AURÉLIE My week in Denmark
NEWS
June 2014
Mads Clausen’s Danish savannah Many Danfoss employees don’t even know that. The Danfoss empire /side 3 main building hides an improbable room at its top. This part is perfectly in contrast with the modern atmosphere which reigns in all the rest of the building. This room it’s the chairman’s, the old Mads Clausen’s office. Mads Clausen built this office when he moved from the attic of his parents’ house in 1962. Indeed his company began to become very important as a global one, so he decided to establish his personal office at the top of his higher building to keep an eye on all his universe and his factories. He also wanted a cozy place which reflected his personality and passions. One of Clausen’s family favorite hobby was the hunt and mostly safaris. This is the reason why he transformed his room into a second African savannah. And now it’s still a marvelous world with an extraordinary history which is the memory of one of the most important figure in the history of Danish Industry. There you can contemplate many originals stuffed animals as a leopard, a giraffe, a rhinoceros or a lion, killed by Mads Clausen himself or one of his sons during safaris. This is no longer politically correct today thanks to the law about the African wildlife protection. You can also admire the vegetation, a wall depicting the African savannah or an exotic drum covered with zebra skin. The office has also many facilities like a large table, a marble desk with a heater to don’t have cold hands or
another desk for his wife Bitten. Even if he was always surrounded by his sceneries Mads Clausen liked to have his wife with him. Unfortunately she could only be there when important guests were coming because of their 5 kids. Clausen also had a small kitchen where he could hang a small wicker basket at the entrance as a tribute to his great-grandfather. “His greatgrandfather had a carpentry workshop and, from what I could tell, it was of enormous importance to the
boy. He watched his great-grandfather manufacture pumps and wooden shoes, and it piqued his curiosity. In 1962, when Mads had to move his office from the old farm to the new administration building, he insisted on hanging up a little wicker basket in the adjoining kitchenette. He remembered that his great-grandfather once had such a basket hanging in the kitchen, in which he kept rusks. As a child he would grab a snack from the basket. The basket that
hangs there now isn’t the original, but comes from our daughter, Karin. Mads hung it there to remind him of his great-grandfather ”said his wife. Today nothing has changed; everything has stayed like Mads Clausen left his room at his death in 1966, the basket and his stick are still there. But a modern computer and some electronic devices have been added because Jørgen Mads Clausen, the current president of Danfoss has taken up his father’s office.