>History

C.E. Lindgren was founded on 2 June 1881 when 25-year-old Carl Edvard Lindgren informed the City Administrative Court of Helsinki of his intention to start manufacturing and selling brushes in Helsinki.

In the beginning, Carl Edvard Lindgren worked with the assistance of one helper in a rented room. The business grew quickly, and eight years later the pair were able to move to their own premises, at Punavuorenkatu 8 in Helsinki. At this point, the business employed some 20 people, who worked in six factory rooms. This was already industrial-scale manufacturing of brushes, and Carl Edvard Lindgren thus can be considered the first person to carry on this trade in Finland.
While investing money in the purchase of new machinery and other capital needed to expand the company, Carl Edvard Lindgren also invested considerably in real estate, thus creating a very solid backdrop for his industrial enterprise. This has brought the family business a profit to this day.
Carl Edvard Lindgren led the company with a firm hand. Responsibility, purposefulness, and energy were manifested in all of his actions. He was a pioneer in his field, thanks to his profound professional skills. Under his direction, the production of brushes was continually developed to be more versatile. His strict requirements for high quality still characterise all our activities.

After Carl Edvard Lindgren died, in 1928 at the age of 71, the company continued as an ordinary partnership with all of the founder's descendants as partners. For 18 years, his son-in-law, Gösta Rosenberg, served as managing director. Under his successful leadership, the company continued to develop strongly.
Upon Rosenberg's death in 1948, a phased reorganisation of operations took place. The real estate in Helsinki was separated from joint ownership of the family, with part to be sold and part to form housing corporations. The present Oy C.E. Lindgren Ab was registered in 1950 to continue the industrial operations, with the shares divided among the four owner-families. Toward the end of the decade, plans were made to acquire new industrial premises to replace the old-fashioned ones that the company had outgrown on Punavuorenkatu. This led to the factory moving to Porvoo in 1959.

The last 20 years have brought considerable change to the Lindgren company. The wide range of brush products was trimmed at the end of the 1980s, household brushes were pared from the range, and production began to focus on painting tools and technical brushes.
In 1991, the operations of Kirkkala Oy were purchased. This company produced plastic fibres used in the production of brushes for street-cleaning vehicles and plastic matting elements for ski jumps. The factory was located in the municipality of Längelmäki, in central Finland, and a decision was made to keep it there.
Then, in 1997, production of brushes for street-cleaning machines was ceased and the full capacity of the Längelmäki factory was devoted to producing plastic matting for ski jumps. Lindgren has since then grown to be the world market leader in this field. Plastic matting solutions for downhill ski slopes and sledding slopes have also been introduced to the market. In 2007, Lindgren decided to centralise its operations, which meant that the production of the Längelmäki factory was moved to Porvoo in its entirety.

Today, Oy C.E. Lindgren Ab is a rapidly developing company. We have three lines of business: painting tools, technical brushes, and plastic matting systems. In Finland, we are one of the leading suppliers of both painting tools and technical brushes. As a producer of plastic matting systems for ski jumps and sledding slopes, Lindgren has for several years now been the world market leader.