Photo Gallery Nutcracker Town Gets Ready for Christmas
Craftsman Hermann Nestler, 74, works on his own and specializes in assembling decorative, wooden arches called Schwibbögen -- a typical Christmas ornament seen on window ledges around Germany at Christmas. He produced 200 arches this year, a fraction of his peak output of 1,000 in 1998, and plans to make even fewer in 2013. "Next year I'm just going to going to use up the materials I've got left," he says.
Jürgen Beer assembles nutcrackers at the Seiffener Volkskunst Christmas decorations workshop. The average age of toymakers in the industry is mid-to-late 50's. "The lack of new skilled workers to keep production going is our main problem in the medium and long-term future," Dieter Uhlmann, director of the Association of Erzgebirge Artisans and Toymakers, told SPIEGEL ONLINE. "It's partly demographic. Many young people left this region after unification. But we also have relatively low wages compared with other sectors, because our profits tend to be low."
Visitors looks at hand-made wooden Christmas pyramids in one of the many shops specializing in hand-made, wooden Christmas decorations in Seiffen. Under communism, there were just two retail outlets in Seiffen, and long queues would form outside them before Christmas.
The nutcracker was invented in Seiffen around 1890. "The modern idea of a family Christmas didn't become established until the first half of the 19th century, and Erzgebirge families developed their own forms of wooden decoration at that time," said Konrad Auerbach, director of the Seiffen Toy Museum. "Initially they were intended just to decorate their own homes. They only started selling them after 1900."
Finished hand-made, wooden Christmas figures are displayed at the Seiffener Volkskunst Christmas decorations manufactory in Seiffen.
A tree being carved. It takes years to train a Seiffen artisan. But the pay, averaging just 8.50 per hour, is deterring young people from joining the profession.
The famous church of Seiffen.
And a model of the Seiffen church, fitted on a wooden arch, and assembled by Seiffen artisan Hermann Nestler. The church is a firm fixture in Seiffen woodscraft designs.
The Erzgebirge craftsmen and women have been making a living from woodworking ever since the decline of the mining sector here in the 17th century. They started out making everyday objects like chairs and plates and then switched to toys in the early 18th century. They began exporting toys to Britain and the US 100 years later, selling wooden animals. Here's Noah's Ark.
They also exported collectible items like miniature figurines in matchboxes. Their eye for detail made up for the spelling.
A giant pyramid in Seiffen's toy museum. The region's woodcraft tradition dates back over three centuries but it didn't start selling the famous Christmas tree ornaments until the early 20th century.
This design of music box made by the Seiffen firm Kleinkunst aus dem Erzgebirge Mueller GmbH, sells particularly well in the US, says owner Ringo Müller.
Ringo Müller, who runs one of the oldest family-owned woodcraft firms in Seiffen, holding the top of a music box developed in cooperation with the Technical University in Chemnitz. It has traditional figurines on top, but high-tech electronics inside. It can play a limitless array of songs and fairytales and can be used all year round, for example as an alarm clock. "The challenge for businesses in our industry is to make products that hit a market niche and suit customers' tastes, and that have something innovative about them to attract younger buyers," says Müller.
Artisans Andrea Wolf (R) and Hannelore Morgenstern at work in a workshop of Müller GmbH, Seiffen. Erzgebirge firms are resorting to various ways to find new markets. The green Smoking Women are of a modern design -- they're holding cellphones.
Smoking Men, or "Räuchermänner" taking time out on a shelf at Müller GmbH. Do they come alive at night? It's not hard to imagine in toytown Seiffen.
Nearly ready: A Smoking Sheikh made by Müller GmbH.
An Uncle Sum nutcracker on display in a store in Seiffen. Over the years, firms have tried to break into new markets with such designs.
Hermann Nestler with a figure he carved. In the absence of young blood, it's up to the aging artisans of Seiffen to keep on chiseling, hammering and painting.
