Jøtul can look back on a more than 150-year-long history. It all began in 1853 when the merchant and farmer's son Oluf Onsum from Veblungsnæs near Molde founded Kværner Jernstøberi at Loelva east of Norway's capital, which was called Kristiania at the time. Kværner started as a manufacturer of cast-iron goods, where cast-iron stoves were one of the most important products. In the years leading up to 1900, the company established one of the largest stove foundries in Norway and sold its products throughout the country.
By the early 1900s Kværner Brug had become a versatile enterprise, and the stove foundry was only one part of this enterprise. It was not the most important part anymore either.
Kværner Brug had developed into one of the country’s largest and most modern mechanical workshops, concentrating primarily on the production of advanced turbines and machinery for the wood processing industry. These were the areas the company wished to focus on for the future, and the stove foundry was therefore sold in 1916.
Twenty-six year old Herman Anker bought the stove foundry, which was renamed as Kværner Ovnstøperi. Anker had had a meteoric career at Kværner Brug, and he had risen to the position of purchasing manager in 1916.He had, however, a strong interest in the stove foundry and chose to focus his future on this company. Anker was a man with visions. He wanted to build his new company on the proud traditions of old Norwegian ironworks, through a vitalisation of the artistic aspects of stove casting and improved product quality. He was also one of the first businessmen to realise the importance of advertising and a well developed sales organisation .In 1920 he founded Jøtul A/S, which was to function as a sales organisation for Kværner Ovnstøperi and three other foundries in Eastern Norway.
During the 1920s Kværner Ovnstøperi was hard hit by the economic downturn in the Norwegian and international economy. Towards the end of the 1920s increasing debt burdens and declining sales were on the verge of toppling the whole company. Anker died in 1927, only 36 years old, when the company was in the middle of this deep crisis. Kværner Ovnstøperi balanced on the edge of a precipice.
The company's saviour was thirty-four year old Johannes Gahr. He started at Jøtul A/S in 1920, and had worked closely with Anker in the ensuing years. Gahr shared his predecessor's qualities: He was an entrepreneur, dynamic and had a talent for business. With great audacity, he led Kværner and Jøtul Ovnstøperi out of the crisis and into a new period of growth. In 1930 he initiated an extensive and costly modernisation of the foundry, and one of Scandinavia's most modern foundries emerged from this transformation. The focus on product development and marketing continued, in addition to measures to improve efficiency, and throughout the 1930s, Kværner and Jøtul Ovnstøperi grew to become Norway's largest stove foundry. In 1935 the Kværner name was dropped, and the company received its present name.
During the first two decades after the Second World War, Jøtul continued to strengthen its market position in Norway. This occurred while the market for traditional fireplaces was starting to deteriorate. Oil, paraffin and electricity started to replace traditional room heating methods, thereby destroying the foundation for traditional stove foundries.
By the middle of the 1960s, there was only a handful of stove foundries left, of which Jøtul was undisputedly the largest. Jøtul had started, however, to focus on new and more future-oriented markets. Already by the end of the 1950s, the company had started to deliver paraffin installations, and it became Norway's leading manufacturer in this rapidly expanding area during the 1960s. By 1970 liquid fuel furnaces were firmly established as Jøtul's most important source of income.
During the 1970s Jøtul embarked on a whole new era. As a result of several oil crises, there was an enormous demand for wood stoves in many countries. For Jøtul this represented an opportunity to revive the old fireplace traditions. Through ever-increasing exports to the American continent and Europe, wood stoves became once again an important, and subsequently the most important, segment of Jøtul's product range.
In 1977 the Gahr family decided to sell the traditional family business to Norcem, a major Norwegian and internationally oriented corporation. This gave Jøtul's exports an additional boost. In the middle of the 1980s, additional steps were taken to expand globally through a number of acquisitions of foundries and import companies in the US and Europe. By the end of the decade, however, Jøtul was forced to re-evaluate its foreign business operations due to the economic downturn in the last half of the 1980s in combination with other unfortunate circumstances. Jøtul's foreign companies were liquidated, and the company started afresh with the Norwegian production, development and sales organisation as its basis – and with the Norwegian market as its most important market.
During the last ten years Jøtul has once again built up its international network. Today Jøtul has subsidiaries in USA, France and UK and distribute direct to dealers in Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Holland and Belgium. In addition Jøtul has built up a network of importers in more than 20 other countries around the world.
In 2003 Jøtul could look back at a history of 150 years. Over its long lifetime the company has been marked by both highs and lows, but the highs have undoubtedly been predominant. The company has at the same time exhibited a unique ability to resurrect itself in difficult periods. Much of its success has been due to the will and ability of the various owners to focus on the new and the long term, whether it was new products, new production technology or new market strategies. This is the reason why Jøtul is still viable and thriving as a stove foundry, while almost all other Norwegian manufacturers have long since fallen by the wayside. Through continuous adaptation to new market needs, and also by creating new markets, Jøtul has always managed to win continued support for its activities. This also explains why Jøtul is the only manufacturer of stoves and fireplaces in the world today that sells more than 2/3 of its production outside its own domestic market.
With an eye to the long view of history, we can affirm that the need for stoves and fireplaces has existed ever since the birth of humanity. The function of fire has indeed changed dramatically down through the ages, but there is nothing to indicate that the need to enjoy the warmth, the visual display and the ambience of a real fire, will ever disappear. So there is every reason to expect that Jøtul will survive well into the future – yes, perhaps even for another 150 years.