Every design for Sipoo

Archipelago and grain fields: that is the Sipoo most people picture, a farming municipality on Helsinki's eastern side that never stopped feeling like countryside. Its history runs deep. Old villages from Häme, Paipis, Savijärvi and Borgby among them, were here before Swedish settlers came up the Sipoo River, and the parish took shape in the Middle Ages. Noble manors such as Östersundom, Hitå and Eriksnäs followed, along with lime quarrying, brick-making, shipbuilding and peasant seafaring.

There is a certain pride in the story behind the coat of arms. The first settlers are said to have arrived on a Viking ship with a wolf's head at its prow, and so the locals have been called the wolves of Sipoo. Sipoo is bilingual, Sibbo in Swedish, and it stood its ground when Helsinki took a slice of its southwest.

Nikkilän kartano in the municipal centre and Sipoon maatalousmuseo keep the farming past in view, while an artwork called Turvapaikka 2019: Sudet brings the wolves back into the picture: a fitting emblem for anyone who wears Sipoo with a little bite.