It is 1948 and Hölttä has received permission to make a poster at his workplace in Asko with the materials available there. As working tools, he used, for example, an air syringe. The work is completed on time and after an intensive work contract, he feels quite exhausted. The appendix announces itself and the artist is taken to hospital. Velipoika is ready to help and goes to transport the poster to the competition hall in Helsinki. Fortunately!
With this poster, Erkki Hölttä won the poster competition of the Finnish Tourist Association in 1948. The poster spread all over Finland and Hölttä was rewarded with a flight to Stockholm. The poster's journey continued to another competition and it received an honorable mention in the international youth poster competitions in Oslo in 1948. The win was announced after some time and the certificate of honor arrived in the mail. The local newspapers reported on the successful work of the graphic artist and soon life was moving forward in Lahti and Asko.
Finnish winter and summer is Erkki Höltä's only tourism-themed poster. As the only one of its kind, it has garnered a lot of attention. It went around the world together with the other works of the "Youth Looks at Travel" competition, and with this poster the country clearly brought out its new tourism message: Finland is a good travel destination both in summer and winter. In post-war Finland, the tourism industry faced major challenges. Vyborg had been lost, Suursaari, the paradise island in the Gulf of Finland, the arctic road to the Arctic Ocean had been lost - and large parts of Lapland's infrastructure had been burned or bombed to the ground. But with united forces, Finland rebuilt the country, and little by little they were ready to receive foreign guests. Tourists meant money and a boost to the economy, so it was a vital way of life.
- Artist: Erkki Hölttä
- Originally published: 1948
- Best regards! The postcards are printed with offset technology in Finland on high-quality Finnish cardboard.
