Since 1942
The story of Bergs Potter
1942. Once upon a time in Copenhagen
During one of the bleakest periods of World War II, Victor Berg inherited a ceramics shop on Rantzausgade in the Nørrebro neighbourhood of Copenhagen. Victor, an eager young accountant, wanted to bring a bit of life and colour into the war-depressed lives of his fellow Copenhageners. He decided the best way to do so would be to add flowers to the shop. The unique combination of fresh flowers and aged ceramics soon made the store a popular place to visit and shop.
One shop, two shops, three shops
Demand for flowers and pots grew swiftly, and Victor Berg realized the business needed to expand beyond that first shop on Rantzausgade. So he opened two more shops in the city: one on Købmagergade, now Copenhagen’s most famous shopping street, and later in the Western neighbourhood of Vesterbrogade.
1945. Two new Bergs join the business
As Victor’s business grew, so too did his family. In the middle of this flowery fairytale, two new Bergs came into the world: Steffen and Christine (Sysser) Berg.
1952.
Steffen started to help his father in the shops at the age of 7, and Sysser later joined him. As time went by, Steffen became the merchant who went to the flower market and managed stock in the basement of the original Rantzausgade location. He remembers how he had to pound the floor twice with a broomstick before going down the stairs to be sure that all the rats went into hiding. Sysser was the creative head of the family and had a flair for new trends.
1986. The legacy is passed on
Berg Senior continued to be a part of the flower shops until his passing. However, Steffen and Sysser knew early on that they would carry on their father’s passion for flowers and pots.
In the end, they stumbled on their first great inspiration in an old garden shed. There, they found an elegant flowerpot that inspired Berg’s flagship: the Copenhagen Pot. This line of new pots was (and still is) produced from the finest terracotta, as royal potters had used centuries before.
2012. The third generation
The company changed hands again to Victor Berg Jr., the son of Steffen Berg, and two friends of the Berg family — Martin and Frits. From the beginning, Martin and Frits were responsible for the company’s daily operations, with Martin as the entrepreneur and Frits working full-time as the accountant.
Learning by doing
Martin and Frits had never run a company before. Pottery and working with flowers were all very new to them, and their green thumbs only came with practice. They had to learn how to survive the Copenhagen Flower Market with its early mornings and cut-throat bartering. It was not unusual for Martin to do a 5 a.m. daily delivery to the market during the peak season. Afterwards, he would stroll through the flower stalls to absorb the atmosphere — and then go straight to class at the Copenhagen Business School.
The North Pole or Sahara
Martin and Frits spent most of their afternoons and evenings packing orders at the warehouse. Frits came directly from long days at his job as a full-time accountant, arriving as late as 8 p.m. some evenings. The “warehouse”, in this case, was an old plastic greenhouse in the north of Zealand, the island where Copenhagen is located. In the greenhouse, it was sweat dripping hot in the summer and freezing cold in the winter. The boys packed pots, joked around, and dreamed about the future to keep their minds off their frostbitten hands during the cold Danish winters. When two were not enough to fulfil all the orders, girlfriends and family spent late-night hours helping.
The beguiling baked earth
Slowly, but surely the boys each fell in love with a truly special, tanned beauty — terracotta. They frequently visited Tuscany to explore the world of different clay qualities, colours, and shapes. They learned to understand the material’s history and behaviour, but first to understand the Italian people themselves, who had been crafting the clay for generations.
2014. A strawberry farm and an old pub
In 2014 the warehouse was moved to an old strawberry farm north of Copenhagen, and in 2016 Bergs Potter transformed an old pub in the centre of Frederiksberg, Copenhagen, into an office where they ran the company. Martin and Frits now work full time, and the Bergs Potter family continues to grow with numerous highly appreciated sales and warehouse employees.
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