Karl Fazer was born in Helsinki in 1866 and discovered his love of creating taste sensations from a very early age. His parents, Dorothea and Eduard Fazer, had moved to Finland from Switzerland and started a family fur business before he was born.
Instead of joining the family business, Karl Fazer decided to become a confectioner against his father’s wishes. He studied baking in Berlin, Paris and Saint Petersburg before opening a French-Russian confectionery café at Kluuvikatu 3 in Helsinki on 17 September 1891.
Nature was always close to Karl Fazer’s heart and he fell in love with the Finnish countryside and all that it had to offer. When he was younger he enjoyed spending his time wandering the woods and he was destined to become a forester before training to be a confectioner.
The public’s appetite for Fazer delicacies continued to grow as well as Fazer’s assortment. In September 1897 Fazer celebrated the opening of the company's new four-floor factory at Tehtaankatu in central Helsinki.
Following a number of successful years producing confectionary on Tehtaankatu Street, the factory became too cramped and the company had outgrown it. Karl Fazer’s son Sven Fazer dreamt of building a completely new and modern factory outside of the city.
In 1963 Fazer opened a revolutionary new factory in the woods of neighbouring Vantaa, which offered natural water resources, beautiful surroundings and an opportunity to grow the business.
Today, all Fazer’s confectionary products are made in Finland and there are factories dotted around the country with chocolate production in Vantaa, sugar confectionery in Lappeenranta, and gum and pastilles in Karkkila.
