Heissner gnomes                                                   More pictures

When August Heissner, the company’s founder, began producing garden gnomes in the Thuringian town of Gräfenroda in the year 1872. His idea was to create products which would bring people joy and relaxation.

August Heissner, widely known as the "inventor" of the German garden gnome, started his  business over 130 years ago. He made his gnomes exclusively out of ceramic and then lovingly hand painted them. The gnomes were shipped throughout Europe and then the world. Between 1914-1945 the company came to a standstill but by the 1950's there was a renaissance of the  garden gnome and the Company prospered. The 1960's saw the introduction of the first cheap plastic gnomes by competing manufacturers but Heissner took on the competition by introducing a plastic range of gnomes and survived. Garden gnomes are still  being made and distributed throughout the world.

The former ceramics factory has developed in the course of a century into a modern business, operating globally. Heissner plc, situated in the Hessian town of Lauterbach, today occupies a leading position in the production and marketing of modern garden equipment.

Detail from an old Heissner catalogue/1930's

 

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