In the footsteps of Mathias Topp, The Hook Maker, the inventor who turned Mustad into the global leader in fishing hooks
Mathias Topp, the father of the machine "The Hook Maker", is the man who laid the foundations for Mustad's success in the global fishing hook industry. Shoemaker, tailor, watchmaker, carpenter and mechanic, a completely self-taught craftsman, born with the spirit of invention. From the watch workshops in the villages Norway to the machines that revolutionized industry and the management of international factories, Topp remains a visionary forgotten by history.
Without Mathias Topp, Mustad would never have become what it is today. We, as fishermen, probably would not have benefited from the most efficient fishing hooks in such a short time. Whether these now bear the name Mustad or not. Let's give the Norwegian what's the Norwegian's. The story of Mathias Topp and the automatic fishing hook making machine Mustad The Hook Maker.. If you haven't read the article History of Mustad 1832 – 2025, I recommend you do it before moving on.
Mathias Topp The Hook Maker, from shoemaker to industrial designer
Mathias Topp was born in 1840, in Vardal, an agricultural area in the south Norway, part of the county Inland NEAR Gjovik, in a modest family. His father was a farmer and shoemaker, and crafts were in his blood from childhood. He worked with his hands, observed the mechanisms around him, and was attracted to everything that meant precision.
As a teenager, he went from village to village repairing clocks. With each cog adjusted, he prepared himself for the great mechanisms of industry. He even built his own mechanisms, in the style of "clocks" Totem. After finishing school, he became an apprentice to a carpenter and began learning industrial design under the guidance of the craftsman Aschenbach.
In 1862, got hired at Mustad as a carpenter. Although the region was underdeveloped and local industry was suffering, Mustad was quickly becoming a major name in the production of metal items. Topp began creating wooden and cardboard models for various tools, which he tested before turning them into functional metal parts.
In 1863, was promoted to designer at the factory in Brusveen. By then he had already invented a wool carding machine, and he soon became one of the company's key people. He worked on machines for shoe nails, staples, boxes, and other products that required technical innovation.
In 1865, at just 25 years old, married Eline Larsdatter Bakkom.. They had nine children, and the first, Olaf, was born shortly after. In this context he moved to the farm Heimdall from the working-class neighborhood Briskebyen From Gjovik, in an area with wooden houses and industrial bustle. His family became a stable pillar in his professional life, but also a source of inspiration, many of his children would follow in their footsteps in the technical and industrial fields.
In 1871, Topp perfected a new wool carding machine at the factory Mustad. He then designed a stapler and a system for cardboard packaging. These were initially used in the match factory. Rødfos, then adapted to the ammunition factory Raufoss.. His technical thinking was becoming increasingly valuable in the architecture of the company's expansion, Mustad.
Mathias Topp's first steps towards the invention that became The Hook Maker
At International Exhibition at Christiania, in 1876, Mathias Topp he noticed an American machine that mass-produced horseshoes on an assembly line. Christiania (the current Oslo) was a meeting point for engineers and merchants of the time, and Topp He memorized the entire process and the idea of complete automation immediately took hold of him. Back in his workshop, he began to reconstruct the mechanism from memory. And he succeeded.
For a man of the time, seeing a continuous production line was a vision of the future. For Topp, was a personal challenge. But his real revelation wasn't about horseshoes. He realized that the same principle could be applied to fishing hooks, which until then had been made by hand, piece by piece. He began designing a simple and ingenious machine: a steel wire would go in on one side, and out the other would come identical, perfectly formed, ready-to-use fishing hooks.
Until November 1877, the machine was fully functional. It was a revolutionary piece of engineering: a steel wire went in at one end, and identical hooks came out at the other, ready for use. It was simply named: The Hook Maker. It was the first automated machine for manufacturing fishing hooks in the world. Thanks to this invention, Mustad it quickly became the main supplier for fishermen around the world.
The technological secret of the car became the company's best-kept industrial secret, Mustad. To protect the process from economic espionage, the company created a real defense system: the plans were encrypted, the location of the machine was unknown even to some employees, and all workers were bound by a lifetime oath of confidentiality.
The factory motto was simple and firm: Act, don't talk..
"Not even my wife goes near the hook-making machine", he said Hans Mustad. And one day, a new guard, who didn't recognize him, kicked one of his sons out of the workshop.
Mustad security measures around The Hook Maker
The level of secrecy surrounding his invention Mathias Topp, called The Hook Maker, reached unimaginable limits. Staff from different departments were not allowed to communicate with each other, and salespeople were completely isolated from each other. Everything was organized as if in a reverse espionage operation.
