Soon after her degree she begins to co-operate with Dansk International Design, an American company. She opens her studio and works as a free-lance in the designing of textiles in Scandinavia, in USA and in Far East.
“I have absorbed the influences of the places I have visited around the world, for sure, but my concept of beauty is based on uncontaminated Nature”.
She works for companies such as Tampella and Hadeland.
In 1987 Mikko Puotila establishes Woodnotes, a family company, in which Ritva works as art director since its beginning. Here, her experimental works becomes industrial products: “quantity - she says - means responsibility”.
For four years the company suffers financial losses. It takes time before the public understand the innovations proposed by Ritva Puotila. Her products are a mix of innovation and good design connected to strong Finnish traditions in the choice of materials. “There isn’t any conflict between the natural Woodnotes materials and industrial production - Ritva Puotila says - because the product has been designed to be manufactured with nowadays technology”.