Sandudd
| SANDUDD Oy
|
|
|---|---|
 |
|
| legal form | Sandudd Oy |
| founding | 1885 |
| Seat | Akaa, Finland |
| management | Arto Kinnunen |
| Website | www.sandudd.de |
The Sandudd Oy wallpaper factory has been producing wallpaper in Finland since 1885. Sandudd is the largest wallpaper manufacturer in Finland and has a market share of 35% there. The range includes historical wallpapers and designer wallpapers from well-known Finnish designers such as Jukka Rintala or Vallila.
History of Finnish wallpaper production
At the end of the 18th century, Finland was part of the Swedish Empire, which strictly limited the import of luxury goods. This also included the import of wallpaper. In 1740 the company started its own wallpaper production in Finland. The first wallpapers were made by hand printing. Popular motifs were bouquets of flowers, garlands or floral patterns arranged like a checkerboard. The backgrounds were mostly dark. Soon afterwards the Finnish wallpaper factories followed the trends of Central Europe. Designs and samples often came from France; the first printing rollers were made in Germany. The architect Jac. Ahrenberg designed some patterns in the style of Romanesque nationalism that were very popular in Finland in the 1870s. The wallpapers were printed in the Tilgmann factory in Helsinki. The wallpaper designs were shown at international exhibitions in 1876. The international success of Finnish wallpaper production was overshadowed by Russian political influence, as Finland had been part of the Russian Empire since 1809. However, in the 1880s, the Rieks factory in particular received awards at international trade fairs in London and Moscow for its pioneering wallpaper designs. From 1900 onwards, all Finnish wallpaper factories won various design competitions. Printing machines later took over the production and the wallpaper factories produced wallpaper in large quantities. These modern wallpaper factories owned by Johan N. Backman in Kokkola and Petter Solitander in Porvoo were founded in Finland in the mid-19th century.
In 1847 Georg Friedrich Wilhelm Rieks, born in Hohnsen, Germany, who lived in Germany for a long time and worked in wallpaper production, founded a wallpaper factory in Helsinki. The Rieks factory grew very quickly and became the market leader, also due to extensive exports to Russia in the 1870s. Thus, the Rieks factory quickly became the largest factory in Scandinavia and Russia. Due to its strong focus on the Russian market, the Rieks factory relocated to St. Petersburg in 1885, where it existed and produced until 1917, the year of the Russian Revolution. In 1885, a new wallpaper factory, the Sandudd factory, was founded at the site in Finland. Until the end of the 19th century Finland was home to the Jurieff and Tilgmann factories in Helsinki, the Tampere wallpaper factory in Tampere, the Nyholm factory in Vyborg and the Aland wallpaper factory in Mariehamn. After the Crimean War, exports expanded and several new factories were later opened in Toijala in the early years of the 20th century. Of these, the former Tapetti Oy and Pihlgren (now owned by Sandudd) and Ritola still exist.
Historical wallpaper patterns from Finland
Until the early 19th century, the printed wallpaper designs remained rather stiff and rough. Sheets of coarse, hand-made paper were used as carrier material, on which it was only possible to print larger samples. Today we are fascinated by these early hand-printed wallpapers with their lively surfaces and varied surfaces, at that time, however, the trend was rather smooth surfaces. It was used a lot with glitter, lacquered surfaces, embossing up to punched or gold-plated leather or velvet surfaces. The motifs on these handmade wallpapers were often opulent curtains or lush floral motifs. Art Nouveau motifs were printed in abundance in large numbers in the first decades of the 1900s. In many of the designs, the designers were inspired by local plants, garden flowers, water lilies and coniferous branches. The rose has always been the most popular flower motif. The wallpapers with roses in particular were dark and colorful in the 1880s, but then later airy and light in the 1910s. In the early 20th century, either Art Nouveau flowers or vertical stripes, often decorated with small, subtle patterns, were used. Dark tapestries and retro imitations were popular for a short time in the 1920s. Finnish, modern design that is so famous today had its breakthrough in modern times at international exhibitions. From the 1950s onwards, manufacturers organized internal design competitions to which well-known artists were invited. The best-known Finnish design companies - Artek and Marimekko - also produce their own wallpaper designs, although the success of the wallpapers is rather modest compared to their other products. The largest Finnish wallpaper manufacturer Sandudd regularly hires well-known designers and produces unique collections. Some historical wallpapers are still produced today, especially many wallpapers from the Art Nouveau era. Pihlgren & Ritola used several of their designs from the 1950s to create distinctive designs for Sandudd. Stefan Lindfors and Jaana Reinikainen develop the Finnish modern design, many of which have already become classics.
Sandudd wallpapers today
The Sandudd Oy wallpaper factory is now based in Akaa in southern Finland. Sandudd Oy is part of the Elecster Oyj group of companies. In addition to wallpaper, Sandudd now also sells doormats and runners produced by Elecster Oyj. Sandudd currently has 30 employees (as of 2015) and generates sales of 7.5 million euros with wallpapers and doormats. Sandudd is the largest wallpaper manufacturer in Finland, produces 550,000 to 600,000 rolls of wallpaper per year and thus covers 35% of the market in Finland. In addition, wallpapers are now exported to Sweden, Russia, the Baltic States, China, Ukraine, Japan, Egypt and Germany. The door mats are exported to 40 different countries. The Russian market, which is experiencing a constantly increasing demand for wallpapers, still plays a special role here. Worldwide wallpaper production is around 800 million rolls per year, with around 200 million rolls covering the Russian market. Nowadays, Sandudd focuses on sustainable production and environmentally friendly products. Almost all wallpapers received the M1 certificate. Sandudd completely dispenses with the use of plasticizer-containing PVC materials or solvent-based printing inks.
Modern Finnish design
Sandudd wallpapers are today typical representatives of the now world-famous Finnish design. Current collections include designs by designer Stefan Lindfors, Jukka Rintala and the Helsinki-based design company Vallila. The modern Finnish design is characterized by elegance, simplicity, but also courage and especially the eternal love for nature. Finnish design consistently combines aesthetics with functionality and stands for timelessness. Shapes and lines are always inspired by nature and their unmistakability can also be found in the very clear shapes.
Web links
- German website: www.sandudd.de
- Finnish website: www.sandudd.fi
Individual evidence
- ↑ Sandudd - history - history of Finnish wallpaper production ( Memento of the original from January 16, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
