It had to be wood
(Interviewed in 2021)
Dagmar Möbius
Matthias Merten’s earliest childhood memory is of a small toy car made out of wood. The 65-year-old was born in the Ore Mountains, the son of a master wooden toymaker. His passion for this sustainable material led him to study Wood and Fiber Material Technology at TU Dresden.
For 20 years, he has been making Räuchermänner (literally ‘smoking men’), traditional German incense burners, in the town of Seiffen on the German-Czech border. He bases his designs on the original historical models. He revealed to Kontakt-online why he is not fond of making ‘smoking women’.
His childhood toy collections of horses, cows and pigs were made of wood, of course. “Back then, there weren’t yet many toys made of plastic,” notes Matthias Merten, thinking back to his childhood. His father, Klaus Merten (deceased in 2018), was a master wooden toymaker and worked as a restorer in Seiffen’s Toy Museum from 1959 to 1984. “I picked up a lot of woodworking skills from him, even as a child,” he says. After graduating from high school in 1975, Matthias Merten was certain his future career “had to be something with wood.” His dream? To work in the prestigious Ore Mountain wood industry.
Matthias Merten first started his studies in 1978, as he had to spend three years in the National People’s Army of the German Democratic Republic (GDR) before being able to pursue his studies. Merten, by then the father of a young son, found TU Dresden ideal not only because it was the only institution of higher education offering his course, but also because of its proximity to his home region. He studied Wood and Fiber Material Technology until 1983. “There was a lot more to it than pure woodworking,” he recalls. In his engineering thesis, he explored the optimization of woodcutting for the furniture industry. His Diplom thesis considered if and how asbestos fibers can be removed by wood fibers in concrete mixtures. ”At the time, there was a lot of research on this at TUD,” Merten says. He remembers with fondness his advisor – Professor Fischer – the academic work and the multi-faceted nature of the course, which included fiberglass and particleboard technology. “Learning something new is never a bad idea,” he laughs.
The town of Seiffen has been producing wooden toys for centuries. At the beginning of the 20th century, importing countries imposed a weight duty. In response, one of the manufacturers, H.E. Langer, advanced a trend in miniaturization and created toys that fit in matchboxes.
After completing his studies in 1990 and earning himself a Diplom in Engineering, Matthias Merten worked as a technologist at a large wooden toy-manufacturing firm called VEB VERO Olbernhau, which belonged to the Kombinat Spielwaren Sonneberg, a GDR toy-making conglomerate. The Vereinigten Olbernhauer Spielwarenbetriebe (English: United Toymakers of Olbernhau) comprised over 100 production sites throughout the Ore Mountains. This large-scale enterprise’s product range encompassed everything from the manufacture of wooden toys to the production of household decorations and model railroad accessories. As Senior Head of the Technology Department, it was Matthias Merten’s job to decide what they produced, when, and with what equipment. Merten shared an anecdote with us to illustrate his working life in the GDR: “We wanted to expand to the North American market, but GDR toys were on the United States’ embargo list. We tried to find a way around this and found a partner in Colombia who wanted to manufacture toys in the GDR. It wasn’t easy to arrange all this, as we weren’t allowed to travel there. Working together with the wood designer Dr. Helmut Flade, we developed sample products, defined the production processes and built the necessary machinery. This was all waiting to be shipped at the port in Rostock when the Wall fell and Germany became one country again. We never found out what became of the project...”
After the dismantling of VEB VERO Olbernhau, Matthias Merten worked as an employee of a private investment consulting firm, as a product manager in the furniture industry and as an automobile salesman. In 1998, he began working in his father’s workshop producing Seiffen folk art. Two years later, he assumed management of the business as a partner with his father and later started his Räuchermann-Manufaktur (incense burner workshop) with his wife, Birgit. “My hat’s off to her,” said the woodworker, who also doubles as the bookkeeper and janitor for their barbershop. He has great respect for his wife for running a successful company that employs four people in the German-Czech border region.
You can get a glimpse into the tradition of wooden toy making in the Ore Mountains in Seiffen’s Toy Museum, which reopened in 1953.
His own professional history is a good example of the absurdity of German bureaucracy. The master toymaker profession was subject to protected master craftsman status, then for a few years it wasn’t, and now it is yet again. This meant that Matthias Merten had to employ his father as a master craftsman for a time, otherwise he may have been forced to close his business. ”I was allowed to build wooden load-bearing structures for bridges or half-timbered houses, but I couldn’t produce incense burners,” he says, shaking his head. Thankfully, his many years of working in the industry have granted him the right to continue practicing this traditional craft.
His workday begins at 7 am. He begins by sorting through his emails and post at home. When he arrives at his workshop, he often starts by packing products for delivery. After this, Matthias Merten commences with the production of his Räuchermänner. “Every day is different.” He no longer makes nutcrackers or wooden dolls, perhaps the archetype of wooden toys. “Here in the Ore Mountains, there are lots of businesses that specialize in these areas.” The figurines he and his sister-in-law make are 95 percent handmade and painted fully by hand. He bases his own designs on historical ones created in Seiffen around 1870. Most of the orders he receives for his Räuchermänner are single orders, but occasionally he is commissioned for a small series. His most popular designs include Karl Stülpner (the Robin Hood of the Ore Mountains), mountaineers, the Captain of Köpenick (a local folk hero) and Canadian ”Mounties.” “I’ve found a niche in the market,” says Matthias Merten happily. Outside of the Christmas season, he makes custom incense burners for fraternities and rifle associations.
He is not keen on producing female incense burners. His reasons for this are grounded in tradition. “Historically speaking, men smoked in salons or smoking rooms – not in public places. It was unbecoming for a woman to be seen smoking” he explains. “Aesthetically, it just doesn’t look good to see smoke billowing from a woman’s mouth.” Whenever he does make female incense burners, they hold smoking objects instead. His gingerbread baker holds a steaming basket and his dumpling cook holds a steaming pot. These figures have repeatedly posed new problems for the woodworker. He cites supply bottlenecks for glass and for some varnishes and paints. Nevertheless, Matthias Merten wants to continue making Räuchermänner as long as he enjoys it. If you would like to visit Matthias Merten, please contact him in advance.
Contact:
Räuchermann Manufaktur Klaus Merten
Matthias & Birgit Merten GbR
- Matthias Merten -
Am Reicheltberg 1
09548 Seiffen
Tel. +49 (0) 37362 76177
E-Mail
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