Our story
We are a family company of four sisters: Lilja, Heljä, Elise and Iiris. We started making ballet tutus when we were young and have continued our passion ever since. We have a very Scandinavian approach for making tutus and running our business: we want to provide the highest quality costumes with a minimalistic, modern touch. That being said, we love to get creative and play with colors, decorations and different techniques. We want to offer the best tutu experience for everyone and respect & appreciate every customer we get to work with.
In the very beginning, we wanted to make costumes for ourselves. We started sewing and hand crafting at a very young age. Experimenting with our mom’s old Singer was one of our favorite things to do besides ballet classes. We all got really good sewing education at primary school (Finnish school system is amazing) so it was really easy to apply our knowledge to our sewing projects. One year, we all were preparing solo performances at our ballet school. Our ballet school didn’t have many ballet costumes so we figured out we could make them ourselves. It felt like a crazy idea but after a lot of research and a good amount of trial and error, we were able to construct our very first pancake tutu. The oldest of us, Lilja, performed her La Bayadere Shade variation in it. The feeling was magical and we realized we wanted to make more tutus, so we did. A Kitri tutu for Elise, Paquita and Harlequinade for Iiris. Grand Pas Classique for Heljä, then Coppelia and a couple of Fairy tutus… Very soon, our childhood home started to look like a costume shop.
We perfected our tutu making skills for years until we finally had the courage to establish our tutu company. We realized that it would be wonderful to be able to offer the same magical stage feeling to other dancers as well. Two of us, Heljä and Elise, started studying dressmaking and fashion design and Heljä also graduated as a professional ballet dancer. Elise graduated as a dressmaker and during her studies won 2nd place in the national sewing professionals’ championship (Taitaja). Lilja continued to university to study genetics and has contributed to the business alongside her scientific career. The youngest of us, Iiris, started to compete internationally, and naturally we made her multiple costumes for her variations. She got to perform in Paris and New York wearing tutus we had made. Now, Iiris has graduated as a professional ballet dancer from a ballet academy in Germany and continues to participate in our family business as a model and a muse.
We have run our tutu company since 2017 and it has been magical so far. Since we have danced our entire lives, we know how a ballet costume must feel like and that’s why we have worked tirelessly to offer the best quality and comfort for our customers. Seeing your smiling faces on stage is so rewarding. Thank you everyone who have supported us and shared this journey with us!