To hide the production flow and areas of interest, countries were named by codes: Brazil became "Leyer", England "Lan", United States of America "Ikan", and Canada "Canikan." Nothing written came out of the offices. Technical plans could not be copied, fake rulers were used, and the assembly of the hooks was done in separate rooms, in complete isolation.
It may seem exaggerated, but the question remains: was all this effort worth it?
Looking back, yes. In the hook factory's 100-plus years of existence, there were only one or two occasions when an employee was found to have broken his oath of silence and worked for a competitor. But the safeguards went even further. Mustad he never applied for a patent for his machine Mathias Topp, The Hook Maker.
It was a strategic choice. A patent opened the door to copying. A well-guarded secret, on the other hand, was impregnable.
PerfectingţThe Hook Maker. How fishing hooks were refined
His invention Mathias Topp, the machinery The Hook Maker continued to be perfected. From a simple system that transformed wire into fishing hooks, the process became increasingly sophisticated. This evolution transformed the fishing hook into a precision object, the result of a meticulous technological chain.
After the initial formation of the hooks in automatic machines, a whole chain of treatments followed: hardening by heating and cooling in oil, degreasing, return for flexibility, polishing and applying finishes such as Soldering, Nickel, Gold or dyeing.
In parallel, the technical teams were constantly working laboratory tests. Check the chemical composition of the steel, tensile strength, durability and rust protection. Complaints from fishermen were rare, but taken seriously. Most of the time, the hook had been damaged during casting, after it had reached a branch, a stone or other obstacle.
Packaging varied depending on the model. Some hooks were put into boxes by hand, others by machine. The very small ones were called "powder hooks", so fine that they sometimes stuck to the skin without you even realizing it. Even fishermen had difficulty tying the line to these models.
Each box contained exactly 100 hooks, with a margin of error of no more than three pieces. Instead, the most sensitive detail was not the number, but label.. In England, blue label it was used for hooks Carlisle, the green one for Snack, and the red one for O'Shaughnessy.. These colors have become a universal language of trust between Mustad and anglers around the world.
If they didn't meet expectations, fishermen would reject the box. The contents mattered less than the color the eye was accustomed to. This is how the first marketing lessons were born.
Mustad expansion in France, Mathias Topp and the Duclair factory
Mathias Topp he was not only a brilliant engineer thanks to the invention of machinery The Hook Maker. He continued as an industrial strategist and visionary leader, sent by Mustad to create a solid base in Western Europe. After Even Amlund was appointed to the management of the factory Mustad From Lilleaker, next to Oslo, in 1876, Topp took over the management of the parent company from Brusveen, in Gjovik, recognized at the time as a model of social organization.
Once in this position, Topp began traveling to support the company's international expansion. After the war in 1870, France had drastically limited imports. Nails could no longer be brought from abroad, although iron continued to circulate. In this context, Mustad decided to open factories outside Norway, and Mathias Topp was chosen to coordinate these expansions.
We find it in Finland in the 1886, and in the summer of 1891, Hans Mustad arrives in France to identify a suitable location for a new factory. Choose the city Duclair a key city in Normandy, with strategic access to Seine and to the French railway networks. In September 1891, the documents are submitted to the prefecture and the land known as Bouillons mill.
Shortly after this stage, Mathias Topp arrives and moves to Duclair. Coordination of the work begins immediately, with materials sent from Norway and with other transports on the road, accompanied by 28 production machines. In a few months, the hall takes shape. From December 1891, the factory becomes operational, and the first products come off the production line. The workers were mostly Norwegian and Swedish, and the launch proved an immediate success.
It was the beginning of a new phase for Mustad: from local production to a European manufacturing network. Also in 1891, his son, Einar Topp, an engineer by profession, took over the management of the factory Mustad From Gjovik, while his father was at Duclair, in full construction. At that time, Mathias Topp perfect their knowledge of English and German, which he had taught himself so he could read specialized magazines and stay connected to the world's latest technologies.
In 1894, the factory already had 200 employees, of which 30 Scandinavians.. Although in April 1893 a fire had destroyed the engine room and the sharpening workshop, Mustad quickly resumed production. In the same year a new worker colony, and in the following decades, under the visionary leadership of Clarin Mustad, essential innovations were implemented: the technique cold forging, patented in 1908, a hydraulic turbine installed in 1911, expanding production in 1910, the acquisition of a new factory in 1913 and the transition to electricity in the 1920.
Mathias Topp The Hook Maker, Mustad Ambassador to the United States of America
Outside the company Mustad, Mathias Topp, the inventor of the machine The Hook Maker, had become one of the most respected figures in Norwegian industry. In 1893, received a subsidy from the state to represent Norway TO Chicago World's Fair. A moment of international recognition for inventions Mustad and for Norway industrial. It was sent as a living symbol of Scandinavian know-how in a grand context: the fair attracted over 27 million visitors in just six months.
