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Loquai - wood art
Erzgebirge toy maker
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Our company history
The company Loquai-Holzkunst was founded in 1934 by Rudolf Arwed Loquai in the small Ore Mountain town of Augustusburg, near the Chemnitz industrial area.
He registered his trade as a painter, graphic artist and sculptor.
He was soon a popular supplier of commercial graphics, drafts for catalogues, carved signposts and company signs for many wood and toy companies in the Ore Mountains. As early as 1936, due to the high demand from all over Germany, he organized a mail order business, which soon became the largest branch of the young company.
In 1938, the first expansion of the business took place on a neighboring property and through the purchase of a joinery.
In line with the turbulent business development, the workshop was soon set up in a modern way and equipped with modern tools and machines, and many orders were also placed with small wood turning and carving workshops.
This development was abruptly interrupted when Rudolf Arwed Loquai was drafted into military service in 1940. 1943 had to be closed. The business premises were confiscated, used as warehouses and occupied by people who had been evacuated and bombed out.
All business relationships ended and it seemed unthinkable at the time to ever be able to start again. The Founder was never to repossess his homeland. 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 Kurland Pocket in a transport plane on May 8, 1945. Of the 33 planes that took off there, only three reached their destination and were taken prisoner by the British. He was eventually released to the Upper Palatinate, his mother's homeland.
At the beginning of 1946 he opened a workshop for carvings, turning work and Christmas decorations in Velburg/Upper Palatinate. He started with machines fetched from the scrap heap.
In 1947 he again employed 20 people, in 1948 it was already 55 people. Now the production was sold exclusively to resellers, including wholesalers and exporters.
In 1950 the company suffered a severe blow of fate. On January 26, a fire destroyed almost the entire facility. Then Rudolf Arwed Loquai moved to the French zone.
The ambitious entrepreneur made his third start into self-employment via the stopovers in Bad Bergzabern, Erfweiler in the Palatinate Forest and finally Inchenhofen in the Aichach district in Upper Bavaria.
On his 50th birthday, December 2, 1958, he finally acquired the former Hofwirt property in Pöttmes, where our company is located today. Despite various difficulties, some conversions were made and the foundation stone was laid for our current company in Pöttmes. The production of precious wood toys and gift boxes now took an unexpected upswing.
On November 18, 1967, the founder Rudolf Arwed Loquai died
Now the eldest son, Andreas, took over the production of samples, sales and customer service. The youngest son, Albrecht, joined the company and took over production. The youngest daughter, Christina, was given power of attorney and from then on was responsible for domestic and international shipping.
With the new range of articles, the company flourished to new heights in the 1960s and 1970s. This in turn required ongoing investments in structural and mechanical expansions.
However, despite 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 colored.
In addition to miniatures, gifts and souvenirs, more and more toys for kindergarten and pre-school children have been produced since 1980. A large part of the production are small boxes and boxes. These are intended for kindergartens and shops, but also for confectionery and delicatessen.
Horst and Arwed Loquai, the 3rd generation, are following in the footsteps of their very successful predecessors (as managing directors from 2010) and are guarantors for the continued best support for their customers.
In 2014, Loquai Holzkunst was able to attend the 65th International Toy Fair for the 65th time
exhibit in Nuremberg (read more under toy fair honors).
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