Good design doesn’t have to be expensive
“Our mission is pure and simple. We aim to bring high quality coffee and tea solutions, as well as household accessories, to everyone. We innovate to create great designs at affordable prices in line with our guiding principle of ‘form follows functionality’, whilst also taking into consideration our environmental responsibility, sustainability and respect for the wellbeing of our staff, our communities and our planet.”
“Our mission is pure and simple. We aim to bring high quality coffee and tea solutions, as well as household accessories, to everyone. We innovate to create great designs at affordable prices in line with our guiding principle of ‘form follows functionality’, whilst also taking into consideration our environmental responsibility, sustainability and respect for the wellbeing of our staff, our communities and our planet.”
1944
The early years
The BODUM® story begins in Copenhagen, Denmark, where Peter Bodum founded the company in 1944, and is still being written today as the Bodum Group remains a 100% family-owned business.
The BODUM® story begins in Copenhagen, Denmark, where Peter Bodum founded the company in 1944, and is still being written today as the Bodum Group remains a 100% family-owned business.
In BODUM®’s early years, Peter Bodum was importing glassware to Denmark, when he first became aware of vacuum coffee makers. Impressed by the taste of the coffee, he set out to improve the design and make a product that was affordable for everybody, thus laying the foundations for BODUM®’s success. In the early 1950s, he produced MOCCA, BODUM®’s first vacuum coffee maker, before releasing the SANTOS vacuum coffee maker in 1958.
SANTOS was the product that placed BODUM® firmly on the international stage, where it was acclaimed for its unique design and went on to become one of the most important coffee makers worldwide throughout the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s.
In 1974, 26-year-old Jørgen Bodum took over the BODUM® company, making an immediate impact with the launch of BODUM®’s first French coffee press, the BISTRO, merging BODUM® traditions with fresh innovation. The internationally acclaimed BISTRO was selected as the most environmentally friendly coffee press by the international media, and received a number of prestigious international and Danish design awards.
A few years later, Jørgen Bodum moved BODUM®’s headquarters to Switzerland, ensuring the company was strategically placed in central Europe. With great design one of BODUM®’s founding principles, it was a natural progression for Jørgen Bodum to establish an in-house design unit, Pi-Design,in Switzerland. Since 1980, this team of designers, engineers, graphic designers and architects has been responsible for all BODUM® product designs, staying true to the tradition of functionality and quality, with a focus on innovation. In 1986, Jørgen Bodum turned his attention to the retail market by opening the first BODUM® store in London. This flagship store highlighted the variety of BODUM® products and helped to cement the company’s reputation on the international stage. A number of other shops and shop-in-shops followed around the world, including Paris, Copenhagen, Zurich, Lucerne, Tokyo, New York, Sydney, and Auckland. In 1991, BODUM® purchased Martin S. A., the original producer of the first coffee press maker, MELIOR®. The MELIOR® coffee press was first produced in the 1950s in the factory of Martin S.A.’s other business, making fine classical clarinets. It went on to become a cult object for drinking coffee in the 1960s, and this design is still present in BODUM®’s current range with the iconic CHAMBORD® coffee press.
However, while the BODUM® name is synonymous with the iconic coffee press, there’s much more to us than just coffee.
In 1991, BODUM® also reinvented tea brewing with our innovative ASSAM teapot, developed for the British Tea Council. The ASSAM tea press uses the same brewing system as the French coffee press, giving tea lovers full control over the tea-steeping process for the perfect brew.
The following year, BODUM® also introduced its collection of electrical household goods, e-BODUM®. Simple yet effective, the IBIS water kettle was the first in the collection, which now includes juicers, coffee grinders, mixers, and blenders. Today, the BODUM® range has expanded further to include other kitchen and household products, including cookware and cutlery, storage items, textiles, and other home and office products.
1988
1988
Tondela’s factory
Since the birth of BODUM Portuguesa, environment has been a driving force and a major concern in our activity. During almost 30 years of production, BODUM Portuguesa assumed a responsible position towards the surrounding environment but also to the internal working conditions and safety and well- being of the team.
Since the birth of BODUM Portuguesa, environment has been a driving force and a major concern in our activity. During almost 30 years of production, BODUM Portuguesa assumed a responsible position towards the surrounding environment but also to the internal working conditions and safety and well- being of the team.
2018
2018
Aveiro’s factory
In 2018 we opened a new factory in Aveiro which is one hour drive from our main factory in Tondela - the place where we started our own BODUM production in 1988. In Aveiro we will focus mainly on producing durable plastic products for our outdoor, wine and drinkglasses as well as all our colourful tea and coffee makers. We believe that the days of single-use plastics are gone. Whether it is to-go cups, one-way plastic or coffee capsules. We are now moving to sustainability. We believe in "make taste, not waste®".
Our factory in Aveiro has been equipped with the newest, fully automatic machines and the most modern tooling technology. Our durable double wall glasses, travel mugs, bottles and beakers come out in one single piece – no welding, no leaking. We see Aveiro as a completely new part of BODUM which will give us a strong and sustainable growth.
In 2018 we opened a new factory in Aveiro which is one hour drive from our main factory in Tondela - the place where we started our own BODUM production in 1988. In Aveiro we will focus mainly on producing durable plastic products for our outdoor, wine and drinkglasses as well as all our colourful tea and coffee makers. We believe that the days of single-use plastics are gone. Whether it is to-go cups, one-way plastic or coffee capsules. We are now moving to sustainability. We believe in "make taste, not waste®".
Sustainability
MAKE TASTE NOT WASTE
The renowned natural historian Sir David Attenborough recently brought the importance of living more sustainably sharply into focus when his documentary series Blue Planet II was shown in the US, UK and elsewhere.
Attenborough’s well-known passion for protecting not only the oceans but every part of the natural world strikes a chord with us at Bodum®. Treating the environment with respect and helping you to develop a more eco-friendly lifestyle is at the heart of everything we do. Make taste, not waste– that’s our motto, and it defines our approach to the way we live and work.
Sustainability (that is, looking after the planet’s resources, using them wisely and living in harmony with the environment) has surely never been more important than it is now. The scale of today’s environmental issues may seem overwhelming. However, any positive changes individuals make to their daily lives can, when considered collectively, make a huge difference.
A viable brew
Know more about our Sustainability program
What is
good design?
This question requires that someone does indeed know, and dares to define what good design is and show examples. The problem for the designer and producer would then be how to approach the concept of “good design” with his products.
At BODUM’s design studio we are not trying to fulfill this concept of good design, instead we want to give from our perspective of a living and contradictory world, where Mickey Mouse is as important as the collected work of Picasso, where the question what is genuine and false, attractive and ugly, harmonious and discordant, right and wrong, cannot be answered clearly. In design the simplest things are always the hardest to achieve. A lot of thought goes into finding the best functionality, the best shape, and the best materials. What takes the most thought however, is discovering what can be left out; how we can make our products even simpler and easier – thus enhancing their sophistication.