Every design for Karkkila

The highest point in all of Uusimaa is not on the coast or near Helsinki but in Karkkila: Loukkumäki rises from a broad, moraine-covered upland near the Lohja border, where the hills run in lines from north-west to south-east along fractures in the bedrock. Further north-west the land joins the Tammela uplands, and wilderness, lakes and ponds balance the town's industry.

Karkkila (Högfors in Swedish) lies on Highway 2 north-west of Helsinki, bordered by Lohja, Loppi, Tammela and Vihti. An old Tavastian trade route once passed through, and the market square is still where people meet in summer. The town grew around Högforsin masuuni, the blast furnace built on the Korkeakoski rapids to smelt ore from the nearby Kulosuonmäki mine, and it became the foundry town of Uusimaa, with a working-class tradition strong enough to make it the only municipality in Finland where most votes once went to the Left. Suomen valimomuseo, the Finnish foundry museum, and Karkkila-Högforsin työläismuseo tell that story.

On the map you can trace the route from the market square to the furnace and on to the lakes, the town anyone who grew up in Karkkila still carries around in their head.