The story of Carl F

1881-1906

Carl Petersen’s price sheet– a forerunner of a catalogue

Carl Petersen’s price sheet – a forerunner of a catalogue The oldest known assortment and price list dates back to around 1896. It is included in a small green notebook with a survey of the assortment and current prices. Price sheet from Carl Petersen’s Wholesale Storage of Builder’s Supplies, Helgolandsgade 19, Copenhagen V.

The prices are Net Cash. For Sale to the Provinces only against Cash on Delivery. (Subject to the Goods being unsold). – All in the old Danish style of writing and spelling.

What kind of man was Carl F. Petersen or Carl Frederik?

He was born in Næstved, Denmark on 11th August 1851 as the son of a joiner master, so in a way he had ironmongery, nails and screws and the like served with his mother’s milk! His father had traded at the ironmongers of the town, and perhaps the young lad had been along and thus acquired an interest in that line of business. At any rate, in 1865 he started as an apprentice with Peter Egholm, a well-known ironmonger at the time, located at the corner of Østergade and Amagertorv in Copenhagen. After five years’ apprenticeship he continued as an assistant for another six years before he decided to start on his own.

Carl F. Petersen lived from 1851 to 1926.

1911-1934

The Carl F shop on Gasværksvej

In 1924, the property of Gasværksvej No. 9 was acquired, with front building, intermediate building and back building. This became the new headquarters with offices, shop and storage. The firm grew and the number of employees increased to a level that in 1935 there was not room enough in the house at Gasværksvej. At the same time there was probably also a wish to have a proper domicile building that would signal the success and growth which the firm experienced in these years. Therefore management started looking around for a suitable building site and the vacant site at the corner of Gammel Køge Landevej 65 and Carl Jacobsens Vej in Valby was selected. At that time, Carl F had become the preferred store of the craftsmen. Carl F had a shop at Gasværksvej until as recently as August 1995, when the division was moved to its present address at Skelbækgade.

The shop

At that time, Carl F had become the preferred store of the craftsmen. Carl F had a shop on Gasværksvej until as recently as August 1995, when the division was moved to its present address at Skelbækgade in Copenhagen.

Einer E. Petersen

While Carl F. Petersen was the one who – in the best entrepreneur style and as something quite new - fostered the idea to sell directly from wholesaler to craftsman and realised the idea with hard work, his son Einer E. Petersen would be the one to become the modern businessman who professionalised the business and introduced modern managerial methods.

There is no doubt that Carl F. Petersen understood the significance of the necessity of good education and staked on his son to be “fully dressed” for the purpose, one day, of assuming the responsibility for the business. After school in 1896 he started his apprenticeship in the firm with his father as the master. Around the turn of the century and as part of his training, he was employed in a factory that manufactured builders’ fittings.

Next generation

In 1927 the third generation enters the stage. Kay comes first as the eldest son in the family. He gets his education partly at home in the firm and partly in Germany and the USA. Back home again he is appointed assistant manager with power to bind the firm. The year is 1932, and he ventures on the administration, which is his hobbyhorse.

Year is 1932, and he ventures on the administration, which is his hobbyhorse. In 1934, Erik, the next son, joins the firm. His great interest was in the sales efforts and he rode his bicycle over the entire kingdom to call on customers

CFP hardware catalogue

1932 was to become a landmark; Carl F’s first hardware catalogue is published with over 1000 items. Until then, the representatives had travelled around with suppliers’ catalogues, so there was a strong ambition to have ones own catalogue with the articles which were in store with Carl F, but it had to be in an intelligent way. Therefore dimensioned sketches were added to all illustrated articles, just as a logical design of numbering was of great significance .

It was quite obvious that efforts had to be concentrated on the architects. And the catalogue should turn out to become a truly productive aim. The catalogue was designed so that the first chapter contained window furniture, because the first items to be mounted once the walls are up and the roof laid, are the windows. The following chapters followed the finishing stages of the house. This had never been seen before, and the architects were thrilled. This meant that the construction documents were provided with CFP numbers, and it also meant a facility to the craftsmen. The catalogues have been a scoop for Carl F.

1935-1969

Main building in Valby

In the first half of the 1930s, Carl F’s new headquarters was erected at Gl. Køgevej in Valby, Copenhagen. The headquarters housed management offices, finance division, purchase division, various storage functions and other administration. Moreover, the headquarters was the framework for important sales functions such as the calculation and the price divisions. The ground floor also had room for a branch shop.

