University Education Pays Off Despite Career Switch

Some time ago, Dima Latvalahti designed a home for her family. While doing that, she realised it was her dream job.

At the time, Latvalahti had a job related to her education at a pharmaceutical company.

She graduated with a Bachelor of Science (Pharmacy) degree from the University of Helsinki in 2012. The studies were inspiring, but work in the field did not always feel like her own thing.

Latvalahti and her spouse Jari's house construction project began in 2018 with careful planning of their dream home. The couple designed their 200 m² house themselves. Jari himself carried the blocks for the basement floor to the site. Dima Latvalahti designed the entire building inside and out.

"Pretty much at the beginning, I told Jari that I wish it was my job to do these things. He told me to switch careers, and I think my response was 'That's impossible'," a laughing Latvalahti says.

Encouraged by her spouse, Latvalahti applied to study, part-time, interior design and soon also established a trade name while continuing in her dayjob.

In 2021, she secured her first major project, designing a house in Lohja for the national Housing Fair. In the same year, she resigned from the job matching her original education and became a full-time interior designer.

Fascinated by art and science

The home designed by the couple was completed in 2024 in Espoo. Latvalahti spends the most time in her upstairs office.

"It's kind of my favourite spot at home, as I still enjoy my work so much. It's like a way of life for me."

She has always been interested in arts, including architecture. Studies in pharmacy required knowledge in chemistry, medicine, mathematics and physics. That too suited Latvalahti.

"I also have a scientific side. I particularly like chemistry."

However, the gap between pharmacy and the creative work of interior designers is probably as wide as can be. Latvalahti nevertheless believes the fields have their links. For example, lectures in pharmacy and successful spatial planning both require understanding of physical phenomena.

At times, Latvalahti's customers have expressed concerns about aspects such as acoustics. She has told them not to worry, citing the laws of physics: sound does not travel in space in an uncontrolled way.

In design, Latvalahti considers the wishes of those living on the premises. She finds only one interior design trend silly: fast design, or the rapid circulation of objects at home akin to fast fashion.

Learning humility and information retrieval at the University

Without interest in what are known as the hard sciences, Latvalahti might have ended up in a creative field even sooner. Then again, her parents strongly encouraged her to acquire an academic degree and study to become a doctor, lawyer or similar.

"I thought it would be difficult to get into the Faculty of Medicine, so I applied to pharmacy. I really wanted to be admitted. In my studies, I liked properly delving into topics."

At times, Latvalahti has wondered whether she ultimately went to university for nothing. After all, the studies did not lead to a lifetime career. But she has reached the conclusion that acquiring knowledge is never in vain. Education persists. She also feels that she learned a lot more than just pharmacy at the University, such as source criticism, information retrieval as well as humility.

"At the beginning of my studies, I was boastful of my vast knowledge. The longer I studied, the more I realised how little I actually knew."

What is the breakthrough of your life, Dima Latvalahti?

"The first home that I fully designed was completed for the Lohja Housing Fair in 2021. Many people still say they remember me from that. At the time, I was working determinedly towards my dream: in the first year of my business, I had as many as 25 simultaneous projects. I took one day off, Christmas Eve. In other words, I was overworked that year, but it was also my breakthrough."