Wooden toy maker: Training with tradition in demand again

For a long time, the arts and crafts businesses in the Ore Mountains were worried: there were hardly any trainees – and that meant traditions were in danger. But for some time now, more young people have wanted to become wooden toy makers again.

Raphaela Haude stands in a stall at Dresden’s Striezelmarkt and turns a Christmas tree. The third-year trainee precisely mills small grooves into the square piece of wood. Next to her, rows of wood chips fall onto the floor. After a few minutes the Christmas tree is ready.

“Sometimes we give them away to the children. It’s just to show off,” says Haude. During “exhibition turning” she presents craft traditions from the Ore Mountains.

At one of the oldest Christmas markets in Germany, she is surrounded by nutcrackers, rocking arches and smokers. She sells them for her business and tells visitors about her training: “The job combines everything I like to do: delicate work with wood, painting and assembling.”

All Apprenticeships occupied

Next summer Haude will be a fully trained wooden toy maker. There are currently two classes at their vocational school in Seiffen because the number of trainees has increased in recent years. According to the Chemnitz Chamber of Commerce and Industry, there are no longer any vacancies.

Haude’s boss Tino Günther is happy that things are looking up again: “That didn’t happen for decades. There were years when things were really bad for our young people. Their training was at risk.”

“Working with heart, hand and head”

There are now 50 trainees at the turning and toy making school in Seiffen. Three times as many as six years ago – to the great joy of the Erzgebirge Artisans and Toy Manufacturers Association.

Its chairman Björn Köhler explains the increased interest by saying that many parts of society are becoming more and more digital: “Our profession is a pleasant counter-trend. We work with heart, hand and head. We have a sensual product that we experience with all our senses. We can smell and feel the wood. We can develop a product from start to finish.”

The artisans and toy manufacturers from the Ore Mountains coped well with the corona pandemic. “This was also due to the fact that people used the freed-up money that they could not use for vacations to furnish their apartments,” explains Köhler.

Training only exists in the Erzgebirge

At the end of November, preparations for the Christmas business are in full swing at “Spielwarenmacher Günther” in Seiffen. Haude glues Santa Clauses together in her training company. Maintaining patience isn’t a big effort for her, she says: “It’s always so meditative. I’m generally a very calm person. It’s not very difficult.”

The 20-year-old moved 80 kilometers here from near Chemnitz for her training. Because only here in the Ore Mountains are there vocational schools and companies that train wooden toy makers.

Personal initiative is also required: Haude designed a candle holder himself, the so-called “Äppelgriebs”, an apple strunk. She wants to develop it further into a wooden pyramid for her journeyman’s piece at the end of her training. She wants to decorate the impellers with the leaves of a tree.

Customer advice at the Striezelmarkt

Haude sells the “Äppelgriebs” at the Dresden Striezelmarkt. Here she also advises customers who come to her with specific questions. Heide Luhn, for example, has problems with the wings of her wooden pyramid. Haude suspects that the wood has warped because the pyramid is stored in the attic for the rest of the year.

The wooden wings are not available in her shop, but the trainee can help with the address of a cooperative in the Ore Mountains that sells pyramid wings individually.

Much praise for the training Wooden toy maker

The customer from Hamburg is impressed that Haude is completing training to become a wooden toy maker: “I always think it’s bad when the craft is underestimated. These are the fruits of the past few years, when every child has to go to high school. There is no reason for this, to look down on craftsmen.”

Haude is on display at the Dresden Striezelmarkt until December 23rd – every day. That’s not entirely easy, but it’s doable for her as a Christmas fan. For her it is clear: “For me, Christmas is the most wonderful time of the year.”