Celebrating the Pioneering of Surface Finishing for 80 Years — December 8, 1943

Mirka was founded in 1943 in Helsinki by the engineer Onni Aulo, but due to the Continuation War, did not start production until 1946. Since then, Mirka has grown. Today, headquartered in Finland with a network spanning the entire globe, the company has become a world leader in the surface finishing industry.

Physically, Mirka is a very different company today, compared to when we started. But our core vision is still the same — to give our customers the opportunity to perform better and to get that perfect finish. This is something that also drives us in our daily operations, to continuously improve what we do. The most important element of this has always been to listen to the voice of our customers, says Mirka’s CEO Stefan Sjöberg.

Throughout the last 80 years, Mirka has seen many milestones, from the opening of the US subsidiary in 1985 to pioneering dust-free sanding with the launch of Abranet® in 2001. Even though this year of celebration will be about reflection and looking back at the journey so far, the eyes of the company are looking toward the future.

We are proud of all the things we have achieved, but to stay relevant one must also look forward to the next big thing, and here we see a lot of potential. The Green Deal in the European Union, and the green transition in the world in general, are something that will shape how we look at things and how we do them, not only for Mirka but for the entire industry. The company that solves this puzzle will be relevant for many years to come, and looking at our organization today, I am confident that Mirka will be here to celebrate it’s 90th and 100th anniversary as well, Sjöberg concludes.