Workshops

How exactly do these precious tiny creations from theWendt & Kühn workshops which have kindled such incomparable fascination come to be? Their origin lies in the rich treasure trove of artistic productivity with which the family-run company has been blessed, first from Grete Wendt and and then later Olly Wendt. It remains the basis for everything we produce – faithful to the originals – to this very day.

Mindful of our obligation to stay true to our historical designs, the genesis of our cheerful little figurines first starts in the lumberyard of our Grünhainichen workshops. Wooden planks arriving here are first left out to dry. It takes a good two years before they are cut into square, flat or rounded profiles ready for further processing. Each wooden piece is thereafter worked on the lathe with different iron tools. The adept hands of the woodturners coax out initial physical contours and rotationally symmetric components which are then cut, milled and polished into their final shapes. But there’s still many more hours of meticulous handcrafting ahead before these simple basic forms become fully-fledged final masterpieces.

Miniscule parts are often glued together. Still embryonic in nature, the Grünhainichen Angels®, for example, thereby slowly take form from body, instrument and wings. Before the figurines can be painted in such intricate detail, a coating of usually white primer is applied.

It all starts with an even light-colored base undercoat to give the paint which comes later a warm radiance. To ensure that the later paint layers will have just the right thickness, the figurines are placed onto needle-like rods after being dipped in their primer bath and twirled like whisks. This spins off any excess primer and the now uniformly even base coat is
left to harden.

Along with their inspired figurative form, the childlike miniatures owe their exuberance to their masterly painting. Experienced hands painstakingly apply fine brush strokes to each figurine, accessory item and music box. The colors and the embellishments which bring these tiny beings to life were dictated decades ago in the original designs, which still serve as a guideline for our experienced painters today.

The finishing touches: the skilled hands of the toymakers now carefully apply the final details to these masterpieces in miniature and mark the underside of each base with the initials “W. u. K.” to authenticate their origin.

The company’s logos have undergone only a few changes during the more than 100 years of its history. Sometimes for historical reasons, sometimes for artistic ones. We have put together for you a detailed overview of all the Wendt & Kühn logos.

Fine German craftsmanship at its most beautiful – the hallmark of each and every product from Wendt & Kühn. Distinguished by an utterly unmistakable artistic design. Spirited, playful and brimming with childlike enthusiasm, compositions become poetic vignettes, radiating the same sense of harmony today as they did back in the very beginning. Nice to know that such things are still possible…