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WERKHAUS history
After the successful premiere with our holiday camp in Hitzacker, for which we received the German Tourism Prize in 2021, we opened our next destinature village in Ernzen in the southern Eifel in August 2022. Here, too, we rely on full sustainability - from the bed linen to the food in the organic bistro.
2022
WERKHAUS has been around for 30 years. We started with functional organizers for the office in 1992 and have significantly expanded our product portfolio over the years. Today, this includes furniture, office and home accessories, displays, promotional items and even entire holiday camps.
2022
With a short corona-related delay, the destinature village was able to open in May 2020. The concept of the sustainable nature hotel inspired numerous guests to stay overnight. The first season was a great success.
2020
Nature becomes a hotel. This is the slogan we use to open the destinature village in Hitzacker. From now on, you can enjoy a WERKHAUS-style holiday directly on the Elbe cycle path. Based on the idea of permanent and temporary mobile huts in natural locations, WERKHAUS is creating a new kind of tourism with the destinature village.
2019
In May, we opened our shop in Hohenzollernstraße in Munich. We are now represented with nine shops in seven cities.
2019
We are 25 years old! We are celebrating our anniversary with friends, cooperation partners and customers. We have stayed committed to our values, produce with ecological and social responsibility, and always want to get better. In the early years, we were seen as eco-freaks, but now we are regarded as sustainability pioneers. We are happy to look back on our successes and experiences
2017
Right before Christmas, we are opening two new shops. In Luneburg, we are now located in the city centre at Große Bäckerstraße 12, while our shop in Hanover is just a few minutes away from the main railway station on Schillerstraße. Due to its sales area of over 250 m², this shop will be our flagship store. There is enough space here to present an overview of our huge product range
2015
Our new pride is called Vutek GS 3250 LX Pro and is a digital large format printer. Direct print jobs can now be done here in the factory. The LED technology is particularly energy-saving. We can print MDF, three-layer wood panels, PET, and other foils ourselves: in 8-colour with 600 or 1000 dpi and up to 3.2 m wide.
2015
Far away from the hustle and bustle of the major cities, in the Wendland region in between nature, our new external department is established in Lüchow. Here, a project team is now designing stylish, connectable furniture for indoors and outdoors. The project is launched under the label WERKHAUS destinature. Consistent. Sustainable. Furnished.
2015
WERKHAUS introduces a photovoltaic system. 816 solar modules (made in Germany!) are installed on a roof area of 3,500 m² with an output of 204 kWp. The electricity is used directly for production. On peak days up to 80 % and on average up to 20 % of the own power consumption is covered. In addition, WERKHAUS promotes e-mobility and provides employees with 15 e-bikes.
2014
In July 2010, WERKHAUS opened its first shop in Berlin on Friedrichstraße. In August, the second Berlin shop follows in Kollwitzstraße and one in Große Rainstraße in Hamburg. Two more shops open in Hamburg in November (Dammtor Bahnhof & Hermannstraße).
2010
WERKHAUS signed an energy supply contract with Greenpeace Energy, so from 2009 WERKHAUS will only use green electricity from renewable energy sources. In October 2009, the very first WERKHAUS shop opens in Hamburg's main railway station. 13 months later the shop moves.
2009
WERKHAUS delivers 4000 kaleidoscopes for the final of the Eurovision Song Contest in Helsinki. There they will be presented as souvenirs. The design was developed in cooperation with the Eurovision management and shows the original Song Contest colours. A special technical feature that only WERKHAUS could realise in this way is the integration of the ESC logo into the filling of the kaleidoscope.
2007
WERKHAUS signs a five-year contract with the Frankfurt Book Fair. The Book Fair will be represented at the upcoming Toy Fairs with a WERKHAUS stand. 29 publishing companies are presented on an area of approx. 90m². The design, concept of the stand and the complete performance during the Fair are made by WERKHAUS.
2006
The campaign "European Year of People with Disabilities 2003" has chosen the company WERKHAUS for a visit of the campaign vehicle on the Open Day to present the outstanding achievement of WERKHAUS to the public.
2003
Lack of space - moving from Molbath to Bad Bodenteich. Hidden away where Federal Border Guard trucks were once parked and repaired, the WERKHAUS Company now works on six hectares surrounded by nature in the industrial area of Bad Bodenteich.
2000
Eva Danneberg founds the company Werkhaus. The optical toys are accompanied by functional filing systems for the office as well as home accessories and gift items. The original WERKHAUS connecting system, which is now protected by copyright, can be used in many different ways. Step by step, the business develops and they manage to get their first major customers.
1992
The Kaleidoscope Company moves to a former brick factory in Molbath, in the middle of the Luneburg Heath. The Danneberg family in front of the production hall.
1989
Hobby and passion quickly turned into a successful business idea. The Kaleidoscope Company was founded in Groß Thondorf in a rural flat-sharing community.
1985
Holger Danneberg builds the largest kaleidoscope in the world: three metres long and one metre in diameter. The results of several failed attempts end up in the attic - and Holger Danneberg ends up in the "Guinness Book of Records".
1984
Dreaming of his own farm: actually, Holger Danneberg always wanted to be an organic farmer, but he does not have the land. He earned his first money at flea markets, where he sold clay brooches saying "Atomic power, no thanks". And then Holger Danneberg starts to build kaleidoscopes for Christmas markets...