With Love for Detail Since 1991
The Rothenburg Christmas Workshop celebrates its 35th anniversary!
Where Chance Encounters Lead to New Paths
As with so much in the history of Käthe Wohlfahrt, the Rothenburg Christmas Workshop also came about through an unexpected turn of events. Time and again, it was special circumstances, happy coincidences and the courage to forge new paths that shaped the development of the family business.
From company founder Wilhelm Wohlfahrt's flight to the West, through the founding of the business, to the move to Rothenburg ob der Tauber in Franconia: time and again, difficult or unexpected situations gave rise to new opportunities and possibilities.
A Historic Turning Point and a New Idea
With the fall of the inner-German border in 1989, the circumstances surrounding Käthe Wohlfahrt also changed. The company's previous privilege of buying handcrafted goods directly from the Erzgebirge and distributing them in the West and internationally would lose its significance with reunification.
At the same time, Harald Wohlfahrt recognised the opportunity to take a new path: with its own design department, distinctive Christmas decorations bearing a signature style would be created in future. This vision led to the founding of the Rothenburg Christmas Workshop in 1991 – laying the foundation for Käthes Original.
The Birth of Käthes Original
The Rothenburg Christmas Workshop was finally founded in 1991. Here, the first designs were created for the Christmas decorations that would lay the foundation for Käthes Original.
Among the early ideas were designs and patterns by Harald Wohlfahrt, some of which had already been created during his student years in Heidelberg. These were joined by the creations of artist Gudrun Galler, whose work is likely still familiar to many long-standing Käthe Wohlfahrt customers today.
From these early ideas grew a remarkable success story. The wooden, hand-painted Käthes Originale designed in the Rothenburg Christmas Workshop still stand today for the distinctive design and love of detail that have characterised Käthe Wohlfahrt for decades.
Alongside the exclusive Limitierte Edition Kindertraum, the wooden Knoddl Father Christmas is one of the earliest and, to this day, most popular Käthes Originale. This charming Father Christmas figure has been a permanent part of the range since 1991 – a piece of living history of the Rothenburg Christmas Workshop.
35 years on, the Rothenburg Christmas Workshop still stands for what began in 1991 with a bold idea: distinctive Christmas decorations, designed and created with love for detail, to carry the joy of Christmas from generation to generation.