Tyyne-Kerttu Virkki collection

The Virkki Handicraft Museum, owned by the Tyyne-Kerttu Virkki Foundation, transferred its collection of more than 4000 objects from Helsinki to the Craft Museum of Finland in 2010, with its photographic and sketch archives following a few years later. The Virkki Handicraft Museum, founded in 1977, was originally intended to exhibit objects collected in Aunus Karelia by Tyyne-Kerttu Virkki. The collections were initially mainly Finnish handicrafts, but they have been augmented with objects in the East Karelian and Estonian traditions, as well as other objects from abroad such as from Cyprus and Mexico. These collections include materials from the early 20th century to the present, with the preponderance of objects originating from the World War II era and the age of reconstruction that followed.

Counsellor-in-Craft Tyyne-Kerttu Virkki (1907–2000) was an important promoter and preserver of Finnish handicraft culture. In her diverse activities, Virkki sought to uphold the tradition of creating with your own hands and in particular the Karelian tradition of handicraft.