300 m
Kivioja Clay Workshop
Kalajoki
Kivioja Clay Factory is the oldest still-remaining clay workshop in Finland.
The ceramic workshop and museum are not open to the public at the moment!
Since this building was transported from Rautio to Tynkä in the 1890s, it worked as a clay workshop until the 1980s.
A famous ceramic artist, Aune Kivioja (b. 1919) comes from a long line of clay makers. Her grandfather, Johan Stenback (1840-1909) started his career as a clay master's apprentice in Kokkola. He moved back to Kalajoki in 1864 and started his own clay business.
Johan’s son, Matti (1887-1967), continued his father’s work until the end of his life. Actually, all four of Johan’s sons chose the profession of clay maker. Matti’s brother, Juho Stenbäck, also became an influential figure in the religious Awakening movement.
Matti’s daughter, Aune Kivioja, also continued the family's work. She got her artist’s education in Ateneum, Helsinki (in the Finnish Art Association’s drawing school, known these days as the Art Academy), but her lifelong career was set in Kalajoki.
Aune Kivioja expanded the old workshop with a new red brick atelier and a new pottery oven.
During her long career with ceramics, Aune has also painted porcelain, aquarelle paintings, oil paintings, and designed textiles and flags.
Image: Sari Alajoki
Cultural history of Tynkä by bike
“Churches, crime scenes, and landscapes”
The popular biking route, Bridges of Tynkä, has many fascinating sites of local history that even date back to the Middle Ages.
For 500 years, Kalajoki has been an important center for farming and social life, where many different enterprises and businesses have flourished.
The route consists of stories, historical research, cultural heritage, and art. For example: the locations of the first and second church of Kalajoki, historical crime scenes, art, traditional landscapes, antiques...
Route details:
- The route is app. 18 km long.
- The biking route uses a sidewalk almost the entire length of the route. In Tynkä, you have to bike along the “highway” for a few hundred meters.
Places in this collection
