In 1969, a young family did something very unusual and moved to Posio, a small town in the Finnish Lapland, a place most people at the time were leaving to move to Sweden and the south of Finland. The idea for the company first emerged in 1971, inspired by Anu Pentik’s enthusiasm for ceramics and leather crafts. For the first few months the company was run from the family’s basement and nursery room. The following year a ceramics studio was first built along with a shop and café. These buildings were later developed into the Pentik centre. The world’s northernmost ceramic factory was inaugurated in 1974 along with a new leather studio and showroom. In 1976, Pentik opened its first store on Esplanadi right in the heart of Helsinki. The store quickly became famous as the purveyor of high-quality leather designs.