What is a smoking snail? It is currently one of Frank Kuhnert’s sales hits. It smiles and carries a little post office or a colourful little house on its back – from where the incense cone can happily deliver its pleasant smell.

“It was my idea,” Frank Kuhnert explains; he is managing director of the Kuhnert wood-turning workshops. He and his 80 members of staff in Rothenkirchen are the experts for Erzgebirge wood carving. They produce items like pyramids, spectacle holders, tree and bouquet decorations – and particularly of course the well-known smoking manikins in all shapes and sizes and small wooden figures. They include mice, hares, classic miners – and worms, which are very popular, according to Kuhnert. The reading worm with spectacles looks up mischievously from its book, while the woodworm is engrossed in its work in the forest. Kuhnert explains, “We give the classic smoking manikins a modern touch. This attracts younger customers too, who still appreciate the background of traditional, Erzgebirge craftsmanship.” The company has had very good sales openings in Japan for many years – and customers in the USA and Mexico also love the cute figures. 

“More than 70 percent of operations at our wood-turning workshops involve manual work. We only process local wood like birch, beech or spruce – a certificate confirms that we only use wood that has been ecologically cultivated in a sustainable manner.”

 25 years with smoking snails and bookworms

His father Frieder Kuhnert set up the company in 1986. After the fall of the Berlin Wall, the three siblings in the next generation asked themselves how they should continue doing business. Kuhnert says, “Demand for these kinds of traditional products declined at the time.” The three decided to continue the family inheritance despite the difficulties. Frank Kuhnert, who originally trained as a baker, has been working in the family-run business since 1990 – and he has been celebrating his 25th anniversary this year. His brother Andreas is responsible for the machine production work and technology. And his sister Christina handles the manufacturing work and sample production. But do the Kuhnerts produce both Erzgebirge and Vogtland woodcraft? The managing director does not see any difference here: everything is based on the region’s ancient craftsmanship – and everybody has heard of the term Erzgebirge woodcraft. “Rothenkirchen is a border town between the Vogtland and Erzgebirge regions. The geographical border is actually the stream that runs through our plot of land,” Kuhnert explains. The company’s thinking is not restricted to any particular region either. “We now employ three people who have returned home from western Germany. And a lady from Korea is just starting her training. She deliberately moved here with her husband, who is a primary school teacher.”

“It’s our goal to maintain our current number of employees. We’re always looking for good skilled workers too. And of course I hope we’ll continue to find customers who place importance on products that are manufactured in fair conditions in the region.”

The Kuhnert wood-turning business has four sales points: many collectors are regularly on the look-out for new items at the factory in Rothenkirchen, in Klingenthal, at the Stadtgalerie shopping centre in Plauen and in Dresden. “We’re continuing to develop particular ranges of items. They include the smoking snail – and recently, the tiny snowflakes made of wood too. We’ve taken over the complete collection range from another company.” The Kuhnert firm processes 400 cubic metres of wood and turns them into about 600 different kinds of items every year.  

“By the way, our woodcraft is not just suitable for the Christmas period. Individual series and figures are often sold as birthday presents. We even won the “Tradition and Form” public choice prize presented by the Freie Presse newspaper on one occasion.”

Vita Frank Kuhnert

• Born in Rodewisch in 1967
• Trained to become a baker in 1984-87
• Started work at the Kuhnert wood-turning family business in 1990
• Managing director since 1999
• Married with three daughters