HISTORY

The story of Atelier Torbjörn Tillander

Atelier Torbjörn Tillander is full of stories. The story that had its beginning in 1860 in St. Petersburg is still alive at us. It carries with it information and know how as well as appreciation for traditional handcrafts, importance of individual design and manufacture of jewellery of the highest quality.

Atelier Torbjörn Tillander’s contemporary managing director Tina Tillander’s grand grandfather Aleksander E. Tillander left Helsinki as only 11 years old to become an apprentice for a goldsmith in St. Petersburg. Once he graduated he founded his own company that in the following 50 years became one of the most well known and renowned jewellery shops in St. Petersburg. During the turn of the century the business was transferred from father to the son Aleksander T. Tillander. The shop was located on Nevski Prospekt in St. Petersburg and manufactured glamorous, high quality and technically skilfully made pieces for its customers, amongst others the family of Tsar Nikolai II.

When the revolution started in Russia in 1917 the shop was closed down and Alexander Junior moved with his family to Helsinki and the following year the business restarted and Aleksander’s sons Leo, Herbert and Viktor joined the family business.

In 1946 Leo Tillander’s son planned to become an engineer but changed his mind when the family business offered him the opportunity to become an apprentice at the work shop and Torbjörn Tillander became goldsmith in fourth generation. He worked for A. Tillander as a goldsmith, partner and manager for 10 years and became friends with Oskar Pihl who had a great influence on how Torbjörn Tillander interpreted the art of jewellery.

Torbjörn Tillander dreamt of founding his own business and his dreams were made true in 1956. To begin with he designed jewellery for the Finnish renowned company Kalevala Koru. In his workshop he had a dozen of goldsmiths working for him but when he in 1960 founded his own jewellery factory on Kalevankatu in Helsinki he moved on to focus solely on designing and making commission work for his private customers.

Three year later Torbjörn Tillander met his future wife Paula. Paula Tillander and later on the whole family joined the family business. In 1968 the shop moved to Tehtaankatu in the beautiful southern area of Helsinki where it remained until the middle of 1980’s.
Together Torbjörn and Paula Tillander came up with the idea of the godparent pearl collection which is still very popular. Please contact our store to learn more about how to collect pearls.

Torbjörn and Paula Tillander’s daughters Annette and Tina were both involved in the family business as teenagers. In 1980 the elder daughter Annette became an apprentice to her father and four years later the younger daughter Tina graduated as a goldsmith. As only 16 years old Tina Tillander graduated as gemmologist as the youngest person ever to graduate in Europe. Later she travelled to Japan to continue her studies and become specialised in the knowledge of pearls.

In December 1985 Torbjörn Tillander opened up a new shop at Kluuvikatu in the very centre of Helsinki City. A bit later the work shop in Lauttasaari Helsinki moved to Kluuvikatu as well. At that time both Torbjörn and Paula Tillander worked full time in the business but in the mid 1980’s the daughters Annette and Tina were given more important roles and tasks in the business.

In 1991 Torbjörn Tillander arranged a huge jewellery exhibition ’Jewellery all my life’. He gathered a thousand pieces that he had made during his 45 year long career. The wonderful exhibition became an absolute success and people even queued to get in.

In the 1990’s the business flourished and grew despite the depression in Finland. The shop recruited more staff and young, promising goldsmiths that over time became true specialists in the field joined the work shop. In 1998 Atelier Torbjörn Tillander launched its first website.

In the new turn of the century the story of Atelier Torbjörn Tillander continued and grew steadily. In 2004 we arranged at the Opera House in Helsinki a launch ceremony and exhibition of new jewellery under the name “The Defiance of the Diamond”. During the evening visitors were able to admire new colours in the form of clothes and jewellery worn by our models. In 2006 Atelier Torbjörn Tillander celebrated its 50 year anniversary and the company rewarded its staff with a memorable trip to the Northern Finland.

As ever before during its history Atelier Torbjörn Tillander continues to strive for growth in the new millennium. We regularly visit international exhibitions in order to discover new interesting materials and new good business partners to work with in addition to our old and loyal subcontractors.

In 2008 Tina Tillander took an even more responsible role as the company’s managing director while her sister Annette left the company to found her own company. Atelier Torbjörn Tillander focus even more on marketing and the collaboration with Studio Perfect White starts as the website is renewed and a new brochure launched together with the new marketing campaign ’Generations’. The campaign was chosen amongst 30 000 other magazine adverts as the magazine advert of the year and is praised for its high quality and fresh perspective.

We at Atelier Torbjörn Tillander are proud and delighted that our manager Rauno Tynkkynen was chosen by the Finnish Goldsmith Association’s jury to receive the reword ’Goldsmith of the year’ in 2009. This was a sign the industry has recognition for Rauno’s vast know how in his field of expertise. Rauno takes a great interest in his work which is illustrated by the fact he’s also a self taught hand engraver. He is the man behind our beautiful engravings, texts in rings, regular monograms and funny little images in children’s spoons and rattles.

New ideas are continuously born. The nature, its wonderful colours and shapes, the newest trends and the stories our customers’ old antique jewellery carry form sources of inspiration. By developing and respecting traditional forms of crafts and by boldly trying out something new we create unique jewellery that please our clients.

In 2010 the story of Atelier Torbjörn Tillander continued in Oulu when the second store opened its doors in the centre of Oulu, in the beautiful Puistola estate. In August we celebrated the opening of the new pretty and cosy shop designed by interior decorator Joanna Laajisto.

Our gorgeous jewellery carries with them thousands of stories belonging to our customers. They tell of touching stories of the past, love, promises and achievements. Stories from man to woman, mother to daughter and grandmother to mother…