Tentipi – our brand and heritage

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.

This is Tentipi, and this is our heritage.