For 150 years, Ostnor has been developing and selling water taps and accessories to the Nordic region, under the strong and well-established brands of FM Mattsson, Mora Armatur, and Damixa. The CEO Magazine caught up with President and CEO Claes Seldeby about the long history of the business and how it is making its mark on the industry in 2015. Claes is a trained electro-technical engineer and has previous experience in management mainly within electrical distribution and energy efficiency. He has been leading the international Ostnor organisation since September 2011.
The CEO Magazine: Ostnor recently celebrated its 150th anniversary. Can you tell our readers a bit more about that and how the company came to exist?
Claes: We have a long and proud history. The company was founded back in 1865 as FM Mattsson by a guy from SwedenFrost Matts Mattsson was his name. He produced the first brass tap in 1876 and shortly after that his two sons took over the business. They decided to go separate ways in 1927, where the one brother continued to develop the FM Mattsson brand and the other one started a new brand called Mora Armatur. They became the two biggest competitors in the Swedish market and later on also in the Nordic region. So both companies were probably driving each other to be extremely good in innovation and technology. In 2003, it was decided by the families from FM Mattsson and Mora Armatur to again join forces and so a merge took place. The two families came back together and from that point they also changed the name to Ostnor for the group, and kept the two brands FM Mattsson and Mora Armatur. Last year, we made an acquisition of the number-one Danish brand in types of taps and mixers, called Damixa, which dates back to 1932 and thus has developed, designed, and produced taps, showerheads, and mixers for more than 80 years.