Päivi and Eija

Pori has a bear, Kotka its eagle, Rovaniemi its reindeer, and now, Oulu has giraffes – two of them. And they’re running a boutique. Ex-nurses Päivi and Eija quit tending the sick to set up a business last June and have been importing and selling African and Indonesian houseware to Oulu’s quick and open-minded. Brimming with love of the product and having won a prize for the best recycled table in Oulu, they believe their shop Kax Ciraffia exudes homeliness and good taste – and their items include potato print cushions, recycled railroad beam picture frames, and beautiful teak furniture, all for less than your average melamine monstrosity bought at stores beginning with “As” or “Is.”
 

The goods are mostly hand-made; many items are unique – and the prices, though not bargain basement, are very reasonable. Snug as a necklace in the middle of Asemakatu’s braziére, Kax Ciraafia also happens to be the only importer of African furniture in the whole of Finland. The hit-list includes Zimbabwe, Malawi, South Africa, Mosambique, Uganda, Ghana, and Zambia. These two sparkly entrepreneurs have been to get their goods themselves and established relationships with vendors all on their own.

The love affair started when Päivi’s son, 24, a ‘passionate designer,’ suggested they go into business for themselves and sell furniture. “We had always loved decorating. My  boy had a lot of African masks at home, all sorts. So we just started talking about it, and it grew. We had a particular vision – it was fairly exact,” says Päivi, casting a motherly eye over the display. “Of course you have to be able to take risks. I was an entrepreneur in Sweden, a restaurant at one point – a long time ago. So we put on our best suits and asked the bank for a loan.” 

They don’t regard Silmänilo, Oulu’s other obvious importer of foreign wood furniture, as a competitor. “They do a whole different product. There’s room in this town for both of us,” quips Eija. “Recycling’s our ace,” continues Päivi. “The table, the best in Oulu – for instance – is made completely out of old railway sleepers, which were just lying around. The win in City magazine’s October edition last year came as a complete surprise. Someone had been in looking around, but they didn’t breath a word out loud.” 

Päivi’s personal favourites are the recycled frames, boxes, pencil cases, textiles, and reworked metal birds near the counter  – knots and all. “They’re wonderful. It’s all wonderful.  Look at these glasses: they’ve been reworked from wine bottles and sandblasted. Hand made! And the textiles, holy baloney! One metre of this Zimbabwe cushion fabric has been been printed with almost a thousand potato cuts. Nothing’s the same. Every print’s different.” 

This month’s hot cookies with customers are the Indonesian floor lamps, says Eija. Importing from Indonesia is surprisingly labour-intensive, starting with buying the wood into small workshops. Some of the items are practically sculpture. Columns the size of ski-jumpers, intricately carved with animal and nature motifs, look like they’ve taken months to produce. 

Our average customer, Eija says, will come in several times to have a browse about.  Oulu’s tastebuds, they nod, were sensitive and took a while to warm up – but now they get everyone from youngsters to punters in their late seventies, despite the slightly off-centre location. “We want people to feel comfortable as soon as they come in, as if it’s their own home! People tell us the place is warm and relaxed. They feel like it’s their own – as long as they find it, that is. We’re not on Rotuaari!” 

With flavour like this, they won’t need to be.

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