Tiina’s admiration of Japanese animation and her passionate interest in a wide range of cartoons adds a dimension where humour is often an integral component in her thought process during design and production.
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Aged around 12, Tiina could be spotted placing her self-built ballet dancer scarecrows in the strawberry fields during summer or modelling large baroque ladies from ice and snow in the family home garden during winter. The idyllic residence placed mid-forest invited children to rely on their own creativity.
Tiina remembers that as soon as her mum left the driveway to go grocery shopping in the nearest city 40 km away, she would secretly borrow the sewing machine. Equipped with her mum’s sewing machine and scissors she would borrow
some of her mum’s dresses in suitable colours and transform them into ‘monsters’. Tiina had to hide the monsters in a hole in the attic wall; as one can imagine these experiments did not always go down too well. Luckily, these experiments turned into valuable experience.
No wonder Tiina has now specialised in the design and manufacturing of figure puppets and props. She is a well-established artist with wide spanning and varied skills in drawing, painting and sculpture. Her education stretches over a decade including the Lahti Art Institute in Finland (1984-88) followed by four years at the State Art Academy in Norway completing her studies in 1995.
Her understanding of materials in modelling and figure making is not to be underestimated; she is often giving advice and assistance to established artist colleagues.
Tiina is meticulous and quality orientated in all facets of her craft.