About-us
About the owner and founder of Romani Heritage Kari Tuominen:
Kari comes from a village in Finland where people have a history of making bags. His mother had a small wholesale business and Kari, already at the age of 15, started selling and creating his own designs. After graduating, Kari moved to Sweden to study economics at Stockholm University. He also lived in London for a period in the seventies before settling permanently in Stockholm. In 1977, at the age of 27 Kari opened his first store ROMANI which sold mostly leather bags from Italy and Finland but also silk shawls, handmade jewelry and some leather clothing. During this time he worked with many world-leading high-fashion brands such as Gucci, Dior, Channel, Fendi, Gianfranco Ferre and Sonia Rykiel.
Kari has a wide range of clients including royalty, famous international actors, successful international business leaders and most importantly, loyal fashion-conscious women of all ages. The ROMANI store was a multi-brand operation for a period of almost 35 years, after which Kari decided to work with only one brand; Longchamp.
Longchamp is a very successful French family owned company that has stores all over the world and Kari is very happy to have been part of this successful company.
Kari has always enjoyed creating her own designs and that is why ROMANI HERITAGE was born. Today he designs , manufactureds and makes himself silver, pearl and gemstones jewellery, with the support of his Thai co-director Somkiat Jampawong.
They have been lucky enough to find quality producers in Thailand and Vietnam. Their silver is made in a small Karen village in the mountains north of Chiang Mai in Thailand .The purpose of ROMANI HERITAGE is to create products in harmony with nature and the environment in combination with handmade traditions. “Life is more entertaining than we thought."