Company:Nunnanlahden Uuni

Short description: Finnish manufacturer of stone products

Nunnanlahden Uuni Ltd.

Native name	Nunnanlahden Uuni Oy
Type	Limited company (osakeyhtiö)
Industry	Manufacturing of stone products
Founded	1982 (1982) in Nunnanlahti, Finland
Headquarters	Juuka, Finland
Key people	Juhani Lehikoinen (Founder and Chairman of the Board) Johannes Uusitalo (CEO)
Products	Fireplaces with baking ovens, baking ovens
Revenue	€ 5.1 million (2021)
Number of employees	Approximately 50 (2022)
Subsidiaries	NunnaUuni Oy
Website	www.nunnauuni.com

Mine in Finland

Nunnanlahden Uuni Ltd. (natively Nunnanlahden Uuni Oy) is a Finland manufacturer of fireplaces and ovens. It was founded in 1982. The company established the subsidiary NunnaUuni Oy in 2007 to be responsible for the production, marketing, and sales of fireplaces. The company has an exclusive right to use the Mammutti soapstone, which research has shown to be highly suited for the high temperatures of the fire chamber. It utilizes also more than 100 years of fireplace expertise in the region. These have enabled the development of the Golden Fire clean gasification burning method. The headquarters, production facilities, and mine of the companies are located in Nunnanlahti in Eastern Finland. In addition to Finland, the main market areas are Central Europe and the Baltic States, where NunnaUuni fireplaces are sold by authorized dealers.

History

From a traditional company to a modern fireplace manufacturer

NunnaUuni was founded on a soapstone deposit formerly known as the Lössä area in the Nunnanlahti area of Juuka in North Karelia. Stone had been extracted from the site more than 100 years ago, but operations came to a standstill during World War I when stone deliveries to buildings stopped. The father and grandfather of NunnaUuni's founder and chairman of the board Juhani Lehikoinen worked at the mine. In 1981, Lehikoinen applied for and was granted a claim to the Lössä area.

Lehikoinen founded Nunnanlahden Uuni Oy in 1982 together with his brother Kalevi Lehikoinen and long-time fireplace masters Paavo Lehikoinen and Jouko Lehikoinen, combining traditional Nunnanlahti fireplace-building skills with industrial activities. The company developed and manufactured the soapstone working machines itself, as the early machines did not yet use modern working methods. The company employed 10 people during the first year. NunnaUuni launched its first product, a baking oven, in 1983.

The company grew rapidly throughout the 1980s because of the oil crisis. In 1985, it embarked on a major investment program in factory buildings and machinery, which lasted several years. Exports to the Central European market started in Germany in 1986, and by the turn of the millennium, NunnaUuni had become one of the largest fireplace manufacturers in Finland.

Today, the company's main markets are not only in Finland but also in Central Europe and the Baltic countries. About 80 percent of NunnaUuni's sales come from exports.

Stone research provided information on the properties of soapstone types

In the 1990s, researchers began to study soapstone scientifically, and the first research on different types of soapstone were completed at the end of the decade. Later, Anne Huhta studied in her doctoral thesis published in 2019 the different types of soapstone, which led to the creation of an unambiguous and precise classification and naming scheme for soapstone types based on mineral composition. At the same time, a new testing method was developed to investigate the thermal shock resistance of different natural stones and the mineralogical changes that occur over time on the surface of the fireplace walls. The results confirmed that Mammutti soapstone conducts heat very well. The NunnaUuni mine is located in the Nunnanlahti greenstone zone, which contains different types of soapstone. They have different compositional and structural properties, which need to be known in order to select the right materials for fireplaces.

The company has exclusive rights to the soft and durable natural stone from the mine, which is called Mammutti soapstone. This highly oriented igneous stone is classified as carbonate soapstone. It contains carbonate of fine-grained magnesite and fine-grained, wrinkle-oriented talc. Studies have shown that the Mammutti soapstone used in NunnaUuni fireplaces endures and stores heat well. The drilling researches show that the mine has enough stone to produce for hundreds of years.

A pioneer in clean burning

In the late 1990s, the company developed the Golden Fire clean gasification burning method, which ensures almost emission-free combustion. At the same time, the company also developed the first testing method for heat-storing fireplaces, SAA142/222, in collaboration with the Fraunhofer Institute, a German testing institute. The company was the first in Finland to have fireplaces using the clean burning method. The Golden Fire has been used in all NunnaUuni's heat-storing fireplaces and fireplaces with baking ovens for more than twenty years.

A time of strong growth in exports

In the 2000s, the company continued to grow. Its turnover peaked in 2006. In the same year, the President of the Republic of Finland awarded Nunnanlahden Uuni the Internationalisation Award of the President of the Republic (fi).

The subsidiary NunnaUuni Oy was established in 2007 to be responsible for the manufacturing, sales, and marketing of the products. The development of heat-storing fireplaces continued to be active and in 2011 heat-storing i fireplaces were launched, designed specifically for energy-efficient homes.

NunnaUuni's contribution to development was recognized for its combination of Golden Fire's clean burning and Mammutti soapstone by winning the innovation competition of the Black Carbon Campaign's Innovation Competition in 2019, which sought solutions to reduce black carbon emissions.

Energy crisis spurs growth in the 2020s

Demand for NunnaUunis has set to grow strongly in the 2020s as energy prices have risen and the interior design boom is continuing. Heat-storing fireplaces are being purchased to secure heat supply, while the cocooning at home due to COVID-19 has boosted consumer interest in interior design. In 2022, the company celebrated its 40th anniversary and the entrepreneurial spirit of its founder Lehikoinen. At the same time, the company launched the world's first baking oven, which, as a heat-storing fireplace undercuts the EcoDesign emission limits.

Sources

• Anne Huhta: Diversity of soapstones: classification and thermal behavior
• Nunnanlahti Village Association 2022: Nunnanlahti - a village of stone.
• Kärki, Aulis & Gehör, Seppo: Summary of the results of the material studies of the MammuttiKivi mine of Nunnanlahti Uuni Oy from 1994 to 2001 [Oulu]: Oulu, Finland, 2005.