The furniture brand that showed the world what the Danes can do: BoConcept
Denmark's largest global home furnishing brand is now present in over 60 countries with nearly 300 stores. Shopping at BoConcept is a way of life, but that was exactly what the founders wanted when they started making furniture over 70 years ago.
In the hot summer of 1952, two Danish cabinetmakers, Jens Ærthøj and Tage Mølholm, embarked on a joint adventure to start their furniture manufacturing company, and two years later they stood with four employees, a few oak and walnut cabinets delivered and a growing number of orders in their pockets, in front of their first factory. They were proud and hungry to show a wider audience what Danish design could do.
Young craftsmen, who also knew traditional techniques, were helped by the global rise of the Scandinavian aesthetic, as well as the achievements of Danish industrialization. Machines became more affordable, more efficient and more precise, speeding up production and keeping costs lower without compromising the high quality that customers loved.
This is where BoConcept's DNA was born: simplicity, craftsmanship, elegant functionality and the use of quality materials. The company initially produced dining furniture, then in 1962 they moved to a larger factory in Herning - this has been the company's headquarters ever since. They expanded their portfolio and began producing wall systems and storage furniture: in this year, the No. 26 wardrobe was also born, which is one of the company's best-selling products. By 1970, they had 40 employees and added beds to their repertoire.
Denka is born
The company name (A/S ÆJM møbler) was incomprehensible outside of Denmark, even though they wanted to produce for the international market. The furniture was already designed taking into account the tastes of the different target countries, and these left the factory under the Denka brand name in 1976. In 1984, the company was listed on the Copenhagen Stock Exchange, and the big innovation of the year was that they started working with CNC machines, which gave the design team more freedom in terms of design.
Denka bought the also Danish Club 8 Company in 1988, and the new production facility allowed them to come up with new products: the Xilo chests of drawers and Color 4 Kids children's furniture were a great success all over the world.
Hello BoConcept!
In 1993, the company opened the first BoConcept brand store in the Belle Épine shopping mall in Paris, followed by seven more later that year in France, China and the USA. The Basic wall system became the hit product of the year thanks to its modularity and lacquered MDF material. In 1999, the various members of the group were merged by the owners into one company, Club 8 Company A/S.
At the same time, an upholstery factory is established in Hornslet, Denmark, so that they can now also produce sofas, and these modular pieces fit well into the BoConcept portfolio. In 2002, a fundamental strategic shift occurred. There should be one company and one brand, BoConcept, and the previous manufacturing company should be transformed into a company with a focus on a chain of stores. In 2004, BoConcept University was also established, whose task is to train salespeople so that they can help customers even better, thereby enhancing the shopping experience.
In 2006, BoConcept severed ties with its former wholesale partners and resellers, with the aim of making the brand's pieces available only in brand stores. In Hungary, there is one in the MaxCity Home Furnishings Shopping Center in Törökbálint.