Meet Ritva – Helsinki’s Beloved Grand Dame of Antiques
If you love antiques and hunting for treasures, make your way to Ritva’s on Pieni Roobertinkatu in Helsinki’s Kaartinkaupunki neighbourhood. The small shop is bursting at the seams. Owner Ritva Blomqvist is always busy holding court with shoppers and friends while simultaneously heavy lifting furniture beyond her weight. Knowledgeable and friendly, she will gladly help you navigate the shop, and tell you a thing or two about anything that piques your interest.
Ritva Blomqvists’ gaze is direct and welcoming. You feel at once lucky to have made a connection with her. Small and sprightly at almost 80 years of age, she is happy and eager to tell her story and yet it is obvious that you will only touch the surface. Her eyes sparkle with delight, devilment and a life lived
Ritva’s Antik Shop, located in Helsinki’s Kaartinkaupunki neighbourhood, is deliberately uncurated: a treasure hunt beckoning, a design trail that might lead in one direction to a set of Kaj Franck glass tumblers, only to distract to another collection of antique dolls or a chest full of jewels and vintage fabric. There is everything you never knew you needed in Rita Blomqvist Antiques and perhaps just the thing you came looking for.
A Meeting Place
The shop has been an integral part of the community in South Helsinki since it first opened its doors in the early 80s on Pieni Roobertinkatu. It quickly became a hub for collectors, people in the neighbourhood and curious visitors drawn to the buzzy vibe surrounding the boutique as well as its eclectic contents spilling out onto the sidewalk. If you arrived at the right time you might even be offered a cup or coffee or a glass of wine.
‘It was for me a hobby and a gathering place for friends.’
In 2016 she closed the doors of her beloved shop when the rent took a steep rise. It came as a shock at first but then she had the good fortune to find a new location on the other side of the street. ‘I had my old shop in front of my eyes and then it was a big joy. My old customers are still my customers and we are all good friends — the shopkeepers on Pieni Roobertinkatu and the surrounding streets.’ The current location is much smaller than the original and even more tightly packed but equally charming.
A Wild Child
Blomqvist grew up in the idyllic countryside of Southwestern Finland and admits she was a wild child. Sometimes she went to school and other days she chose adventure, often exploring a nearby mansion that was teeming with antiques and curiosities and ignited her fascination with old things. She and the Mansion owners’ son would play make believe and pretend that they were escaping the Russians — these were postwar years and that threat was still palpable — and would practise ‘disappearing to Sweden’.
Promoting Finnish design from very young
Blomqvist did eventually end up in Sweden where she worked as a secretary for Sigvard Bernadotte, a member of the Swedish Royal Family and a successful industrial designer. In 1966, the Asko Finncentre in Stockholm opened, and Blomquist took a position there, helping promote Finnish design across Europe. ‘That was when I was awakened to modern design.’ Those were heady days for brands such as Marimekko, Artek and Iittala that were making a name for themselves internationally. Paris and Brussels opened their own Finnish Design centres that same year.
It was in Stockholm that she met her husband, Lars Blomqvist. Eventually they decided to return to Finland with their two daughters. She would use her design education and open her own shop, which would give her the flexibility to keep her own hours while she raised a family.
That it would be an antique and vintage shop was obvious to Blomquist. ‘Good wooden furniture lasts forever. If you take care and wash glasses by hand, they will last too. I don’t use a dishwasher, only when I have company.’
Recycling is our Heritage
She is serious about recycling. ‘It’s a problem for me. I don’t want to throw away anything! I have never bought packing material. People bring me bags, I find newspapers. Reuse everything. If I see a piece of string on the floor I will find a use for it! Recycling is part of our heritage. After the war we were so poor and mending was necessary. We would turn one old coat into a new one.’
Her customers are all ages. She has more young people coming in these days because they are committed to participating in a circular economy. ‘I never used to sell clothing and apparel. Now I have everything!’
Blomqvist’s grandson Johan Sundell often works in the shop with her. He has inherited his grandmother’s collector genes and wants to become an art dealer. He also doesn’t throw anything away and likes to make repairs. When he graduated from high school he got a sewing machine as a gift.
There are others who like to help out at Ritva’s and sometimes never leave. ‘If someone wants to come and sit down, they can sit down until I throw them away!” She once deterred a potential thief with kindness, offer
ing him a cup of coffee and taking advantage of that gaze and those blue eyes.
When asked why people come to her and to Ritva’s she laughs. ‘I’m not serious, I’m a bit silly. I’ve always been doing what I want and I never regret anything.
