First there was a cup.

In 1775 there was a man called Kuisma, who was brewing some alcoholic beverages. He carved a cup, using the knowledge of his ancestors, to taste the homebrew. Later, the cup received the nickname HARAKKAKUPPI (The Magpie Cup), and became the first Kupilka style cup on record. That very cup is nowadays kept in a museum in Finland.

Over 200 years later, the Kaasinen family had a dream to move away from the hustle and bustle of the Helsinki capital area, and to live surrounded by the forests and lakes; and piles of snow during the winter times! They wished to establish a company with ethical values and ecological mindset, having gathered experience in making cups and bowls for 25 years. And so, it was decided – first the move to Eastern Finland, and then the start of the business in 1996 on a beautiful hill, Pyytivaara, in Kontiolahti. At that time, it was rather exceptional to think “green”, but the Kaasinen family was convinced that this was the way – the only way – to go. This is how the company became to be the very first in Finland to use green electricity (now called EKOenergy) in all its production. And who knows, maybe they were the first in the world too!

Meanwhile in the nearby town of Joensuu, the researchers in the Wood Technology Centre Puugia were developing completely new type of materials from the Finnish wood, later called KARELINE® Natural Fibre Composites. For years now, the Kareline materials have been produced in Pyytivaara’s beautiful hilltop by the Kaasinen family, together with the Kupilka series.

Knowing each other through the material development, Heikki Koivurova, the designer, and Kari Kuisma, the innovator, created the classic KUPILKA 21 cup in 2003. And that’s how Kupilka’s journey began… The old Magpie Cup has transformed to serve mostly coffee and tea, but every now and then it’s still used for its original purpose. After all, our favourite cup is meant to hold what we appreciate the most – back then, as well as now, and in the future…