Tarinamme

Finnish dyeing expertise from Lappajärvi

Lappajärvi is known for its carpet manufacturing. In the 1980's weaving mills were a major employer in Lappajärvi. Carpets were woven in almost every house, and you could find hundred mills in the municipality. Winter was a perfect time to weave. People had a break from farming and during dark evenings machines made colorful rag rugs.

 

Our history

In 1979 three carpet weavers from Lappajärvi founded Lappajärven Värjäämö Oy. The three friends needed dyed materials for their own mills but from the very beginning they wanted to respond to the increasing need for weaving and materials in textile industry.

South Ostrobothnia has always held a strong tradition in craft business so there was a strong need for Lappajärven Värjäämö dyeing work.

From the golden age of weaving, Lappajärven Varjäämö’s operations have extended to other craft materials. Parallel to dyeing business, the wholesale and retail of weaving, crafting and handicraft material production has grown significantly.

In 2005 we assembled our products under the Filona brand, where you can find craft and handicraft materials dyed by Lappajärven Värjäämö. The selection consists of linen yarns, twines, jute yarns, cotton tricot, cotton tubes, wool, sisal and paper yarns.

 

Today Lappajärven Värjäämö is over 40 years old and is Finland’s largest dyeing house.

Dyeing house business has declined In Finland and Europe over the past couple of years. Lappajärven Värjäämö is becoming a rarity.

At Lappajärven Värjäämö we value Finnish handicrafts. This is one of the reasons our products are manufactured in Finland. Many of our partners operate in the same municipality or close by. Work with such reliable partners is pleasant and easy and we strive to offer high-quality local expertise to our partners and customers.

Today our operations consist of dyeing, weaving and handicraft materials and fiber business. In 2019 we bought NM-Wipes fiber business. Today fiber cloths are a significant part of our company.

 

Besides the wholesale of weaving and craft materials, we also have an online store for craft enthusiasts and weavers, where you can find linen felt and linen fiber, felting wool, accessories, as well as a wide selection of DIY kits.

 

Key Flag symbol

 

Our entire dyeing business has been awarded the Key Flag symbol, which indicates products are made 100% in Finland.

Our paper yarns are produced by our sister company VM-Carpet. Paper yarn skeins are transported across the yard to our unit where they are dyed in an environmentally friendly way, according to the OEKO-TEX standard. Raw material for our paper yarns is a moisture-resistant paper, imported from North America and obtained from softwood pulp. Such material cannot be obtained in Finland. Paper yarn is a very popular material for decorating and crafting due to its ecological and allergy-friendly nature. Paper yarn is suitable for crocheting, knitting, crafting, weaving and macramé making.

 

Our Ella-tube yarn is made from recycled cotton. It is produced together with our partners from Vimpeli and Kaustinen. Tube yarn is dyed in an environmentally friendly way with OEKO TEX standard certification dyes. During the process the temperature reaches 80 degrees, so the material is pre-shrunk. Ella-tube yarns are multipurpose and can be used for crocheting, knitting and weaving.

 

The production of Aivina-linen yarn starts in Lappajärven Värjäämö. First the Italian linen yarn is dyed and then it is taken to Suomen Lanka (17 km away from us) where they are plied and rolled. Ready products return to Värjäämö in 250g rolls. This product is 100% made in Lappajärvi. Aivina is a soft and luxurious yarn which can be used for making accessories and home textiles by crocheting, knitting and weaving.

 

Dyeing expert Mikko Puro shared his thoughts on our dyeing business and its development.

 

” Lappajärven Värjäämö dyes various textiles for weaving mills and yarn manufacturers. Working methods have changed over the years. In the early days the dyeing was performed by four open dyeing machines and in addition it required a lot of manual work.

Today we dye 100 000 kg wefts and yarns per year.

Dyeing is performed by two fully automated machines each of 300 kg capacity.

 

In the early days, water purification took place in open sedimentary basins. The technology has developed and now the process is held in local purification plants.

Our wastewater treatment is carefully controlled and is environmentally friendly.  

 

Dyes used in our facility have the OEKO TEX standard certification. Over the years, the industry has become safer. Dyes and additives are with compliance to the REACH EU Regulation. It is a binding legislation for the European Union member states regarding used chemicals, registration, assessment, permits and restrictions.

 

Lappajärven Värjäämö has been involved in development of natural dyeing industry in Finland. We have also included natural dyes in our dyeing process. We believe that natural dyeing will have a key role in the future of the industry.

 

Currently, the industry is becoming a rarity, as there are only couple of dyehouses in Finland. In order to become a professional dyer, it requires a lot of time and practice. Already experienced dyer teaches a new one, passing him knowledge gathered within decades. Only through experience it is possible to obtain a high-quality and durable product.

 

Moving with the times and motivation are key to obtaining the work even in such a small town. We see opportunities in the textile industry and we want to continue developing to keep up with the competition.”

 

 

Our paperyarns are produced locally!

 

Many of our products have Key Flag symbol aka. they are made 100% in Finland and all of our paper yarn products have the symbol to mark this.

 

The material of paper yarns is produced in North America from coniferous trees. We are often asked why we are not using Finnish material or recycled material. The reason for this is simple; material for our paper yarns is moist proof paper so in other words it can stand moistness and washing. Unfortunately, such paper is not produced in Finland and recycled paper does not have the same durability and ability to endure moistness.

 

Raw material comes to us as ready cut disks. Disks are cut to the desired width in North America, depending on what paper yarn is going to be made. Our thinnest product, thin paper yarn 1,65 is made from 12mm wide paper strip while our thickest yarn, thick paper yarn 0,16, is 120 mm wide. Width of all our paper yarn products varies between those two widths.

 

Paper disks are spun to ready yarn by our sibling company VM-Carpet in the same yard. By changing the tightness of the spin we get different types of paper yarn. For example paper ribbon 0.8 has a looser spin compared to paper yarn 0.8 even though the width is the same when the yarn is opened.

 

Yarn is rolled to big rolls and then they are rolled to hanks so they can be dyed. Hanks are transported across the yard to our dyeing facilities. Distance of transport is minimized as short as possible.

 

Paper yarn hanks are lifted to hank dyeing machine that has capacity of 200 kg. To get an even dyeing result, the machine must be filled up all the way up. This ensures that pressure and flow of dyeing liquids are steady inside the dyeing machine. Dyeing process takes about 6-8 hours all together.

 

After dyeing and rinsing, the hanks are dried, first with pressure and and then with a drying oven. Drying usually lasts through the night. In the morning oven fresh hanks are taken out of oven.

 

Hanks are given finishing touches by labelling them. The label tells the type, weight, meterage and that it is a Key Flag product. Labels are printed in Lappajärvi and the labelling is done by subcontracting activity centers in Lappajärvi, Vimpeli and Evijärvi for us.

Our paper yarns are dyed in over 30 different shades and our collection of paper yarns is the biggest in Europe! All our dyes are OEKO TEX – standardized and all chemicals are under REACH-regulations. Our dyeing process is made to be as nature friendly as possible, we treat our waste waters in our factory before they are taken to the municipal waste water management facilities.

 

Our paper yarn products are made from renewable materials in sustainable manner and produced 100 % in Finland. We are shamelessly proud of the quality of our products and we wish you Genuine Joy of Crafting with Filona-paper yarns!