From New York to Hemsedal

The year we moved to Hemsedal from New York.

Bjørn Holte, founder of Hedgehog is a serial entrepreneur, problem solver and eternal optimist but in 2015 life took a sudden and unexpected turn.

Bjørn's wife became very sick and she passed away 11 months later.

Bjørn suddenly found himself a single parent to his 3 small children. They lived in Brooklyn, New York.

His wife was originally from Hemsedal, a ski town nestled in the snowy mountains of Norway. They had a house there, so he decided to move the kids to Hemsedal."

"It was a huge change from New York City!

One of Bjørn's daily challenges was to have at least 3 pairs of dry gloves and shoes, with so much snow in the winter and rain in the spring, summer, and fall.

With 3 small kids, it was easy to lose gloves or forget to dry boots overnight to use the next morning.

The more he talked to other families, the more he realized this was a common problem.

Bjørn needed a simple solution that would dry and organize his family's gloves and boots quickly.

This is how the idea of Hedgehog originated.


This is how the idea of Hedgehog originated."

Over the next few years, Bjorn met and married a new wife, Erin, and the family was complete again. Erin thought of the name Hedgehog, due to the "spikes" on which the product is hung.

TODAY
A lot has happened since then. We have now developed a market leading product globally within shoe dryers. Researched and designed a turbine technology with engineers from the Water power laboratory at NTNU. Engaged engineers from the leading fan and heating manufactures in the world and or now in full scale serial production.
Design and technology is now protected with a portfolio of patents which covers all markets we enter. We also performed extensive safety tests and certifications to make sure we deliver a both safe and quality product.

Welcome to the Hedgehog family!