Miljo is the Swedish for environment. Finland and Sweden are not far away. It's a project I'm doing with my husband, he used to live in Sweden for a certain period, so we're kind of connected to it.

So you made it all.

Well, the ceramics are mostly mine, there are a few things made by the craftspeople who work here, some things we brought from other countries, others were made by the guys from Karelia.
At first I just had a workshop, and it was hard because, as they say, you have to create your own audience. At first people are like, what? A plate for 1000 rubles? You're kidding! It's a logical reaction for people with an average salary…

And average opinions.

Yes, opinions too. Then you bring them up, you explain why it's so cool, why they need to have it at home, you get them to understand its value, and it works. So we have a lot of craftspeople all around Karelia, I've lost count of the ceramists.

Is it a kind of community?

We simply know one another, we have local markets where we sell our produce, not now of course, but they are seasonal and we meet there.