One of twelve children born of Finnish immigrants, Lena and August Heino, in East Hampton, Connecticut, United States.

Otto Heino's involvement with ceramics began while serving in the U.S. Air Force in England; during a military leave, he spent several days watching Bernard Leach throw pots.

During World War II, Otto Heino served five years of active duty in the USAAF where he briefly worked on engines at a Rolls-Royce factory in England.

Due to his knowledge of Rolls-Royce engines, T/Sgt Otto Heino served as a crew chief, maintaining the group's P-51 Mustang fighters.

[2][3] Otto Heino died of acute renal failure at Community Memorial Hospital in Ventura, California on July 16, 2009.

In 1955, as they prepared to return home to Hopkinton, New Hampshire, she was invited to reorganize the ceramics department at the Chouinard Art Institute in Los Angeles, and remained there for eight years.

Vivika helped organise and became a board member of the Southern California Designer Craftsmen, and later a trustee for the southwestern region of the American Craft Council.

They purchased a house in Ojai, a small community in the mountains northwest of Los Angeles, built by Beatrice Wood, a friend since 1952.

Clean lines and distinctive glazes mark their work; avoiding ceramic trends, they focused on traditional and utilitarian pottery.