“It was the autumn of 1958. Veikko, my fellow student, had asked me if would I care to join him in Torni’s atelier restaurant after classes.

We went there together, enjoyed one or two Pernods, and that night our friendship turned into love. We’ve now been together for 46 years and are still very much in love. Torni’s 12th floor is of course a very important place for us!

A funny incident happened on our first date: as we were leaving Veikko suddenly noticed that he had left his wallet at home. I ended up having to pay for the night’s entertainment, which was very unusual at the time.”


Irja-Liisa Ailio