Karoliina Arvilommi has been working with textiles and colour for about 20 years. She is a member of the Finnish Association of Designers (ORNAMO) and a founder member of OKRA Oy, an Arts and Crafts company situated in the centre of Helsinki.

She started her professional life as a "taidekutoja" (art weaver) working for other independent designers and Suomen Käsityön Ystävät (Friends of Finnish Handicraft) in Helsinki. Her work covered a whole range of weaving techniques from upholstery fabrics to carpets. It was at Suomen Käsityön Ystävät that she started working with "Ryijy"; (Pronounced "Rue-you") a traditional Finnish knotted weaving technique; based on the same principles as "Persian" knotted rugs. One of her carpet works is the "Fairy-tale Ryijy", designed by Eliel Saarinen. Karoliina made up the pattern working from the original carpet. It was then woven in one piece on a two person handloom. This large fitted ryijy covers a corner settle and floor. It can be seen at Hvitträsk House, the Saarinen museum in Kirkkonummi, near Helsinki, Finland.

For the past 17 years Karoliina has been a full-time, independent felt maker and artist. Her first design using felt is the ryijy and felt hat. "I started out as an independent weaver in 1985 and after 5 or 6 years I "discovered" felt. Felting allowed the freedom of form and colour that I was looking for in my hats." The hat was first exhibited at "Suomi Muotoilee" in 1993 and is part of the public collection of the Design Museum, Helsinki. As she has concentrated more and more on felting, the only thing Karoliina now weaves is the bands for the hats. "Felt is such a flexible medium to work with, created by "feel" rather than calculation." Each of her works is treated as a unique and individual piece, the emphasis being on handwork, taking time and care to ensure it meets her own high standards. "Quality is an important aspect I have always strived for and like all things in feltmaking is achieved by touch and instinct, not by formula and computation." She has designed a number of fashion accessories; her felted bags she now only makes on commission and the hats are limited in number.

For the most part Karoliina has focused on wall hangings. The process of felting is really quite physical, demanding strength and stamina. Large works are impossible to achieve single-handed and now she has developed some "mechanical assistance" that will enable her to make large works up to three metres wide. It also means she can now produce the thick, hard, felt rugs that she has aspired to and still retain the subtleties of form and colour of her wall felts. Karoliina is dedicated to the quality of her work and has developed her own methods and technique of felting. Increasingly she has become involved in the processing of her wool to guarantee consistency of materials, including types of wool, self dyeing with natural products and carding without the addition of synthetic lubricants.

In collaboration with her partner Roderick, Karoliina's latest designs combine wood and felt in occasional furniture and table accessories. Karoliina is also producing brooches, pendants and earrings using a combination of recycled fabrics and felt.