In textile design one must mention Eva Brummer's ryijy which is a traditional Finnish wall hanging rug. A popular designer of wooden goods is Kaija Aarikka. Today's young designers are full of new energy. Like their counterparts in the 1950's, young designers have made their way abroad - for example, Stefan Lindfors to the U.S. and Brita Flander to France. A sign of the times is that Finnish designers seek companies like Alessi in Italy.
Swedish lessons are still compulsory in comprehensive schools, much to the dislike of most students.
The relative proportion of Swedish speakers has decreased remarkably during this century. Forty per cent of the population were Swedish speakers at the beginning of the century, and twenty per cent in the 1950's. The Swedish speaking minority lives mainly on the southern and western coasts of the country. As opposed to Finnish speakers, characteristic Finnish-Swedish cultural features include strong family feeling, optimism, and lively drinking songs. Finland's connection to Sweden and other Nordic countries has remained close.