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Drechslerei Martin - Erzgebirge

Like so many successful stories of the Erzgebirge (ore Mountain region), the one of Drechslerei Martin (Wood Turnery Martin) from Kleinhartmannsdorf begins in winter: Like his father, the founder of the company, Ernst Luis Auerbach, born in 1851, was a bricklayer. Like many others, he had no job in the cold, snowy winter. And like many craftsmen he needed another mainstay to get into the next season. Although Auerbach remained a full-time bricklayer until the turn of the century, in 1877 he was also employed as a wood turner, producing knobs, columns and rosettes for furniture. His son-in-law Richard Martin continued the business and converted the production to chess figures. After the turmoil of the first half of the 20th century with two world wars in which he had to fight on several sides, was a prisoner of war and guard over prisoners of war, Richard Martin returned to Germany and became mayor of Kleinhartmannsdorf. He finally rebuilt the company and expanded the range of chess pieces by further toys and arts and crafts products. Richard Martin's son Johannes finally introduced the numerous smoking men in demand in the 1970s. As chief master of the wood turner guild, Johannes Martin trained many important wood artists of the Erzgebirge, among others Björn Köhler who is very successful with his modern figures - as well as his own son Torsten Martin, the current owner of the Wood Turnery Martin.

Drechslerei Martin Figurines

In order not to be dependent on Christmas business, Torsten Martin developed animal figures that were independent of the season at an early stage. In 2002 and 2010 he won the prestigious "Tradition and Form" award for his animal series. One of his most important series is the large cat family. The cats made by Wood Turnery Martin are handy, very smoothly polished and stained with respect for the grain of the high-quality wood. They are available in different colors from white to yellow, brown and grey or black. The many members of the cat family are assembled by hand with loving precision. By their natural poses you can tell that Torsten Martin is a lover of cats and of course his own cat has given him many inspirations. The cats Bommel, Charly, Emmi or Hilde come into your living room, nicely cuddling, fishing, lying in wait, carrying hearts or flowers. The funny members of the penguin family with their children and babies, or the seals, seagulls and frog figurines made by Torsten Martin’s workshop have the same innocent charm as his cats. Each item is a real piece of Erzgebirge wood and folk art - not only for cat lovers.

Show 1 to 50 (of in total 64 products)

Show 1 to 50 (of in total 64 products)
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Erzgebirge-Palace is rated 4.88 out of 5 Stars based on 1387 opinions. Hauptstr. 17-19/Geb. 6305, 55120Mainz, RP, DE

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