Motley Project Founders

We’re two Finns who have both lived abroad (Germany, France, UK, Denmark) for way over 20 years. We met each other at a sunny flea market in East Helsinki in 2024: we had both returned to Finland a couple of years earlier and agreed that while the city had become more international and multicultural since the 90s, there were not many quality free-time activities or creative “hobbies” available for individuals and families who didn’t speak Finnish. Our experience was confirmed when we conducted a survey with over 100 families new to Finland: over 90% of respondents found it hard to find activities in English.

In addition to being taught in Finnish (not the most accessible language), many courses follow a strict curriculum, while many of us would prefer to try different creative activities and meet teachers and each other in a warm, relaxed environment.

Most of our instructors are not only professional creatives, but—like us—they also have personal experience of uprooting and building their lives in a new place. Life is not just about learning ten different painting techniques and perfecting Finnish suffixes: we celebrate inclusivity, diversity, making new friends, and building communities. We believe embracing a Motley of experiences is what makes us pretty special.

See you soon?

Anu & Anna

Anu Liisanantti

Anna Dorrington

Our teachers:

We are so lucky to work with a group of talented professional creatives, and will update this section soon to include a proper intro to everyone!

Some of our teachers are:

Kristiina Tervaskanto-Clarke (architecture, knitting)

Fatima Galiana (digital detox)
(Fatima's substack)

Valentina Lachner (tufting)
(Valentina's website)

Takuyo Kawachi (ink painting)
(Takuyo's website)

Ally Manson (acting)
(Ally's website)

Lakmé Gremillet-Nayrolles (architecture)

Aimy Basche (embroidery)

Shabnam Abbasi (3D card making, arts)

Motley Project ry is a registered, not-for-profit, association (yhdistys)

Our Founders

We’re two Finns who have both lived abroad (Germany, France, UK, Denmark) for way over 20 years. We met each other at a sunny flea market in East Helsinki in 2024: we had both returned to Finland a few years earlier and found that while the city had become much more international and multicultural since the 90s, there were not many quality free-time activities or creative “hobbies” available for families who didn’t speak Finnish. Our experience was confirmed when we conducted a survey asking around 100 families new to Finland about this. Over 90% of respondents found it hard to find activities in English.

In addition to being taught in Finnish, many courses also follow a strict curriculum, whereas we know many of us would prefer to try different creative activities in a warm, relaxed environment.

Most of our instructors are not only professional creatives, but—like us—they also have personal experience of uprooting and building their lives in a new place. Life is not just about learning ten different painting techniques and perfecting Finnish suffixes: we celebrate inclusivity, diversity, making new friends, and building communities. We believe embracing a Motley of experiences is what makes us truly special.

See you soon,

Anu & Anna

Anu Liisanantti & Anna Dorrington