During his stay in United States, Mathias Topp reunited with his son, Olaf, settled there. Olaf Topp was to become an acclaimed architect. One of his landmark projects was Jenkins Arcade, an emblematic building in Pittsburgh, built near Empire Building. At that time we want Pittsburgh, an American industrial hub, was the perfect place for a descendant of Mathias Topp, in an era of steel and inventions.
Also in Chicago, Mathias Topp he also met his eldest daughter, increase, who had emigrated to 1890. She had settled in the city and embraced a profession that her father did not approve of: photography. In 1897, Marie Topp returned to Gjovik and, despite her father's insistence on giving up this unstable activity, she decided to open her own workshop on Storgata 6.. The studio had operated in that location ten years before. Hilda Julin.. Marie would become known for her portraits of children.
In a short visit, Marie Topp he met his brother again Einar, who had also left for America.. He boarded the ship. The bell From Liverpool and arrived at New York on April 16, 1898.. Then he settled in Pittsburgh, where he worked as an engineer.
Mathias Topp's return to Gjøvik, new inventions and community involvement
After traveling through France and United States, Mathias Topp continued his work within the company Mustad. Towards the end of the years 1890, worked on the development of a sewing machines, alongside Clarin Mustad and Peder Loken. He also created a match making machine, known as "top scoop machine", later sold to the factory Rødfos Match Factory.
Each mechanism was a bridge between classical craftsmanship and industrialism. Even the simplest objects became, in his hands, mass-produced. At the turn of the 20th century, the factory in Gjovik was already in operation for approximately twenty hook production machines, all built based on his designs Mathias Topp. Everything was working at full capacity.
In addition to these technical achievements, Topp actively contributed to the development of the community. He coordinated the construction of a water pumps on the river Hunnselva, intended to supply the neighborhood Briskebyen. He was also the chairman of the construction committee of the school in Gjøvik, but also one of the people responsible for city public lighting.
The Mathias Topp family and the continuing connection to Gjøvik, the industrial city
At the census in 1900, Mathias Topp lived in Gjovik along with three of his daughters: increase, Clara and Amalia, as well as with Anna Kristine Kristensen, a 17-year-old girl who worked as a maid. A period that clearly marks the transition from global inventor to pillar of the local community.
Also in 1900, his son Markus Topp, engineer, left for United States, where he joined his brothers. He remained there until 1904, after which he returned to his family in Gjovik.
In 1905, Marie Topp and Markus they established Gjøvik tennis club, along with three other enthusiasts, forming the first board of directors. It is said that tennis had been viewed with reluctance in Norway at first, but it was introduced in Gjovik of British employees of the company Mustad. Oral tradition says that Markus Topp brought the sport from England. Neighboring cities Hamar and Lillehammer already had tennis clubs in operation when the Topp family founded the one in Gjovik.
Another brother, Bernt Topp, was married to Pollie Haynes, his daughter Henry Haynes, an Englishman settled in Vardal.
At the census in 1910, Einar Topp was living with his father again, Mathias Topp. Both were widowers. At the same address, Storgata 45, in the neighborhood Briskebyen, lived and increase and Markus Topp, who had not married.
In these years, Mathias Topp not only did he remain professionally active, but he also consolidated his role as an emblematic figure in the city's cultural life. He was one of the initiators of the chess in Gjøvik, contributing to the establishment of one of the oldest professional clubs in Norway, a natural extension of his strategic mind and passion for precision.
In 1920, after a career spanning over half a century, received Royal Gold Medal for Merit from the side Norwegian Royal House, a distinction given to those who have made outstanding contributions to the nation. It was the ultimate recognition for a man who had redefined tools, processes, and destinies.
At that time, Mathias Topp was still active, being officially registered as "Factory Director for Hooks, Hairpins, Needles, Buttons, Safety Pins, Books".. A life dedicated to work, which did not stop even at 70 years old, the symbol of a man who left his mark on every nail, hook and neighborhood in Gjovik.
This is the end, beautiful friend
Mathias Topp he only retired from activity in 1920, at the age of 80 years.. Even after this moment, he continued to craft every day. He had set up a small carpentry workshop in his own home, where he was seen working patiently until near the end of his life.
Before his death, Hans Mustad he left written in his will that his funeral Mathias Topp it had to be organized with the same honor as his. Hans Mustad died in 1918, and Mathias Topp in the 1930.
The funeral procession was opened by factory marching band, and at the entrance to the factory a sign was erected honor guard. The employees lined up along the road, in silence. A road that had begun with a wire and an idea and that led, forever, to the Mustad factories.
Today, in the north of the city Gjovik, a road leaves from the area Mustardflåa and bears his name: Mathias Topp. The path that started from the raw wire and ended up with a perfect hook.
