Erika Aittamaa
Maria Erika Olofsdotter Kruukka was a Swedish artisan, famed as the inventor of the Lovikkavante mitten. She was born to a poor family with many children. She lived in Lovikka and in 1892 invented the Lovikkavante, a special kind of mittens. Demand for Erika's mittens became so great that she taught others how to make them. During the 1930s a local teacher found that she could patent the design. The process however cost money and although the teacher found people who would fund the cost, Aittamaa refused to take charity.
