Savustuslaatikot, kiukaat ja pontikkapannut: Firabelityöt 1950 - 1990

Smoker Boxes, Sauna Stoves and Moonshine Distillers – Finnish Factory “Homers” 1950–1990A “homer” is an object made for one´s own benefit by a worker using his or her employer’s equipment and materials. This article examines homers made by Finnish workshop and paper mill maintenance workers between 1950–1990. After the first part of the 20th century, a period marked by a shortage of goods caused by the economic depression and war-time rationing, the typical homers changed from utensils, tools and home supplies to leisure time supplies and ornaments. This change, caused by the increased significance of leisure time and prosperity of workers, depicts how Finland´s society transformed from an agrarian society into a modern consumption society. According to oral history sources, the most popular forms of homers were smoker boxes, sauna stoves and moonshine distillers. Smoker boxes, which became fashionable in the 1960s, depict the increase of leisure time and modern needs. Smoking fish is a relatively new cooking method comparing to smoking meat, which is a preservation method of prehistoric tradition. Sauna stoves were the second most popular homers. Sauna culture had become urbanized and adapted to the denser dwelling conditions. The industrial production of stoves started in the 1920s and was at its highest in the 1960s, simultaneously with the production of the homer stoves.Moonshine distillers were the third most popular homers. Illegal moonshining, originally part of the rural tradition, urbanized with the rest of the society. Making moonshine distillers was especially common in the 1970s. Noteworthy in the moonshine discourse is how openly the informants narrate of a subject which emphasizes the informants’ self-will in a dualistic way: Firstly, against society’s laws, and secondly against the employers’ authority. Homers were also made as gifts to children and other loved ones. In addition, homers were made as a corporation gifts presented to other corporations and merited employees.The expansion of the supply selection of markets, the discount of prices, and the automatization of the industrial production process has decreased the making of homers. Thus, homer making has contracted merely into a method of expressing oneself by making handicrafts