JOTUL
About the company
Jøtul is a Norwegian company manufacturing cast iron stoves and fireplaces. The company is based in the city of Fredrikstad. It is the parent company in the Jøtul Group, which has further subsidiary companies in the USA, the United Kingdom, Denmark, France, Italy, Spain and Poland.
History
The company was founded in 1853 by Oluf Onsum, the son of a local farmer, as Kværner Jernstøberi (Kværner Foundry) on the outskirts of Christiania (now Oslo). Initially, the main activity of the factory was the production of stoves. By the year 1900, the company Kværner had become the largest manufacturer of foundry products, fireplaces and stoves in Norway. At the beginning of the 20th century, the company was rebuilt into the most modern enterprise of its kind in the country and started producing other metallurgical products such as turbines and saws. In the following years, the production of heating appliances declined in importance and this division was sold in 1916 to Herman Anker, then 26 years old. He was a born businessman and understood that products needed to be presented under a quality brand. Therefore, he began promoting them under the brand name Jøtul. Despite this, the company could not avoid the international economic crisis at the beginning of the 1920s. Sales stagnated and Herman Anker died in 1927. The company was bought, modernized and saved from bankruptcy by Johannes Gahr. In 1935, the company gained a modern profile and regained its position in the market. Under his leadership, the company became once again the largest manufacturer of wood-burning stoves in Norway.
After the Second World War, the company strengthened its position despite new fuel trends such as oil, fuel oil and electricity. By the 1960s, only a few manufacturers remained on the market, and among them, Jøtul remained the strongest. It adapted to new trends and market demands, and in the 1950s to 1970s, liquid fuel stoves became the main source of income for the company. Due to the oil crisis, the trend in production returned to wood and solid fuel stoves in the 1970s. At that time, the company also significantly increased its exports to continental Europe and North America.
Present
In 1977, the Gahr family sold the company to the multinational corporation Norcom. Norcom was strongly oriented towards exports and carried out many acquisitions of foundries and importers in the USA and Europe. Since then, the company has become a global brand with facilities on all continents. It has built an international distribution network and demonstrated the ability to adapt to trends in individual regions and to meet the demands of the most demanding customers.
