The 2000s
The new millennium brought technology that inspired, confused, and created new needs. Mobile‑phone-holders and bags joined the Aarikka product offering.
In an effect counterbalancing the technology boom, the younger generation were finding their way back to traditional, basic values. In the world of objects, this phenomenon manifested itself in retro‑style design, wherein new products find their basis in forms and values familiar from the past. Many companies began bringing old classics back into production. The 50-year-old Aarikka possessed a comprehensive archive from which to draw ideas, even though the company’s sights were kept strictly on the future.
Pauliina Aarikka followed Kaija Aarikka as design director. Under her leadership, Aarikka focused on designing strong product entities and utility items of larger size than before.
The degree of domestic origin of Aarikka products became so high – as it still is – that the company was allowed to use the Key Flag Symbol granted by the Association for Finnish Work.