Workshop
Opening hours: Mon-Fri 12-4pm
I'm usually there in the morning as well, unless I'm teaching at the Sámi Education Institute or on errands in Ivalo. If you are just visiting Inari and would like to visit earlier, get hold of me in the number +358 44 2600 942 and ask what the situation is.
A little history
This atmospheric silver workshop operates in the oldest building in the village of Inari. Heimo Lehtola's old house, completed in 1945, was the first new building in the village burned in the Lapland war. Lehtola worked as an assistant policeman, helping evacuees to get started in the ruins of the old village. There was a shortage of lumber, so the walls are of timber and the old wooden floor was made of thick larch planks from a German wartime bridge. The nails were six inches long! The house, protected by the Finnish Museum Agency, is still owned by the Lehtola family.
In 1984, my parents founded Samek Ky (Ky means limited partnership), which soon transformed to the colloquial name Samekki. During the next three decades, my father Petteri Laiti made himself known as a silversmith and a master of Sami handicrafts both in Finland and abroad.
I have been involved since childhood and I continued in the footsteps of my retiring father in 2015. I received my VAT number on the national day of the Saami people, 6.2. that same year.
The yard includes traditionally built goahti (a tent with a dome-shaped frame supporting the poles) and an old timber barn converted into a smithy. The barn was moved from the other side of main building. The smithy includes a masoned forge and a wood and antler workshop.