Kalevala Koru, Jewelry Box, 1940s

Germund Paaer (1881–1950), who worked as a drawing teacher at the Ateneum, was the first chief designer of Kalevala Koru. He was responsible for the design of Kalevala Koru until 1950, during which time he designed hundreds of different pieces of jewelry for the company. Paaer designed the first Kalevala jewelry in 1937.

Paaer was talented, enthusiastic and extremely productive: he designed a total of over 300 Kalevala jewelry and an equal number of wooden decorative and functional objects, which Kalevala Koru began to manufacture during the Continuation War, when metal shortages slowed down jewelry production.