Erzgebirgische Volkskunst Ruth und Roland Paul

Original Erzgebirge Folk Art Member of the Erzgebirge Toy Museum Association Member of the Erzgebirge Folk Art Trade Association

ABOUT US
At the end of the 1960s, our wholesaler's Christmas catalog featured smoking men as decorations. We liked these figures, and since smoking candles were already being sold in my grandfather's drugstore, we asked the manufacturer of the catalog where we could purchase them. This decoration company was able to sell us a few, but the following year, the Christmas catalog was naturally decorated with something else. So we went to the Frankfurt trade fair and were able to make contact with a West German importer of folk art from the Ore Mountains. There we also learned that our smoker came from a factory in the Federal Republic of Germany that is now based in the Erzgebirge. Since the minimum export limit to Switzerland could not be met by purchasing only various smokers, we added a few pyramids to the order. No sooner had we displayed the products from the Erzgebirge at home than they were sold. So off we went to the Frankfurt trade fair again. Unfortunately, at the beginning of the 1970s, we had to look for a new importer in the Federal Republic of Germany, as the previous wholesaler no longer carried goods from the Ore Mountains. After a few years, we asked the Swiss general representative for Erzgebirge folk art if we could purchase the products directly, but according to him, this was not possible due to a lack of sales in Switzerland and a lack of purchasing quota in the GDR. After a few years, our purchasing volume from the wholesaler had grown to such an extent that we were able to purchase the first limited-edition specialties for ourselves, such as products from Wendt & Kühn, Walter Werner, Wolfgang Glöckner, Günter Leichsenring, Klaus Merten, and others. Despite repeated inquiries to Demusa in Suhl and the GDR embassy in Bern, we were unable to purchase directly, but we were invited to exhibit our goods in Basel to celebrate the 35th anniversary of the GDR. Since we had no acquaintances in the GDR and a guided bus tour through the GDR was not to our liking, we were only granted a visa to visit the Leipzig Trade Fair, where, however, as we were not wholesalers and there was no quota for wood products from Switzerland, we were unable to make any purchases. In the early 1980s, we got in touch with a family in Olbernhau, which enabled us to visit the GDR for the first time in 1986 and, with a visitor's visa, to leave the Leipzig district. Various attempts to order goods directly at the Leipzig Trade Fair and have them delivered via wholesalers were unsuccessful. It was only after reunification that the tide turned, and today we carry Erzgebirge folk art from over 100 artisans. Thanks to the success of sales exhibitions at the Swiss Mustermesse, the Herbstwarenmesse, and the Christmas market in Basel, our product range has grown to over 6,000 items. The popularity of the Ore Mountains and their folk art was greatly enhanced by the participation of various artisans who demonstrated the manufacture of their products at our exhibitions and were able to sell them themselves.