BERING

HISTORY

The Arctic means a lot to founder Michael Witt Johansen from Denmark, as his father traveled to Greenland and the Faroer Islands as a salesman for more than 25 years, bringing stories and images from there which have been a very important part of his life. The walls of his parents’ home in Denmark are adorned with photos, paintings and art pieces from Greenland. To keep being up to date with the happenings there, they have also subscribed to a Greenland newspaper for years. Michael Witt Johansen trips to Greenland enabled him to create great memories by experiencing the spectacular nature. A cornerstone of the BERING story, is Michael Witt Johansen‘s friend and cofounder René Kaerskov who parachute jumped on the North Pole. The purpose for his parachtue jump was to raise public awarness for the global warming by promoting the “Earth Hour”. With this movement, he tried to motivate millions of people around the world to switch off their lights for one hour in support of the nature and our planet. When René sent Michael his photos from his journey to the Northpole, it was two stories coming together to one idea. It’s BERING Time!

Michael Witt Johansen and his former business partner Lars Gram- Skjønnemann started developing the BERING Design Concept „inspired by arctic beauty“. It’s a combination of the Arctic beauty and the root elements of the world-famous, modern, timeless Danish-design. The Arctic was a huge inspiration for BERING from day one, and became the foundation and constant inspiration for the BERING brand ever since. BERING truly cares about the Arctic and the environment, one of the reasons BERING has continually supported Polar Bears International through the sales of its charity watches, which has raised funds of more than $250,000 USD.

GREAT CONCEPT AND DESIGN NEEDS A GREAT NAME

Exactly 280 years ago, the Danish conqueror Vitus Bering started his adventurous journey: in 1728 he set sail for an almost unknown area of the Arctic Ocean. On his journey he crossed the straits which would later be named the Bering Strait in his honour. Since Vitus Bering was the first Euorpean, who discovered Alaska, the four time zones were named after him: Bering-Time!