Moomin Arabia celebrates Moomin 80 with Home, a rare hand-painted mug

The illustration on the Home mug is from the very first Moomin story, The Moomins and the Great Flood. In the story, Moominpappa has been missing for a long time. A flood covers everything under it, leaving creatures without shelter, Moominmamma and Moomintroll included. By getting help and helping others, they find Moominpappa, and the family reunites. They arrive in a small valley, more beautiful than they have ever seen. There is the Moominhouse – the homiest of homes, with doors that are always open, and where everyone is welcome as they are.

“And there, in the midst of the meadow, stood a house that almost looked like a stove, very elegant and painted blue.”

-The Moomins and the Great Flood (1945)

In Jansson’s many Moomin stories that followed, the Moominhouse has taken in many new family members, residents, visitors, and shelter-seekers, and the Moomins have always made everyone feel at home.

“The Moominhouse has become a symbol of love, friendship, and togetherness. Those are the values that we at Moomin Arabia will reflect and share during the anniversary,” says Mirka Paasikangas, Global PR and Communications Manager for Moomin Arabia. “Everyone’s invited to the Moominhouse and accepted just the way they are. It’s a very Moomin story.”

Home mug available in early 2025

The limited-edition, hand-painted Home mug with an anniversary bottom stamp and running numbering from 1 to 8000 is a true collector’s gem. As the mugs are hand-painted, each of them is slightly different.

The enchanting illustration spotlights the Moominhouse, based on Tove Jansson’s illustration from The Moomins and the Great Flood. The hand-painted illustration is designed by Parvati Pillai from Moomin Arabia’s design team. A lovely detail is that the bottom of each mug bears the initials of the person who painted it.

The Home mug will become available through online raffle sales in early 2025, with two exceptions. Mug number 1 is reserved for the First Lady of Finland, Suzanne Innes-Stubb, while the number 2 will be given to Tove Jansson’s niece Sophia Jansson.

A more specific timeline for the online raffle will be communicated later. There will also be a special quarterly lottery in selected stores starting in December 2024, and lasting until December 2025. The participating stores are:

• Moomin Arabia brand store at Sandvika shopping center in Oslo, Norway
• Moomin Arabia brand store in Gothenburg, Sweden
• Moomin Arabia brand store in Mall of Scandinavia, Stockholm, Sweden
• Arabia Esplanadi store in Helsinki, Finland

The Home mugs are also displayed in these stores starting October 25th. The price of the Home mug is 189,90 €. Keep an eye on the official Moomin and Moomin Arabia channels to stay up to date about the mug raffle!

80 years of Moomin stories

2025 marks the 80th anniversary of the Moomin stories. The central theme of the anniversary year is the Moominhouse and what it stands for – a sense of belonging, a place where the door is always open. 

Tove Jansson wrote the first Moomin story, The Moomins and the Great Flood, during World War II to comfort herself in dark times, creating a world built on inclusivity and adventure. It is a tale about troubled times and a scattered family. It is also a story about hope, a story about the importance of belonging and having a safe place to call home.