Every design for Orivesi

Orivesi is known for its water: more than three hundred and fifty lakes lie within its borders, and most of them drain into Längelmävesi, the big lake on whose shore the town centre stands. The far end of Vesijärvi reaches in from Kangasala, while lakes in the west send their water on towards Näsijärvi. In the north-west, by the borders with Tampere and Ruovesi, the land climbs into the town's highest ridges.

The feeling people carry away from Orivesi is of a town that is quiet on the surface and full of surprises underneath. There is a gold mine here, and Korkeakoski was home to Finland's first shoe factory. Until it moved to Tampere, the Oriveden Opisto art school drew young artists here. Parish dishes are blood sausage and mustikkapöperö, a blueberry dish, and the ice hockey club Oriveden Fortuna trains at the town's own rink. Paltanmäen kotiseutumuseo, the local history museum, keeps the older stories of a parish that historically belonged to Satakunta.

Then there is Kultavuori, the gold hill, which once gave its name to the parish's first school. In a town with a real gold mine, the name feels like a promise, and it is a good one to wear.