.

- With River designer and founder -