Today, Condé Nast Traveler is in Seiffen to see expert toymakers at work. This small German town in the Ore Mountains is considered by many as the birthplace of the Nutcracker doll. Due to the town’s rich access to wood, Seiffen has become home to the world’s finest toymakers who have been honing their craft for generations–with a population of just over 2000 residents, there are 140 toymaker’s workshops.
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LifestyleTranscript
00:00The process starts in the forest.
00:16It's not just a job that you practice. It's something else.
00:46One of the most extraordinary craftsmen in Seifen is Markus Füchtner.
01:01Markus Füchtner is the eighth generation leading the workshop,
01:05in which his great-great-great-grandfather made the very first nutcracker from the Ohr mountains.
01:10Today, he makes about 800 a year and exports them in over 20 countries.
01:40The feeling of making something out of wood is simply indescribable.
01:54Those who make it themselves know it best.
02:00The smell of fresh wood or lacquer, for example.
02:04The mixture of wood and lacquer just smells delicious.
02:08Even those who pass by, who come to the door and say, it smells so good.
02:16Even amongst the craftsmen and women in the Ohr mountains, Christian Wörner is truly one of a kind.
02:22He has mastered the ring-turning, a craft that originated here about 200 years ago and that still only exists here.
02:38Out of a wooden ring, Wörner can carve about 300 different kinds of animals,
02:46and he makes more than 25,000 copies a year.
03:08I am the ring-turner in Seifen.
03:18The process of ring-turning begins in the forest,
03:20then the wood lies in basements, then I take it out and put it in the lathe.
03:24I think I am a blessed man that my son works with me.
03:28I stand next to the lathe as a master, like I did as a boy with the old masters,
03:34and I watch how the young ones do it.
03:39The technical realization of making a split tire,
03:44requires a high level of imagination.
03:49I say, the tire maker has to see the positive through the negative.
03:55There are only a handful of people who still practice ring-turning,
03:59and we are now the last manufacturer worldwide.
04:05Woodworking
04:11Woodworking is probably the most beautiful material or raw material that exists,
04:16from which you can shape something with your hands.
04:19When you feel that you can inspire people with what you do,
04:23who then enjoy the figure that has taken up so much time,
04:27that is a great effect that you feel.
04:34Woodworking
04:42It seems that time has stopped here.
04:46You can only hear from the outside that people are so overwhelmed,
04:51that time is running so fast and you are still hectic and stressed,
04:55and that is different here.
04:57Here I go to my workshop and here I am with my family.
05:01It's not just a job that you practice, it's something else.
05:08My great-great-great-grandfather, Wilhelm,
05:11must have had the idea to build a nutcracker.
05:14Many people ask me how he got the idea.
05:16It was mainly room people who were at the construction site in the summer
05:20and were unemployed in the winter and had to earn something.
05:23And so wood remains from the construction site were not only burned,
05:28but also made something out of it to earn something.
05:31And then he must have come up with the idea of the nutcracker
05:34to resist the nobility at the same time.
05:38Symbolically, the nobility should also be given a nut to crack.
05:42And nobility is always represented in the nutcrackers,
05:45like soldiers, policemen, kings.
05:47That's why it used to be so strict nobility.
05:51A typical red king, for example, has 130 work steps
05:55and we make up to 800 pieces a year,
05:58which have already been sent to 20 countries in the world.
06:09This village in Seife had invented this wonderfully,
06:12incredibly clever technology from Brexen.
06:16And then in 1920, the flowering season of this craft took place.
06:21There were 28 tire turners.
06:24But in the meantime, it has declined more and more
06:27because the ability of the tire turner is not unremarkable.
06:31But it is of course incredibly cool to practice it,
06:34to be creative and to do it.
06:37And surprisingly, this craft has not spread.
06:41It was created here in Seife and stayed here in this village.
06:45It does not exist anywhere else in the Erzgebirge or the world.
06:50So what's so special about the Ohr Mountains in the end?
06:54Well, what they teach me is what it really means to care for
06:57and to love your craft.
06:59To do the same things every day, the same process,
07:02you can really find that supremely boring.
07:05But you can also say that's super fascinating.
07:08Because to dedicate yourself to a craft, to perfect it,
07:11that's something deeply human and really wonderful.
07:14Only a handful of people will probably be able to tell
07:17the technical differences between the pieces.
07:20But the love and the time that have been invested in them,
07:23you can really feel that.