Sometimes one person can do something remarkable, Mr. Fjalar Nordell (1903-1976) did. He is the one whose work started the success of Salo as a center of electronics. The success of Nokia started from Salora, which was a radio workshop established by Fjalar Nordell.
In the beginning there was only two men and their workshop. Nordell & Koskinen began making and selling radios in April 1928.The name of the radio business was changed into Salora Ltd in year 1945. The name Salora is a combination of words Salo and radio. The company grew and in addition to radios, produced also TVs. By the beginning of the 70’s there were over 2000 employees in Salora. In 1979 Salora and Nokia combined their strengths and started together a company called Mobira. The production of mobile phones started in 1981. Those days a mobile phone was really heavy, the weight was 10 kg.
In 1974 Mr. Nordell, who had been nominated as a captain of industry, built a gorgeous detached house to Rinteentie. From the terrace of the house he could see his own company’s main entrance. The house had 650 m2 and it had a garage and a storage building and a so called janitor’s flat.
In 1995 Tina Kesälä’s father, businessman Pasi Anttila, purchased Fjalar Nordell’s former home. Anttila suggested to her daughter that the building could be renovated and adjusted into a gasthaus style inn, called Gasthaus Villa Fjalar. After some changes the private home became a unique small hotel which opened in November 1997. In the beginning there were only 13 rooms but in year 2000 the hotel was extended with seven new rooms. In 2005 the breakfast room was extended and a meeting room was built.
The name of the hotel is Hotel Fjalar, as we wanted to have a little bit of Salo’s history in the name and to honor Fjalar Nordell’s remarkable career as a pioneer of radio and TV technology. The story of Fjalar goes on!