Rorstrand Company Information

iittala is one of HackmanGroup's two divisions. iittala is a young company, in that its foundation was created when the HackmanGroup moved over to a new line of business in the early 1990s and bought the Arabia porcelain factory in Helsinki, the Gustavsberg and Rörstrand porcelain factories in Sweden, and the Iittala and Nuutajärvi glass factories. Thus, Hackman Tabletop became Designor from the beginning of 2000, and iittala from April 2003.

The iittala division focuses on the iittala brand in all international markets. On the domestic markets, the strategic brands are Arabia, Hackman®, Rörstrand and Høyang-Polaris, as well as BodaNova and Höganäs Keramik, both of which were acquired in 2002. Hackefors, Kløverblad, Nilsjohan, and Polaris are used as PowerBrands on the domestic markets.

1726		Rörstrand was established in Stockholm by order of King Fredrik I.
1790		Johan Friedrich Hackman, a German, established a trading house in Vyborg.
1793		The commercial collegial body granted a permit to establish a glass foundry to Captain Jacob Wilhelm De Pont and Harald Furuhjelm, secretary, who established the Nuutajärvi glass factory.
1873		Rörstrand established the Arabia factory in Helsinki.
1876		Hackman established a cutlery factory near Vyborg.
1881		P.M. Abrahamsson established a glass factory in the village of Iittala.
1888		G. Nilsson and L. Johansson established a company called Nilsson & Johansson, later Nilsjohan.
1891		Cutlery factory operations started up in Sorsakoski.
1924		Hackman started manufacturing knives from stainless steel, and complete cutlery sets a few years later.
1950		The manufacture of steel pots and pans started in the early 50´s.
1989		Hackman bought the Høyang-Polaris factory in Norway, Nilsjohan and Skultuna in Sweden, and Klöverblad in Denmark.
1990		Arabia, Rörstrand-Gustavsberg, and Iittala-Nuutajärvi transferred to the ownership of Hackman. The companies formed Hackman Tabletop.
1994		Hackman Housewares and Hackman Tabletop merged into Hackman Designor. Hackman Designor bought Oy ALU Ab.
2000		Hackman Designor Oy Ab changed its name to Designor Oy Ab.
2002		iittala® was chosen as the international brand of the company Designor acquires BodaNova-Höganäs Keramik Ab
2003		Designor Oy Ab's name was changed to iittala oy ab