ABOUT US
Love of old houses and fascinating stories is a driving force for us. At the Kosola House, we also want to offer our guests experiences that have a meaning and purpose. We value sustainability and naturalness, authenticity and robustness, the local way of life, and the vitality of the countryside. We believe that an increasingly larger number of people share these values with us.
Jari Vesanen
OWNER, ENTREPRENEUR
Jari Vesanen works as a metal industry entrepreneur to earn as much as he can to get the Kosola House ready, business started, and the losses covered. He loves old Ostrobothnian houses honestly, not just in grand speeches. He jokes about money and then wipes the cold sweat from his forehead, when he thinks that no one can see. He does not like conditionals. “It’s the spirit of getting things done that counts.”
Grown in Vaasa, Jari is an activist in Ostrobothnian cultural heritage and ecologically sustainable circular economy, who in the early 2000s saved the handsome Varpula House at the last moment by moving it to Sipoo to serve as his home – but the Kosola House will stay in place! Active in the Rural Culture Foundation, Jari strives to strengthen the appreciation of traditional construction in Finland and encourage people to save valuable old houses from extinction.
Taina Hautamäki
PROJECT MANAGER AND STORYTELLER
Taina Hautamäki arranges things, rushes from place to place, purchases antique furniture and artefacts, resolves restoration problems, and develops new ones. “I have taken on the job of spending Jari’s money. In addition, I serve as the hostess and tell such stories in the local dialect that you haven’t heard before and will not hear elsewhere.”
Taina investigates and documents the Kosola House building history and the personal histories of its residents. She tells stories about them to the tourist groups visiting Kosola and writes articles in the Kosola House blog. As a tourist guide, she also leads wider South Ostrobothnia history tours in the landscapes of, among other things, the Great Wrath, the Cudgel War, and the mystical Levänluhta water burial site, and visits as a commissioned lecturer wherever she is invited.
You can find Taina Hautamäki here: taina.hautamaki@kosolantalo.fi, 0400 317138.
Heli Karhumäki
SERVICE SELLER AND STORYTELLER