Museums Kruunu and Leikki to open their doors in Tapiola in April–May – this is the story of a new cultural meeting place

The museums are a great destination and meeting place for cultural excursions. Together with the WeeGee Exhibition Centre, museums Kruunu and Leikki will form a strong cluster of museums in Tapiola.

In addition to the museums, café Pupusaari(external link, opens in a new window) and the museum shop with their special selections serve customers in the new facilities. The building also hosts the workshop facilities of both museums. There is a shared event space in the lobby, where small pop-up exhibitions changing every six months will be created. The space also allows the organisation of events. Special attention has been paid to the accessibility of the museum facilities. The museums can be easily accessed with a pushchair or wheelchair.

Amanuensis Johanna Järviniemi-Raekallio at Kruunu says that the extension of the activities to include jewellery in addition to watches has been discussed for years. “In 2017, we had an exhibition at WeeGee with a focus on jewellery. The exhibition was a huge success.” According to Järviniemi-Raekallio, the jewellery exhibition that was recently held at the National Museum of Finland evoked goldsmiths in particular to think about where their history could be stored.

In 2020, Essi Pullinen, who is a skilled goldsmith herself, started as the Director of the Finnish Museum of Horology. “This lead to concrete plans to expand our activities to include jewellery,” says Johanna Järviniemi-Raekallio.

The renovation process of Kruunu has involved both customers and professionals. “On the basis of customer surveys and interviews, we decided that the museum will not have a permanent exhibition. All our exhibitions are changing exhibitions,” says Johanna.

The museum’s mission is to increase the appreciation of craftsmanship and crafts and to show what is takes to make a piece of jewellery or watch. The museum also allows visitors to explore the work of watchmakers and goldsmiths in a very concrete way – by meeting professionals showcasing their work. “Watchmakers and goldsmiths will hold work demonstrations at the museum, but visitors can also have a try under expert guidance,” says Johanna.

On Wednesday, 13 April, the Finnish Museum of Horology and Jewellery Kruunu will open and allow visitors to dive into the world of watches and jewellery through three exhibitions. The Minun maailmani(external link, opens in a new window) exhibition takes a stand on the position of the disabled in the society through jewellery. The Made in Helsinki(external link, opens in a new window) exhibition presents approximately 40 mechanical watches of SarpanevaUhrenFabrik (S.U.F.) from two decades and offers insight into the highly skilled Finnish watchmaking tradition. Harri Syrjänen’s jewellery production from a period of 50 years will be displayed in the Kaikessa käden jälki(external link, opens in a new window) exhibition.

The museum has made great efforts to create the new Holvi(external link, opens in a new window) databank, through which anyone can store folk memory related to jewellery and watches. You can take pictures of your own watches and pieces of jewellery in Kruunu, and you can use the databank freely online. “Our dream is that in the future Holvi will allow us to take a comprehensive look at the history of Finland through jewellery and watches,” says Järviniemi-Raekallio.

The museum will also organise workshops open to all. A silver jewellery course, leather bracelet workshop and pearl knotting workshop are being planned. Kruunu also cooperates closely with the Finnish School of Watchmaking. “Espoo forms a true heart of the industry: the only watchmaking school in Finland and the only horology and jewellery museum in the Nordic countries are located here,” says Järviniemi-Raekallio.

Amanuensis Hanna Jussila says that two renewed and mutually complementing museums are about to opened in Tapiola. Leikki – the Museum of Play was located at the WeeGee Exhibition Centre for a long time. “The Toy Museum’s permanent exhibition at WeeGee had been on display for a long time, and this was the starting point for the renovation of the museum. The facilities were also too small for our needs. When we learnt about the possibility to have new facilities, we were very excited,” Jussila says.

The museum also wants to defend the importance of play in social discussion. “The period of play in children’s lives is becoming shorter and shorter. Studies show that children stop playing at an increasingly early age,” says Jussila. This has contributed to the fact that the new museum focuses in play instead of toys.

A customer working group, Leikin laborantit, has been closely involved in planning the museum. Approximately one third of the working group are children. “The museum does not have, for example, digital screens and tablets, because our customers made it very clear that they do not want them,” says Jussila. The museum has invested in making the museum experience diverse and memorable and in allowing the museum visitors to try things, be active and play.

Leikki has conducted several folk memory surveys, which brought different phenomena related to play and the context of playing with toys to the heart of the museum. The main exhibition of the museum, Leikin laboratorio, takes a look at play through different phenomena that have been passed from one generation to the next. The exhibition takes visitors, for example, to a school recess yard and toy shop, it also showcases comfort toys and their significance and shows the world of idols and what it means to be a big fan of something.

The museum will also display a lot of objects that have not been displayed before. For example, the museum’s Star Wars collection will be displayed in its entirety for the first time. According to Hanna Jussila, one of the absolute gems of the new exhibition is the doll’s house made by a child living in Espoo in 2016–2021(external link, opens in a new window).

The museum’s first changing exhibition, Ruutuhyppy, will focus on the links between digital gaming and play.

Leikki – the Museum of Play is the only museum in Finland that focuses on childhood and play. According to Hanna Jussila, the museum will now focus on creating and developing diverse new contents for young people. The museum also wants to underline the right of adults to play and to be playful. Hanna promises that the museum programme will include events and contents aimed specifically at adults in the autumn. “Through play, we want to encourage everyone to be more empathetic and creative. Play is for all ages!” Hanna reminds.

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Leikki – the Museum of Play, www.museoleikki.fi/(external link, opens in a new window)

will open on 13 May 2022

Finnish Museum of Horology and Jewellery Kruunu, www.kellojakorumuseo.fi(external link, opens in a new window)

will open on 13 April 2022

The opening of the museums is part of the programme celebrating 50 years of the City of Espoo. Explore the jubilee programme: espoo.fi/50.