FISKARS 1649 – 360 years of Finnish industrial history

Fiskars 1649
Fiskars 1649
After the war
Structural changes and new direction
In the second half of the 20th century,
engineering was forced to adapt to a totally
new state of affairs. The Winter War and
Continuation War – the two halves of Finland’s
part in the Second World War – had taken toll of
Finland, both in human and in economic terms.
Putting the economy on a war footing had virtually
wiped out imports and exports. To take an example,
production for the domestic market did not climb
back to the prewar level until 1948. The Paris
Peace Treaty and the Friendship and Cooperation
Treaty signed with the Soviet Union in the same
year were the foundation of a new foreign policy
for Finland. Finland established its position in
the world, first by joining the Nordic Council in
1955 and the United Nations a year later. Finland
participated in European convergence, initially by
associate membership of EFTA in the 1960s and
finally, in 1995, by joining the European Union;
in 1999 it was among the first EU member states
to join the economic and monetary union EMU in
the introduction of the common currency. With its
financial market thus liberalized, Finland stands
ready for the era of globalization.
The postwar reparations demanded by the Soviet
Union meant plenty of orders for the metal industry,
while the forest industry reigned supreme in exports
to the West. A far-reaching change took place in
1956, when Urho Kekkonen’s 26-year presidency
began. It was during that same year that Finland
got back the military base in Porkkala that had been
in Soviet hands since the end of the war. In spring
1956, a general strike shook every field of industry
and led Finland into a period, lasting until the
Fiskars PowerStep pruners.
In the 1960s, plastic was a promising material of tomorrow. The shell of the Fiskars liquidizer was plastic (in production
1965–70) and the tableware was made in the 1962–73 period. The production of the orange-handled scissors started in 1967.
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