The property constituted the framework for Carl F’s main offices until 2004, when removal took place to the present domicile at Tempovej in Ballerup. The buildings at Gl. Køgevej have since been sold to the medical company H. Lundbeck A/S.

Various means of transport

While goods were taken to customers in lorries, the external sales representatives had to manage on their bicycles. At that time, cars were not reserved for sales staff - this was introduced much later – and moreover, petrol was strictly rationed. Drivers and cars are ready to set out for customers with goods.


The dining rooms –status symbol of the time

Canteen conditions then in the mid 1940s were very different from today. There was a dining room exclusively for managers. The dining room of the office staff was separated into one room for ladies and another for men (notice the glass pane separating the two rooms) – no mixed genders here. The storage staff also had their own dining room. It was probably quite common and a natural state of affairs.

Designed lever handles

In the 1950s some trend-setting architects designed lever handles that have obtained a renaissance after years of obscurity. This applies for instance to Arne Jacobsen’s AJ lever handle and Anne Lise Bjørner’s lever handle to which Carl F has always owned the rights of production and marketing. They have now got a new life in the Carl F series of architectdesigned lever handles.

During the same period, Sigward Bernadotte designed to order a series of furniture knobs of plastics which were sold to the Danish furniture industry. The furniture was widely exported abroad which resulted in demands from foreign furniture manufacturers and provided extensive sales for many years.

There is a long tradition with Carl F for cooperating with architects and designers on the development of levers and fittings. CFP was the natural choice for the architect when it came to manufacturing and marketing the product. There were no equivalent players in the market.

Product development

In the thirties, endeavours started to actively develop more appropriate hardware. In a comparison of buildings from the 1880s with buildings from the 1930s there is no major difference in the forms of mounting and fitting. However, in the 1930s, the interest in better homes and thereby also in better windows etc. started to grow and this made requirements of inventiveness and creativity in the hardware sector. But not until after World War II did this development gather momentum.

There was a lot of housing to be built and the interest in materials and products that could help improve constructions and reduce their price was high. Clientele as well as architects took an interest in and were pleased about any improvement. As a matter of fact many fittings were developed in the cooperation with the customer on the basis of specific wishes and requirements of functionality and forms of mounting, etc. CFP’s development division played a very active role and has developed many products that were manufactured in the Danish hardware factories and which are still found in the assortment.

1970-1989

Distribution of roles of the managerial owners

Rolf Petersen had inherited his father’s interest in machines, so Junget quite naturally became his field of responsibility. The three members of the management were divided so that Carl F. Petersen was in charge of IT and financial matters, whereas Rolf Petersen and Sven Erik Petersen safeguarded the other functions in CFP.

In 1981, the fifth generation – Jesper Malling Petersen – entered the arena, and just like everybody else before him he started as an apprentice. Today he is the managing director of the holding company, Junget and the property company plus a member of the board of directors.

Central storage

Carl F opened new branches or took over shops around Denmark which drew goods from the storage at Køgevej, in addition to the goods which they themselves bought from suppliers.

The capacity was by far sufficient, and the needs for rationalisation and far higher efficient operation were obvious. Havemann, a company in the Louis Poulsen Group, wanted to sell its new, big, state-of-the-art logistic center in Odense, and Carl F came forward as a buyer .

This was a very large decision and a substantial amount of money was required. It was the biggest investment ever in the history of the firm. It was an immense project to clear the storage at Køgevej, which was spread over several buildings, and move it all to Odense. Lorries were operating in shuttle service, and the staff worked themselves to the bone to have everything ready. They succeeded, although there were many problems and challenges on the way. All employees who were employed in the storage and in the purchase division at Køgevej were offered to move along to Odense, and several of them did. Some of them are still working there.

