Company historie

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	LOQUAI - HOLZKUNST Erzgebirge toy makers

Our company history
The Loquai-Holzkunst company was founded in 1934 by Rudolf Arwed Loquai in the small town of Augustusburg in the Erzgebirge Mountains, near the industrial area of Chemnitz.

He registered his trade as painter, graphic artist and sculptor.

Soon he was a popular supplier of commercial graphics, designs for catalogues, carved signposts and company signs for many woodworking and toy companies in the Erzgebirge. Already in 1936, due to the high demand from meanwhile all over Germany, he organised a mail order business, which soon became the biggest branch of the young company.

In 1938 the first expansion of the company took place on a neighbouring property and through the purchase of a joinery.


	In line with the stormy business development, the workshop was soon equipped with modern tools and machines and many orders were placed with small turnery and carving workshops.

This development was abruptly interrupted when Rudolf Arwed Loquai was called up for military service in 1940. In 1943 it had to be closed. The company premises were confiscated, used as warehouses and occupied by evacuated and bombed-out people.

All business connections were lost and it seemed unthinkable at that time to ever be able to start again. The founder should never again take possession of his home. All he could take with him was his knowledge and skills.

With the end of the Second World War, Rudolf Arwed Loquai was able to leave the Kurlandkessel on 8 May 1945 in a transport plane. Of the 33 planes that took off from there, only three reached their destination and were thus taken into British captivity. He was finally released into the Upper Palatinate, the home of his mother.

In early 1946 he reopened a workshop for carving, turning and Christmas decorations in Velburg/Upper Palatinate. He started with machines that were taken from the scrap metal.

In 1947 he employed 20 people again, in 1948 there were already 55 people again. Now the production was sold exclusively to resellers, also to wholesalers and exporters.

In 1950 the company suffered a hard blow of fate. On 26 January a fire destroyed almost the entire company. Rudolf Arwed Loquai then moved to the French zone.

The ambitious businessman made his third start as an independent entrepreneur via the intermediate station in Bad Bergzabern, Erfweiler in the Palatinate Forest and finally Inchenhofen in the district of Aichach in Upper Bavaria.

On his 50th birthday, 2 December 1958, he finally acquired the former Hofwirt estate in Pöttmes, the current location of our company. Despite various difficulties, some alterations were made and thus the foundation stone for our present company in Pöttmes was laid. The production of precious wood toys and gift boxes now took an unexpected upswing.

The founder Rudolf Arwed Loquai died on 18 November 1967.




			company premises in pöttmes

Now the oldest son, Andreas, took over the production of samples, sales and customer service. The youngest son, Albrecht, joined the company and took over the production. The youngest daughter, Christina, was given power of attorney and from then on was responsible for shipping to Germany and abroad.

With the new range of articles the company flourished in the 60s and 70s to new heights. This in turn required ongoing investment in structural and mechanical engineering expansions.

However, despite the rapid technical development, production still follows the Erzgebirge tradition. Deviating from this, since 1955 almost only miniatures and toys have been made from natural precious woods, only a small part is coloured.

In addition to miniatures, gifts and souvenirs, more and more toys for kindergarten age and pre-school education have been produced since 1980. A big part of the production are small boxes and crates. These are intended for kindergartens and shops, but also for sweets and delicatessen.
Horst and Arwed Loquai, the 3rd generation, are following in the footsteps of their very successful predecessors (from 2010 as managing directors) and are guarantors for the continued best care of their customers.
In 2014 Loquai Holzkunst was able to exhibit for the 65th time at the 65th International Toy Fair
in Nuremberg (read more under Spielwarenmesse Honours).


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