VELUX A/S is a Danish manufacturing company that specialises in

roof window A roof window is an outward opening window that is incorporated as part of the design of a roof A roof (: roofs or rooves) is the top covering of a building, including all materials and constructions necessary to support it on the walls o ...

skylight A skylight (sometimes called a rooflight) is a light-permitting structure or window, usually made of transparent or translucent glass, that forms all or part of the roof space of a building for daylighting and ventilation purposes. History O ...

s, sun tunnels and related accessories. The company is headquartered in

Hørsholm Hørsholm () is an urban area on the Øresund coast approximately north of Copenhagen, Denmark. It covers most of Hørsholm Municipality and straddles the borders neighbouring Fredensborg Municipality and Rudersdal Municipality. Hørsholm proper ...

Denmark Denmark is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe. It is the metropole and most populous constituent of the Kingdom of Denmark,, . also known as the Danish Realm, a constitutionally unitary state that includes the Autonomous a ...

and is a part of VKR Holding A/S. VELUX Group is a founding partner of the global Active House Alliance. The name VELUX is a combination of 'VE', short for ventilation, and the Latin '' 'LUX meaning light.

History

VELUX was founded in 1941 by Villum Kann Rasmussen. In 1942 Kann Rasmussen patented his first window, which was designed to make use of natural light and let in air to ventilate previously dark and stuffy

loft A loft is a building's upper storey or elevated area in a room directly under the roof (American usage), or just an attic: a storage space under the roof usually accessed by a ladder (primarily British usage). A loft apartment refers to large ...

s. In 1952, the company started its international expansion, offering its products in

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

and

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

. By 1965, VELUX Group had expanded into 12 markets and, by the early 1970s, had grown from around 300 to more than 1,000 employees. In 1975, VELUX Group expanded to the US and a factory was built there in 1978. In the early 1980s, VELUX expanded to

Central and Eastern Europe Central and Eastern Europe is a geopolitical term encompassing the countries in Baltic region, Northeast Europe (primarily the Baltic states, Baltics), Central Europe (primarily the Visegrád Group), Eastern Europe, and Southeast Europe (primaril ...

and by the end of the decade, the company had moved into markets in

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a considerably smaller portion in the Northern Hemisphere. It can also be described as the southern Subregion#Americas, subregion o ...

Asia Asia ( , ) is the largest continent in the world by both land area and population. It covers an area of more than 44 million square kilometres, about 30% of Earth's total land area and 8% of Earth's total surface area. The continent, which ...

, and

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

. In 1992, Rasmussen's eldest son, Lars Kann-Rasmussen, born in 1964, took over from Villum, who chaired the management of V. Kann Rasmussen Industrie — the parent company of the Velux Group. Villum died in 1993 at the age of 84 years. In the next decades, Lars modernized and built the VELUX group into an international company. At the beginning of the 21st century, the VELUX Group employed more than 10,000 employees at production sites in 11 countries.

Organisation

VELUX has 21 production sites in 12 countries and sales companies in 37 countries. The VELUX Group employs 11,900 employees worldwide. The VELUX Group is owned by VKR Holding A/S, a limited company wholly owned by VILLUM FONDEN and members of the Kann Rasmussen family. The VELUX Group’s financial results are incorporated into VKR Holding's consolidated accounts. In 2023, the VELUX Group had total revenue of EUR 2.91 billion, VKR Holding had total revenue of EUR 3.97 billion, and the Villum Foundation and the VELUX FOUNDATION donated EUR 184,6 million in charitable grants.

Products

In addition to roof windows for

flat roof A flat roof is a roof which is almost level in contrast to the many types of List of roof shapes, sloped roofs. The slope of a roof is properly known as its Roof pitch, pitch and flat roofs have up to approximately 10°. Flat roofs are an anci ...

s and pitched roofs, VELUX offers many other types of products like: blinds, roller shutters, and smart home products.

References

External links

Video of production
by

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{{Authority control Building materials companies of Denmark Danish companies established in 1941 Companies based in Hørsholm Municipality Glassmaking companies of Denmark Danish brands