d line

In 1971, d line‘s first lever, the U-shape, Ø14 mm, was manufactured. It was followed by the L-shape which firmly established the d line ethos of stalwart, minimalistic design. The overriding characteristic of these first two levers has been maintained on d line products ever since: the bent sections on all metal tubes maintain the radius of the even sections. This ensures a well-balanced visual impression. Holscher’s work with ironmongery began in the early 1960’s when he was the supervising architect on St. Catherine’s College in Oxford and associated with Arne Jacobsen. Holscher remembers ‘thumbing through stacks of brochures to add bits and pieces together to make a scheme of ironmongery.’ As there were no coordinated series of ironmongery in the 60’s, it was a most opportune offer Holscher got on his return to Denmark. When Holscher’s architectural plan for a university in Odense won a Scandinavian competition in 1966, Carl F asked him to develop a series of high quality fittings in stainless steel for the project. Holscher still clearly remembers ‘the day when Rolf Petersen – the proprietor of Carl F – came to my office and explained that a company had offered him a ‘formula’ by means of which steel tubes could be bent very precisely. I agreed to do the design’. In 1975 Holscher’s d line programme won the first in a series of Danish design prizes: The Danish Industrial Design Prize (The ID Prize).

Establishing the Brand

d line’s first international recognition came in ’82 with Germany’s Die Gute Industrieform Award – a distinction to be followed by a host of other European design prizes. The branding of d line was the result of a meticulous, organic process culminating in 1987 when d line was awarded The Danish Industrial Graphic Prize for its highly original graphic expression. Surrounding its product line with a consistent visual ethos since 1981, d line set the standard with the first catalogue’s white print on a deep black background. Text was scarce and product photos rustic rather than artistic. A series of display boards – each being a combination of image, text and product samples originally composed for an exhibition – ended up forming an essential part of d line‘s graphic image. In ’78, an export department was established to keep up with the increasing international demand, and a number of distributors were appointed in the following years.

Junget

CFP’s entry on the machinery market had started in the 1950s with the agency for some American handheld power tools that were unknown in Denmark at that time. The small power tools were well received by the craftsmen, so the next step was the importation of semi-large machinery that could be moved about. Customers were the woodworking industry and demands of the performance of the machinery were growing. The machines became bigger and bigger. This was the foundation of a proper machinery division with the sole distributorship of German and Italian quality machines. The market on Sealand was the focal market, but soon industries in Jutland started making requests and it became necessary with a presence in Jutland. When it became known that J. Junget Træbearbejdningsmaskiner A/S in Herning, was up for sale, the move was made to acquire the firm. The acquisition meant that many exciting and big tasks came up and soon a division in Århus was opened. In 1975, the engineering division and Junget were merged under the name of Carl F. Petersen – J. Junget A/S. Today Junget A/S. Junget A/S is a supplier of total solutions to the woodworking, the aluminium and the plastics industry. Junget has an annual turnover of 220m DKK and employs 175 people. The main office is in Århus.

Carl F. Petersens Ltd.

In 1989, CFP set up a company in England. It was in the reign of Margaret Thatcher, where the country had experienced an unprecedented economic boom which made many firms set up in England during that period to have their share of the boom. CFP had the same ambitions. Therefore a market research was implemented which showed that the concept of the industry division would fit like a glove to the English market. The company has established a foothold as a supplier to the door and window manufacturers. The activities of Carl F. Petersen Ltd. will be united with Carl F as with effect from 1st January 2007.

1990-2006

From crisis to turnaround

In the late 1980s and in the early 1990s, where the crisis in construction sector seriously gathered momentum, Carl F had suffered so heavy losses over a number of years that the equity capital had more or less vanished. The company was left with the aftermath of large, expensive investments, an enormous stockpile, too many new craftsman shops – and significant management problems. In fact the destiny of the company at that time was in the hands of the banks that were responsible for the external financing.

In 1993 d line international becomes an independent company.

From owner management to employed management

In connection with the financial crisis, the two branches of the family decided to initiate the employment of an external managing director. This resulted in the employment of Hans Christian Petersen in 1991. Hans Christian Petersen had to carry through a very drastic cure which meant, among other things, that in two months we had to take leave of one in every three employees. To many employees who had worked with Carl F for a generation and for whom the business and the colleagues were almost part of their family, this was indeed a hard blow. However, it was necessary in order to regain the confidence of the banks and secure the continued existence of the enterprise. After a very difficult period, 1992 was the first year with a bottom line in the black – and it has been so ever since! Subsequently, the two cousins of the fourth generation were asked to secure peace of work, and the eldest, Rolf Petersen, bought out his brother of the business and subsequently retired to work for the board of directors.

d line K N U D H O L S C H E R D E S I G N

In 2000, d line’s first subsidiary company opened in Mumbai, India, while d line’s regional office in the UK was transformed into a subsidiary company, d line uk ltd. Britain was also chosen as the main seat for d line Signs, the sixth and most recent product group. d line‘s present structure with four regional offices and three subsidiary companies became reality in 2000. In the same year, d line seized full control over its production site in Kalundborg, Denmark. For all of the expansion, however, d line remained true to its traditional design idiom; a quality which earned the company The ID Classics Prize in 1999.

