Tentipi... how it all started

That year, just like every other year, the determined rays of the spring sun had transformed frozen shapes into playful, dancing water. Life, barely evident during the cold winter months, had now re-appeared in nature with an explosive force. This was a great time for the youngsters. High water leve...

That year, just like every other year, the determined rays of the spring sun had transformed frozen shapes into playful, dancing water. Life, barely evident during the cold winter months, had now re-appeared in nature with an explosive force. This was a great time for the youngsters. High water levels and good speed in the rapids for the canoes, getting close to nature, socializing and relaxing together, six people and two small tents … Well, was that really the case — socializing and relaxing together? If we could have known what was going on inside Bengt Grahn’s head as he sat on a stone by the water brushing away the mosquitoes, we would have become aware of his thoughts about how the optimal tent for relaxing together could be designed. It’s not so easy to socialize and relax when insects are greedily trying to feed off you and when the tents are too small for everyone to fit into one tent. Now, let’s see, wouldn’t it be good if … and then you could … and then perhaps …? Here, he was interrupted by his friends who wanted help with pitching the tents and then many years passed before he returned to that line of thought.

Thoughts and ideas take shape and become reality

It was in the village of Moskosel in Lapland’s inland where the ideas which had formed while sitting on that stone were to be revived and developed, more than ten years later. Bengt Grahn, owner and founder of Tentipi, (or Moskoselkåtan as the company was first called), had just moved into the village where he was working as a church warden. One evening, as he was changing a bulb in the church hall, it was not only the lamp that lit up. Standing on a chair, Bengt suddenly had the idea of his life, namely to start making Nordic tipis.

All said and done! Bengt’s experience from such work consisted of him sewing a doll’s skirt on his mother’s sewing machine at the age of five and then making a canoe cover at the age of twenty but with a large portion of self-confidence, he took on the challenge of turning enormous pieces of cloth into large Nordic tipis. Throughout his journey with Tentipi, Bengt’s self-confidence and his talents have been his greatest assets as regards entrepreneurship. Almost any problem can be solved!

At first, Bengt did everything himself, from purchasing and sewing to marketing and selling. However, it did not take long before he employed his first worker.

The tent production proved to be profitable and new products began to be developed. The idea of designing the best tent in the world began to grow and after months of thinking and many failed attempts at constructing it, the prototype of today’s single pole Nordic tipis, the Adventure Nordic tipis, was ready. The larger tents, which we now call our Classic and Event Nordic tipis, also took on new shapes and functions. Then the Stratus Nordic tipi (or Giant Hat as it was originally called) was invented, with sides that can be raised up, and in no time at all, it became a favourite among rental agents and event companies.