To shop our Vipp collection, please click here. 
Today Vipp AS is run by Jette Egelund, daughter of the founder, Holger Nielsen. The waste bin is still the same, but the company has undertaken major changes since Jette Egelund took over in 1993. Read the story of how the company developed throughout the last decade.
1939 - It all begins in Randers
The story of Vipp begins in Denmark in 1939 when the wife of craftsman Holger Nielsen asks him to make a waste bin for her new hairdressing salon. In the beginning, he only creates the bin with his wife in mind. But as the local dentist and doctor also want the bin for their practices, Holger Nielsen establishes his production of bins.
A few years before Holger had gone to a football game and in the interval won a car on the entrance ticket. As he is only 17 at the time he doesn't even own a driving license. He sells the car to cash in the money building a workshop in the garden. Marie and Holger are newly weds and he is quite eager to show her what he is made of. When she asks him for a handy bin for her salon he immediately starts working on what is now known as the Vipp bin.
As money is tight and the war makes it difficult to buy furniture and machinery Holger makes all the interiors for the salon helping Marie to a good start. She on the other hand helps him with the growing orders as all her clients notice the smart pedal bin.
In the mid-fifties, it becomes technically possible to draw stainless steel, and having originally turned the lid, Holger Nielsen invests in a hydraulic press and uses the new technique to give the lid its familiar domed, smooth design.
In the following years, the Vipp, as Holger Nielsen calls it, becomes a common feature in most Danish dentists' and doctors' practices. Holger Nielsen makes the bins to order and employs a person to help him. Production continues like this for more than 50 years at the workshop in the small town of Randers until Holger Nielsen dies in 1992.
1993 - The second generation takes over
A generation change is not in the pipeline - Holger Nielsen has two daughters and he never envisaged metal production as something that would interest the girls. After his death, Holger Nielsen's wife initially inherits the company. But the hairdresser Marie Axelsen has no intention of keeping production going. She still runs her own salon, which she by the way keeps open until she turns 83. Production just muddles along.
The youngest daughter, Jette Egelund, is now 42. Jette Egelund now has to help her mother. Having previously helped her father with the sales work, Jette is already somehow familiar with how the company operates. Her mother wants to sell the company, but Jette can't bear the thought of just letting it go. She loves the product and believes it has potential. Her sister is not interested in taking over. Then Jette decides to buy the production from the estate. At this time, Jette lives in Hørsholm north of Copenhagen, so she hires a works manager to get the production in Randers under control. A major risk to take at the time, as a new man on the payroll increases costs considerably and places demands on the volume of orders.
1996 - International breakthrough
However at a fair in Hanover, a German designer stops by and says that he knows how to sell the bin. He suggests Jette contacts German mail-order company Manufactum. The exclusive design products sold by Manufactum are the perfect company for Vipp. Within a short period of time, Vipp is exhibited in catalogues sent to private customers all over Germany. Sales are enormous compared to previous years. The bin's market potential is confirmed.
In autumn, Jette takes a short trip to London. She visits the internationally trend-setting design shop, The Conran Shop, and is given two minutes in the purchasing department. Just as in the Danish interior-design shops, she is quickly shown the door, but she leaves behind a bin in a last attempt to get the attention she is seeking. It is now up to them to try it out and hopefully discover its qualities. The week after, the fax spews out an order from The Conran Shop for 75 bins.
Sales turn out great in Conran and a buyer from the American mail-order company William Sonoma sees the bin and immediately gets interested He calls Jette and asks if he can come over and see the production. She hesitates at showing him the modest production facilities and decides to meet him in Copenhagen instead. William Sonoma includes the bin in its product range, helping to boost sales.
1997 - Global expansion
The positive expression of interest whets Jette's appetite. She raises her overdraft facility, invests in a fair stand and a new high-quality brochure and takes her kids Kasper and Sofie to the next fair in Frankfurt, Ambiente 1997. The markets have woken up, and the trio returns with enough orders to almost cover the expenses. It has been four years since Jette took over the company. The market for design products is no longer dormant and sales have soared. But despite the company's positive development, profit remains scarce. Then the works manager decides to leave the production in Randers. And instead of hiring a new works manager, Jette decides to move to Randers for a period of time.
