Málning hf

The headquarters of Málning hf, in Kópavogur. Málning hf was founded on January 16th, 1953. A great many of the founding members were descendants of Pétur Guðmundsson in Málarinn.

At first, the business was run in an old school building, on Kárnesbraut 32 in Kópavogur. As the years went by, the school building was adapted to its new function and extended. In 1981, the sales department and the warehouse were moved to Lyngháls 2. The production and other daily activities remained in the old building.

On July 13th, 1987, the company suffered a hard blow, when the building on Kársnesbraut was completely destroyed by fire. The damage was very upsetting and the financial loss was considerable. Raw material and other goods worth tens of millions of Krónur were destroyed, and the building, 2,000 square meters in size, was in ruins. Through a quick rescue effort, the main production machines were saved and kept fully operational. With a combined effort from the staff and the owner, production was resumed only a few days after the fire, first in Lyngháls 2, and then, from October 1987, in Funhöfði 9.

On October 19th, 1998, the warehouse and the sales department were moved to an elegant three story building on Dalvegur 18 in Kópavogur. A little later, on January 1st, 1999, the remaining departments were moved into the same building.

Finally, all divisions of the company were then operating under the same roof. The new building was designed by the architect Ingimundur Sveinsson. Production and marketing of Spred Satin, the first water-based paint commercially sold in Iceland, was started during the early years of the company. This was an improvement for Icelandic consumers, who at the time had nothing other than polluting oil-based paint.