ID PRISEN 1999

When d line launched two additional product groups in ’99 – the wardrobe and handrail systems – the definitive step from traditional ironmongery to interior architecture was taken. And with the updatedcompany profile came a new international structure. Regional offices were set up in Dubai, Kuala Lumpur and Munich.

Toward a New Millennium

– The Radical Expansion of d line The second part of the 90’s was a time of radical expansion, in terms of both product range and organisation. An award-winning cup-dispenser was introduced in 1996. Two years after, it was integrated into a brand new product group, the sanitary panels. A system which soon became very popular with both users and architects under the name d line Washroom.

d line K N U D H O L S C H E R D E S I G N
Hardware
Bathroom
Washroom
Handrail
Wardrobe
Signs

The Total Solution
– A Philosophy of Unity Materializes

With the launch of the awardwinning washroom panels, d line Wardrobe, Handrail, and Signs in rapid succession (1998-2000), it seemed natural to divide the vast product portfolio into six distinct groups. Under the concept of a Total Solution d line was able to emphasize the comprehensive character of its hardware package. For d line and Holscher the Total Solution was an architectural philosophy materializing: 3 000 ironmongery items united by a single design concept. ar+d line Emerging Architecture Award With its product portfolio more complete than ever d line committed itself to the advancement of young creative communities. The tangible result of this enterprise Became The ar+d line Emerging Architecture Award. Developed in 1999 in cooperation with the London-based Architectural Review, The ar+d line Award is a competition for architects and designers under the age of 45. The ar+d line Award has gained such popularity that it now stands un-paralleled as the world’s leading competition for young talents. In The ar+d line Award 2003 more than 700 entries from 57 countries contended with one another. d line K N U D H O L S C H E R D E S I G N. In 2006 d line international as was merged with Carl F as under the Carl F name. This was the next step in establishing a stronger international base for the company.

Container service

In the Danish market we have developed a container concept to selected customers where in connection with major building projects the customers will have a Carl F container set up on the building site. Together with the responsible sales representative, the customer’s assortment needs are determined and Carl F will then ensure that the goods are in place in the container and are currently supplemented.

To the customer the benefits are obvious: The customer’s staff on the site do not need to spend time to collect goods, no time is required to order goods, the risk of back orders is considerably reduced, etc. Thus the customer only needs to concentrate on what is important to him: building houses!

The Carl F Planner system

With the planner system, Carl F can also offer Danish customers to keep track of their hardware supplies from the moment the project has been described by the architects until the hardware and fittings are ready for mounting. To the customer this means saved planning time and the opportunity of a better focus on what exactly is significant to him: the actual construction!

In addition, the planner system will facilitate a splitting-up of supplies down to the individual door and even packing with, e.g., EVVA lock systems and d line door lever handles separated on the individual floors or areas. It means that the era of faulty orders and wrong quantities is over, as the requirement is described correctly and to the minute details from the very start. To the customer it also means confidence as he can stay on his schedule. An IT solution aiming at the same service possibilities is currently under implementation with Carl F International.

Carl F Costing & Estimating Service

The Carl F Costing & Estimating Service assists Danish customers in tendering for furniture contracts for construction projects. Carl F ensures that the tender includes all the door furniture essential to the project – at competitive prices. This shoulders the administrative burden of the tendering process and helps the customer to keep the furniture contract under control.

Carl F international

In these years Carl F international – the international division of Carl F as sets up offices in Qatar, Singapore, Manila and expands to 6 offices in India. This happens with the aim to develop a stronger international position for the company.

2006

Sanistaal

On the 1st of January 2007 it is made official that the Danish company Sanistaal – which is listed on the Danish stock exchange – has bougth all the shares in Carl F as. For the first time in 125 years this company is no longer on family hands. This new situation with a strong and investment willing owner in the back spells an interesting future for Carl F as.

China

Carl F as inaugurates its first office in mainland China.
The Shanghai office opened on the 26th of April 2007