History
A unique business model, a future-oriented vision, which has turned 80, but seems to have been written yesterday.
Explore our timeline1941-1952
1956-1973
1975: Market expansion and new products
The VELUX Group’s expansion continued throughout the 70’s and 80’s. Sales companies and production facilities were established in Great Britain, France, the USA and Canada, and new markets were created in Central and Eastern Europe. Despite these turbulent economic times, the VELUX Group’s product portfolio expanded from a single product to a full range of products, including top-hung roof windows for lower roof pitches, roller shutters, electric-powered windows and an extensive range of accessories and sun-screening products. Image: ‘Daylight’ crosses the Atlantic. The VELUX Group establishes a sales company and later its own production company in USA and Canada.
1990: VELUX logo
As with any creative pursuit, it took many attempts to create the VELUX logo design. The logo we current use today was perfected in 1990, at the same time as product ranges between Denmark, Germany and other European markets were standardised through the product generation VES (VELUX European Standard). These were some of the first steps taken towards creating a more unified brand across Europe. Image: VELUX logos throughout time.
1992: The eldest son takes over the VELUX Group
Villum Kann Rasmussen died in 1993 at the age of 84. A year prior to his death, Villum’s oldest son, Lars Kann-Rasmussen, became Chairman of the board of V. Kann Rasmussen Industri (the parent company of the VELUX Group). During the next few decades, Lars Kann-Rasmussen led the VELUX Group to great success as a market-leading international enterprise in the building-components industry. Image: Photo of Villum Kann-Rasmussen and his eldest son Lars Kann-Rasmussen taken in 1990.
1998-2005
1998: V21 – A window for the 21st century
Growing concerns about environmental impact resulted in the building sector heightening requirements for energy optimising components. To reduce the number of components and to limit resource and energy consumption, the new generation of VELUX windows featured uniform profiles, which also meant they could be installed more harmoniously and securely.
2009-2020
2009: Building sustainably
The VELUX Group created the ‘Model Home 2020’ project in 2009. It showed how to build sustainable buildings for the future. By 2011, six full-scale demonstration buildings were completed in Europe. By 2017, the VELUX Group had more than 20 demonstration buildings around the world. People could live, work, and go to school in these buildings, proving that energy efficiency and quality of life can go hand in hand.
2020: VELUX x WWF partnership
The VELUX Group takes nature action by financing forest projects through a 20-year partnership with World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) that will reduce and remove carbon equivalent to our entire historical emissions from own operations by our 100-year anniversary in 2041.
2020: Sustainability Strategy 2030
We launched our Sustainability Strategy 2030. A 10-year transformational journey in which we committed to pioneer climate and nature action, innovate sustainable products and secure a responsible business.
2021: Our 80 years anniversary
A passion for daylight, fresh air and better living environments. That is what started our company more than 80 years ago and it is still what drives us forward today.
2021-2023
2021: A new generation of glass rooflights
With its minimalistic design, the new glass rooflight delivered on functionality with a special glass-to-edge design that lets in up to 52 percent more daylight than the previous generation of rooflights. Image: The flat glass vented variant won the 2021 Red Dot award in the Product Design category.