The magical world originated in the childhood of story artist Petronella Grahn.
“It is a blessing to live and grow up in an artistic home filled with siblings, imagination, joy, and beautiful colors of all kinds. Throughout my childhood, I explored my own worlds. I played, made up my own stories, sang, composed music, played the violin and piano, and listened to my grandmother read fairy tales. My imagination made the impossible possible—creativity played out in stories, dance, and music. My childhood was full of magic, and in the nearby forest of Kuusien Kuiske, adventure after adventure always awaited the adventurer, even though reality was something else entirely…
Pomenia’s magical world became visible when artist Petronella Grahn sewed the first dragon hat for her firstborn son. The pattern for the hat was drawn freehand on a piece of newspaper on the kitchen table and cut to shape with kitchen scissors. The hat was sewn together on a sewing machine inherited from her grandmother. Hiphei! The adventure toward creating her own magnificent children’s clothing line had begun!
Petronella Grahn, founder of Pomenia, opened a family park in Vantaa called Lasten leikkipuisto Nelli (Children’s Playground Nelli), where children can play wild and wonderfully fun outdoor games. In the park, parents met each other and shared the joys and sorrows of everyday life, as well as their best advice.
Suddenly, the game took off in earnest in clothing as well, and EVERYONE wanted to be dragons, fairies, foxes, bunnies, and… trolls! So Petronella founded Tinttu (1999–2018), a children’s clothing sewing workshop and online store. Fantasy clothing brought adventure and playfulness to the everyday lives of families with children throughout Finland and Europe. Pomenia’s magical world of stories and fairy tale characters saw the light of day for the first time through the children’s clothing collection.
The door to Pomenia also opened in large mural paintings. In 2001, the first Pomenia landscape outside her own playground was painted at Vekkuli daycare in Kotka. After that, Petronella painted large murals around Finland, including at Mehiläinen in Tikkurila, wards L1 and L3 at Jorvi Children’s Hospital, the Hoplop indoor playground chain, and Satumaailma salainen, a 280 m² mural at Kotka Children’s Hospital (2011). In 2016, Petronella painted a separate 250 m² mural at Taikametsä daycare. In addition, several private homes and daycare centres have been transformed into magical worlds.
The walls could not be moved for others to see, and the fairy tale characters created could not be featured in Tinttu prints and interior design stickers unless new skills were learned. So the large wall paintings were replaced by paper drawings and then sparkling canvas paintings.
The first art exhibition was held to showcase the artwork created, and prints of the original images were made for clothing, posters, and cards. The first mural wallpaper and interior sticker collection was also created. Mr. Owl traveled to many homes to take a nap… Krooh-pyyh…
The enchanting fairy tale illustrations and characters told the story of Pomenia and opened the door to a magical world for everyone. Magic dust!
Petronella named the fairy tale land Pomenia, wrote down and sketched fairy tale pictures painted from the magical world into fairy tale books.
It was decided to publish Pomenia’s first fairy tale book, Keijun taikapöly (Magic Fairy Dust). When the book sold out, it was turned into an enchanting read-aloud fairy-tale video for all adventurers in the magical world! Ooh!
Listen to and watch Keijun taikapöly (Magic Fairy Dust) read aloud as a fairy-tale video.
Petronella wanted to make her dreams come true and bring Pomenia’s fairy tales and characters to life through design. Tinttu’s clothing operations ended in 2016, and in 2018 Petronella set the brand aside to focus entirely on Pomenia. During these years, she turned the bedtime stories she had told her children for more than twenty years into actual fairy-tale books, and learned to draw digitally. Over the years, Pomenia’s magical places and fairy tale characters began to take shape. Pomenia’s fairy tale world was digitized, and the 2D characters were animated. As if by magic, the fairy tale characters could walk, dance, talk, and FLY!
Magic!
The first part of the Pomenia trilogy, Pomenia – Taikamaailman suuri seikkailu (Pomenia – The Great Adventure in the Magic World), a picture book for younger children, and Taikapölyn salaisuus (The Secret of Magic Dust) launched the extensive Pomenia series in Finland in the fall of 2020. The books were originally published by Kumma Kustannus.
In November 2020, both Pomenia books were on the list of Finland’s best-selling children’s books, and in November 2021, the final part of the trilogy was also on the list. (https://kirjakauppaliitto.fi/kirja-ala-suomessa/mita-suomi-lukee/).
At the same time, participatory educational Pomenia activity cards and the Satuseikkailu board game were released.
In 2021, the second and third parts of the book trilogy were published, along with a smaller storybook entitled Sisu sankarina (Sisu the Hero) and Sisun rohkeuskortit (Sisu’s Courage Cards).
That’s right! Pomenia’s magical world is more than just a dragon hat!
It was time to open our own Pomenia online store and create enchanting Design by Petronella Grahn Pomenia products. These were a good place to start, as was launching children’s and adult clothing collections with Ommellinen and Ehta by Dream Circus, among others. The first Pomenia collection manufactured in Finland was launched in the fall of 2021, and at the same time, the sale of Pomenia licensed fabrics began.
In the fall, the first book fair after the coronavirus lockdown was held, and Pomenia finally received official book publications and new educational material—Taikamaailman Suurenmoiset Satuseikkailukortit (The Wonderful Fairy Tale Adventure Cards of the Magic World).
Pomenia’s fairy tale books for children around the world, hooray!
In 2022, Petronella Grahn’s magical world of Pomenia took to the stage in a magnificent two-act ballet, which was performed to sold-out audiences at the Oulu Theatre.
Over 400 dancers, original music, unique costumes, set design, and choreography brought Pomenia’s characters and stories to life in a way that deeply moved the audience.
The work was performed by students and teachers from the Sinikello Ballet School in collaboration with composers Mika Tourunen and Rolf Gustavson – as a tribute to Finnish fairy tales and dance art.
It was the moment when fairy tales turned into movement – and magic took flight.
Pomenia’s first very own fabric collection, Ripaus Taikapölyä – A Puff of Magic Fairy Dust, was launched in spring 2025 and is available in Finland and internationally.
Browse our collection and fall in love!
Little Fox first appeared in Petronella Grahn’s original Tinttu illustrations and products, long before the animation project. The character belongs to the wider world of Pomenia and is now being developed for international animation. In 2025, Petronella began a collaboration with the British animation studio Studio Liddell to develop Little Fox and Pomenia’s Magical World – a series that combines adventure, imagination, friendship, and courage.
Petronella is the original creator of Pomenia’s story world, ensuring that the spirit, values, and essence of the work are preserved in every image and story. In 2026, Petronella brought Pomenia’s books, games, activity cards and audiobooks back under the Pomenia brand through Pomenia Publishing. Pomenia’s stories now have a publishing home of their own – alongside the art, design and adventures that keep the world growing.