Tentipi AB was established in Swedish Lapland (our current base) in 1989, and our expertise is the manufacture of premium quality Nordic Tipi tents and equipment for an adventurous outdoor lifestyle. Our relationship to the elements, including fire, lies at the heart of our design and manufacturing philosophy and the lifestyle we embrace.
The products we design and manufacture have a heritage based on design principles proven effective over thousands of years for the nomadic people of northern Scandinavia and Russia – people for whom the Nordic Tipi wasn’t just a place to sleep. It was a home. These designs work well, and they endure.
Of course our materials and manufacturing techniques have evolved somewhat since then, but in order to understand the basic unchanging design, we need to turn back the clock, and visit the original designers – the Sami. These indigenous people of northern Sweden, Norway, Finland and the Kola Peninsula of northern Russia were (and continue to be) reindeer herders. This was a semi-nomadic livelihood in an environment known for its extremes of climate – bitterly cold and snowy in the winter months, and very hot in the summer, with pools of meltwater providing the perfect breeding ground for Arctic mosquitoes.
Within this seemingly harsh environment, the Sami found comfort living close to nature. Their home was a simple cone-shaped frame of wooden poles covered with hides, with a top opening to let out smoke. The fire was a central focal point for this temporary home and was able to provide heat and light and a social atmosphere too, despite the harsh conditions.
Their use of a conical shape for this home was inherently stable, even in very strong winds, and it readily sloughed off winter snowfalls. Tent fabric was the readily available animal hide which was totally weather proof. The height of this cone combined with careful venting, producing a chimney effect – with air-flow created by the fire’s rising warm air readily drawing smoke and fumes through the top opening. A simple yet effective design. This same venting process reduced the extreme summer heat too, with the rising warm air creating air-flow once more, and producing a comfortable living space. Home.
At this point we turn the clock forward to the present day.
The basic design remains unchanged – an inherently stable cone – vented, like its predecessors. We combine this with 21st century materials and manufacturing technology to give a highly versatile modern Nordic Tipi, comfortable throughout a wide range of environments and conditions. This classic design remains, and with it, the fire – a re-connection with something elemental in our lives, and a reminder of why we have survived this far.
It was the first day of the trip, adventurer Mike Fuchs and his friend Eric Folz had just a couple of hours before been dropped off as far north as they could possibly come in Svalbard when they saw them. Two polar bears, one mother and its cub. A situation that could become deadly if the bears decided to have a closer look on their new visitors.
“I know how protective the mothers can be of their cubs. We had to set up our camp in a place that provided a good overview of the location so we could spend the night bear watching. It was both a scary feeling seeing them so early into our trip, but it was also very fascinating”, says Mike Fuchs.
Wouldn't it be exciting to spend the night right in the middle of a zoo? – That is exactly what you can do at Skånes Djurpark, a wildlife park in southern Sweden. At their campsite, Camp Oak, you stay in the park after it closes and will make yourself at home in a Nordic tipi from Tentipi. When the night comes you might just fall asleep to the wolves’ howls.
Skånes Djurpark is a Wildlife Park with a long history, it dates back to 1952. It focuses on animals from the Nordic area and has always lived by the ruling with “no animals in cages”. The animals live in large paddocks that recreates the animals’ natural environments.
Lennart Pittja is a Sámi entrepreneur with a mission: with his world-renowned eco-tourism company he wants to spread the knowledge about his people – the Sami, indigenous of northern Scandinavia and Russia. With over 20 years of experience as a wildlife guide and nature photographer in the arctic region he started Sápmi Nature Camp. Where his guests stay in Nordic tipis from Tentipi on his reindeer herding land outside of Gällivare, in northern Sweden.
At Sapmi Nature camp you can experience real winter, see the northern lights, eat traditional Sami food, and have a cultural exchange in a genuine atmosphere. The scenic location has gained attraction from around the world. In 2017 it was listed by National Geographic as one of the top 21 places in the world to visit if you care about the planet.
Prepare before setting out for winter camping. Here are nine tips and tricks from Tentipi about what you need to think of before you go: the right tent for winter camping, how to pack the snow, comfort in snow, which tent pegs to use, where to pitch the tent, about snow weight, what heat sources can be combined with the tent, how to make a fire safely and other equipment.
Choose tents according to occasion, different tent types work differently at winter camping. When it’s icy, the tent needs to be more robust than a tent which is exclusively used in summer. The tent frame needs to withstand a certain amount of snow and functional ventilation is important. If you want to use a heat source, for example a fireplace or a stove, the tent needs to have ventilation openings both at ground level and at the top. Without a heat source, a smaller tent is preferable, as it heats up faster when the air volume is smaller.
A tent from Tentipi is a Nordic tipi and the tent has eight or nine sides, if it is not the smallest that has six sides. In the smallest tent you can stand straight if you are less than 160 centimetres long and in the largest you can get together several thousand people. The tent is versatile in more ways. Continue to read to see why these tents are so flexible and adaptable. This blog post is about the smaller tents in Tentipi's range, tents used by adventurers, families, hikers and others who want to live close to nature for a shorter or longer period of time.