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The Adventure<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Fritz Straub, who took over as managing director and chief investor, was a newcomer with no previous knowledge of the furniture industry. When he came to Dresden in 1992, he wanted to start something new. It turned into a great adventure, a learning process for the entire company that continues to this day a quarter of a century later.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Today, Deutsche Werkst\u00e4tten specialises in handcrafted, ambitiously conceived bespoke projects, for example the interiors of luxury yachts. A further line of business is the interior furnishing of privately owned villas and palaces, some of which have several thousand square metres of floor space. Customers, who are discerning in every respect, include billionaires, oligarchs and potentates from the Arab world, but also German entrepreneurial families.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe do not usually negotiate with the individual concerned but rather with a complete entourage,\u201d explains Straub. \u201cAs a rule, the customer selects a renowned designer. We are then a service provider operating in the background.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
None of this was foreseeable when he took over the company. The aspect that initially drew him to Deutsche Werkst\u00e4tten was a small department within the company that employed some of the finest craftsmen in the GDR. Their area of expertise was the interior furnishing of prestigious buildings such as the Semperoper. Straub\u2019s first decision was to move out of mass furniture production. The core business of the new company was to be interior design.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In order to have at least one reference project in his portfolio, Straub underbid his competitors in the tendering process for the construction of an acoustic wall in the Saxon state parliament in 1993. He did this in the full knowledge that the contract would leave him with a deficit of DM 100,000. But also in the knowledge that it would earn him recognition in the professional world and the opportunity to tender for further commissions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Yacht building now accounts for a large proportion of revenue at Deutsche Werkst\u00e4tten, yet the company\u2019s entry into this particular market was fortuitous. In the late 1990s, it was commissioned by the national rail network, Deutsche Bahn, to kit out the interior of the Metropolitan Express Train. It was conceived as the luxury variant of the new ICE 3.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The team in Dresden developed high-strength veneered board and a new surface treatment. The ICE lounge-style carriages had to dampen vibrations, comply with fire protection standards and withstand rapid acceleration. Two of the luxury ICEs were delivered. Then the financial officers at DB vetoed series production and the Metropolitan project was abandoned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The ICE episode put the company in the red, but in the process, they had considerably enhanced their expertise. The next logical step was therefore to branch out into luxury interiors for mobile structures. There is no more demanding and cost-intensive challenge in interior design than that presented by a luxury yacht. Deutsche Werkst\u00e4tten fought to establish itself in a niche market that it has now made its own.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Despite stringent fire protection regulations, many customers and the designers who work for them specify wood surfaces, which creates technical challenges. The yacht specialists from Hellerau work together with researchers at TU Dresden on the development of new fire-resistant materials. Millimetre-thin veneers, bent into complex shapes, treated with highgloss lacquers, a 360-degree rotatable bed, bathrooms with precious wood veneer, marble and onyx surfaces are among the less extravagant choices.<\/p>\n\n\n\n One of the most expensive commissions for the interior of a single yacht amounted to 23 million euros. Another celebrity customer wanted a complete professional recording studio installed, which was to remain fully functional even when the yacht was going at top speed. That was clearly one job that was not without its technical complications.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe make our living from doing things that other people can\u2019t,\u201d says Straub. \u201cAnd if we\u2019re not already able to do them, we learn how.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" When Fritz Straub took over Deutsche Werkst\u00e4tten (literally German Workshops) in 1992, this tradition-steeped company had an illustrious history, a highly skilled workforce…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":25,"featured_media":3896,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3910","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-science-business"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/dresden-magazin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/Bildschirmfoto-2018-02-27-um-17.27.00.jpg\")
Change is the only constant<\/h3>\n\n\n\n