Travel I
Hidden Gems: Project Ö, Skjulskäret
WORDS: TOBY SKINNER | IMAGES: PHILIP ANDERSEN
Those few days alone on tiny Skjulskäret, a measle of granite and gneiss among the 40,000 or so islands of the Finnish archipelago, feel like a reverie now. The slow days my partner and I spent in the gable-roofed, Monopoly-esque timber house of Project Ö (“Project Island”): cooking beef and foraged mushroom pot pies; exploring our rocky, forested little universe; watching spiders weave jewel-drop webs that wobbled in the same winds that whooshed over the sea, where the Gulf of Bothnia meets the Gulf of Finland and the Baltic Sea. During sauna sessions interspersed with goosebumped leaps from the little jetty into the frigid water, we’d see sailing boats in the distance beyond other tiny islands. But real life felt like an almost absurd abstraction; something that was happening somewhere else, as the Mondaine clock rotated silently in our little world.
Project Ö is the passion project of Aleksi Hautamäki, the co-founder of Helsinki creative agency Bond, which he has built with the help of his partner, Milla Selkimäki. Aleksi was initially drawn to the archipelago’s mind-peace nothingness. He first sailed here with his father more than 15 years ago, at a time when it felt remote even to Helsinki-dwellers. Over time it became “the place where my heart wanted to be”; the place he’d sail to alone when work became too much, sleeping on his boat and resetting his mind.
A typical Finn – with a bone-dry humour and a subtly traceable romantic streak – he missed the sauna on these trips. So, having searched for years for an archipelago islet to call their own, in 2018 he and Milla eventually found their Goldilocks island, around half an hour by boat from the quaint harbour town of Kasnäs, at the western edge of a vast spread of lands that stretch east and north towards Turku. They began building what is now Project Ö: a solar-heated, small-house minimal building in thermally treated Finnish pine, with the best views (naturally) from the glass-fronted sauna. Aleksi taught himself carpentry to build the jetty and wooden walkways that lead round the island’s little bays and rocky outlooks to a greenhouse-like dining pavilion, perched over the water, with a full professional kitchen for wild locavore dining. They’ve since expanded to a smaller and even more remote off-grid cabin with wood-fired hot tub on Gåsskären, a micro-archipelago of ten tiny islands.
Project Ö is part of a wider reappraisal of the mostly Swedish-speaking Saaristo, as Finns call the archipelago. While the chain’s easternmost Åland Islands, closer to Sweden than the Finnish mainland, have long been well-known as a tourist destination, much of the archipelago – including the pristine Archipelago National Park that is home to the Project Ö properties – has remained relatively quiet, and virtually empty when much of the sea freezes in winter. But in a world of digital overload, geopolitical horrors and a combination of rising temperatures and visitor numbers in parts of the Mediterranean, the so-called coolcation has never been more in vogue. And the mindful solitude of what Aleksi describes as “just being alone with the water” makes more sense than ever.
As well as timeless attractions – spotting seals and white-tailed eagles, or the orchids of Jungfruskär – there are increasingly smart places to stay and eat across the archipelago, with rising demand meaning that local hoteliers and restaurateurs can survive on a relatively short season. Hautamäki says there’s been an increase in people like him buying islands to build smart, eco-focused places to stay – some of which have private harbours open to people who want to stay on their boats. With his Bond agency, Hautamäki has also been working on a rebranding of the Saaristo, with “Saaristo” spelled out by the shapes of real islands. Still in its early stages, its homepage is more romantic than most, listing “staring into the vastness” as an archetypal activity. “This area has really been unknown,” says Hautamäki. “We want to build on the interest, but to do it slowly and carefully. The area will never be overrun, and we don’t want it to be.”
On my visit to Project Ö, there was little danger of that. Our little boxes of local food – fennel-cured salmon with sourdough, or local eggs to scramble with tomatoes, homemade yarrow ricotta and fragrant local herbs – were supplied with beautifully branded instructions by Ellen Järvinen and Will Brennan, who run the pretty little Kallarvinden Cafe in Kasnäs. There was a little guide, too, to how to light the island’s various fires, the hot tub and sauna; how to sprinkle water fragranced with forest-scented oil. Life was set up for a slow intentional rhythm. And when we weren’t in the sea, or wandering our own little private forest, we were staring out at it – not bored but absorbed, and entirely at peace.
The archipelago black book
The Barö: On the Barölandet island in the archipelago’s eastern edge, pandemic-opening The Barö consists of 18 stilted rectangular pinewood pods with glass fronts facing the Arcadian forested shoreline of Hycklesund Bay. Some suites have private saunas and hot tubs, though several of the best views are from the public sauna and glassy open-kitchen restaurant serving locavore set menus. True to regional values, it has a Green Key certificate for its low-impact build and renewables-driven self-sufficiency.
Tackorck: In Nauvo, in the Turku Archipelago, Tackorck is a series of prototypical red houses, where guests can stay in a hunting cabin or one of two glass-roofed Star Cottages – perhaps the one anchored in the sea – with a restaurant driven by local game, including the duck and pheasant hunted on the island. The private harbour has 24 berths, and includes bikes for exploring the island.
Hotel Hyppeis: Further out towards the Åland Islands, on the island of the same name, Hotel Hyppeis is a white clapboard classic in an almost Nantucket style, with six smartly timeless rooms and a much-loved restaurant with rotating chefs. Like Tackorck, it has its own private harbour, and those staying on yachts can rent bikes or paddleboards, and book sessions in the hotel sauna.
