Eighty years ago, Tove Jansson’s The Moomins and the Great Flood was published, marking the beginning of an IP empire which has swept across the world like the frost of an advancing Groke (I’ll explain later). It was conceived during the Winter War in 1939, when Russia’s invasion left 300,000 Finns homeless, as a source of comfort to Jansson herself, but also to Finland’s frightened children. The tale of the displaced anthropomorphic troll-like Moomins finding a home among the comforting and bucolic surroundings of Moomin Valley certainly struck a chord in those dark days.
“It’s got that melancholy at the centre of it but offers safety too, which is quite a Finnish thing – sheltering, safety and cosiness,” James Zambra, creative director of Moomin Characters, told me. James’s mother, Sophia Jansson, is the company’s former CEO, chair of the board and Tove’s niece.