She moves in with her mother and lives in her old room, while she learns everything about the production. She learns all the processes and how to operate the machines, and since no one is expecting her to be home after closing time, she often stays and makes pedals into the late hours.
While she slogs away at production, she has little time to develop customer relations and therefore hires her first salesperson, who helps establish contacts to agents abroad and seeks out dealers in especially Germany, which is a good market at the time. 1998 - Worn out machinery
Heavy hydraulic presses used for metal pressing are extremely expensive. However, they last for a long time. But nothing lasts forever. In 1998, the company's press has been in operation every day since the 50s, when Holger Nielsen started making the lid. As an old car, it starts leaking oil - then, a bearing breaks.
Pure necessity makes Jette Egelund outsource part of the production. She now realises that outsourcing can be used as a conscious strategy to save her massive investments and a heavy, cost-intensive production facility in the future.
On 1st October 1999, all staff members are given notice of dismissal, the production equipment sent to Lolland and the office loaded into the Ford Transit. Jette takes the car to the other end of Denmark to the new, leased premises in Lyngby. The original base in Randers is sold - a new era can begin. 2000 - Stepping up sales and marketing efforts
The new location also brings Jette closer to her children, and Sofie and Kasper undertake more and more tasks in the company, while embarking on their education at the same time.
Sofie Egelund is admitted to the Graphic Arts Institute of Denmark and is now responsible for Vipp's visual identity (brochures, ads, packaging etc.)
Kasper Egelund studies Communication and Design at the Copenhagen Business School, specialising in marketing. He is responsible for marketing and sales.
By now, Vipp's products are marketed in more than 20 countries throughout the world. It sounds just as impressive as it is. Vipp products are in demand all over the world, and are also known as Danish design icons. Still, sales are sporadic in the big picture. 2000 - Stepping up sales and marketing efforts
The new location also brings Jette closer to her children, and Sofie and Kasper undertake more and more tasks in the company, while embarking on their education at the same time.
Sofie Egelund is admitted to the Graphic Arts Institute of Denmark and is now responsible for Vipp's visual identity (brochures, ads, packaging etc.)
Kasper Egelund studies Communication and Design at the Copenhagen Business School, specialising in marketing. He is responsible for marketing and sales.
By now, Vipp's products are marketed in more than 20 countries throughout the world. It sounds just as impressive as it is. Vipp products are in demand all over the world, and are also known as Danish design icons. Still, sales are sporadic in the big picture. Until now, Vipp has been represented by agents in the large number of countries. Now, Vipp intends to do away with agents and instead employ its own sales staff and take over direct contact with dealers. This is an expensive solution, but the company now has capacity for taking on the Swedish, Norwegian and Dutch markets - in addition to the Danish market of course, which is still the biggest.
2002 - New strategy
The direct contact with dealers is combined with advertisements in the most exclusive interior magazines in the target markets. The first generation of advertisements draws on VW's classic and highly simple format and highlights the timeless quality of the product.
The waste bin is still the cornerstone of Vipp's activities, but the settings in sales and administration change once again when Vipp moves into an old factory in Islands Brygge, Copenhagen, in the later summer 2002.
By 2004 the 14 members of staff has added Belgium and France to target markets. 2005 - New products, new staff & new showroom
In the summer of 2005, Vipp moves its now 22 members of staff to the new showroom, a hundred year-old ware house, renovated by the acknowledged Danish architect Frank Maali. The four-storied building is showrooms, apartment and music hall - as Jette's friend Mogens, a well-known Danish conductor, is going to have a music institute on the premises.
The showroom also houses a workshop for Vipp's in-house designers: the industrial and the textile designers. In the future a whole range of new products from Vipp are being launched.
Ambitions run high: The goal is to equip an entire bathroom - and in the future the whole house. To shop our Vipp collection, please click here. |