Mathias Topp's story lives on today, through us
In 1877, when Mathias Topp set the first machine in motion The Hook Maker, forever changed the way fishing hooks were made. A strand of wire went in one end, and out the other came identical, perfect hooks, ready to fish.
Today, at 193 years old since the company was founded Mustad, this story goes on. It lives on through the hooks. It lives on through the factories. But most of all it lives on through the people, through their hands, through their stories, through every fisherman who now has every fishing hook he could want.
When you choose Mustad, you're not just buying hooks. You're buying almost two centuries of history. You buy innovation and tradition at the same time. The fact that now, when you buy a fishing hook perfectly adapted to your wishes and needs, you receive a tool that works flawlessly is thanks to Mathias Topp.
And the rest of the products Mustad, from gear to accessories, keeps the connection alive with something deeper, a web of emotions and memories shared by fishermen around the world. In Romania, through the stores Arrow International, the legacy Mustad Today, it reaches even closer to those who understand and respect it.
The Mustad story continues…
This is not just a story from the past. It is a bridge between generations, a line that connects fishermen, workers, engineers and dreamers from all over the world. If you have lived in Gjovik, in Galati, at Rusca Montana, Timisoara or any other place where the hooks Mustad were produced or used, then you are also part of this thread.
Maybe you inherited a box of old hooks from your grandfather's chest. Or you found a worn label at a fair, a photo of a hook lost in time, or you remember your father telling you stories on the boat about "the good ones, the Norwegian ones." It all matters.
The story of Mathias Topp, The Hook Maker, is not complete without the voices of those who have felt its effects. If you know a story, a name, an object, a memory, send me a message.
Every detail is like a wire that enters The Hook Maker: from it emerges a new hook, a link in the chain of this industrial and human heritage.
This is not just a documentary. It's a living construct. And you have a place in it.
Send me a comment, a photo, or an email. Any piece can help us complete this puzzle.
Bibliography and documentary sources Mathias Topp, The Hook Maker
Duclair Mustad – Jumieges.fr
An extremely well-documented article about the expansion of Mustad in France, the construction of the Duclair factory and the economic context of the time. It includes details about the chosen location, how production was organized, but also about the families formed under the direct influence of Mathias Topp and his descendants.
http://jumieges.free.fr/Duclair_Mustad.html
History of the Fish Hook and the Story of Mustard – Cambridge.org
Review of a work signed by Hans Jørgen Hurum, one of the most complete sources on the history of the fishing hook and the fundamental role of the company Mustad in this evolution.
https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/antiquaries-journal/article/abs/history-of-the-fish-hook-and-the-story-of-mustad-the-hook-maker-by-hans-jorgen-hurum-25-175-cm-pp-148-8-colour-pls-100-figs-london-a-c-black-1977-395/301E9DF1171D3868DB7202433F7BA269
History of Mustad 1832–2025 – AndyArif.ro
A broad foray into the company's history Mustad, from the first wires produced in Norway, to hooks distributed on all continents, margarine, automobiles and other inventions that have captured the entire world.
https://andyarif.ro/en/history-of-mustard-1832-2025-from-fishing-hooks-to-cars-margarine-and-other-inventions-that-took-the-whole-world/
Mustad Bedriftsmuseum – Raufoss Rotary club
Description of the former Mustad industrial museum in Raufoss., where the original machinery was exhibited, including The Hook Maker designed by Mathias Topp. Although currently closed, the museum remains a reference point for any historical information related to the Mustad company.
https://raufoss.rotary.no/no/nyhetsdetaljer/126
Gjøvik and Toten's Chess History
Published by Norsk Sjakkforlag, author: Øystein Brekke, with contributions from other authors, including Terje Paulsberg.
https://bergensjakk.no/pdf/Gj%C3%B8vik_og_Totens_sjakkhistorie_side_2-11.pdf
Special thanks
Thanks to the members of the Facebook groups that keep history alive Gjovik, Mustad, Mathias Topp and Norwegian industry:
Mustad History
https://www.facebook.com/groups/303322651283389
Gjøvik's Lost History (GTH)
https://www.facebook.com/groups/55530699747
Gjøvik og Totens Bedriftshistorie
https://www.facebook.com/groups/159873384485603/
Instead of a postscript
And last but not least, special thanks to Dr. Hook.. You will soon find out who it is.
A new article with exclusive details about Mustad hooks, especially those dedicated to fly fishing. Dr. Hook. it's been a while 16 years old one of Mustad's hook designers and product manager. A passionate angler with an impressive career and a rare insight into the art behind every successful hook.
And for him, it all started in Gjovik.
Will follow.
Don't miss the article about Mustad History 1832-2025!
