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A Short History of our traditional brush manufacture

Our traditional kolibri brush manufacture was established in 1898 in Bechhofen, a small city in Bavaria, Germany. The founder Karl Feurer established a small brush Factory where he produced a wide range of the finest hair and quill brushes.

Soon the Company had to be expanded and in 1903, our headquarters were established in Burk, Germany, where it is still situated.

The first customers of the company lived in the neighborhood, but soon customers in foreign countries, especially in the south and south-east Europe, became loyal customers.

founder of kolibri brush factory Karl Feurer established 1898 our company in Bechhofen, Bavaria, Germany
During the 1930’s Feurer & Sohn established a market in the British Kingdom and the United States of America. The name “kolibri” was not yet featured as a brand name for high quality handcrafted paint brushes. In this time – more than 85 years ago – the customers in the United States needed much time from the order until to receive the artist brushes. Only the order needed more than 3 weeks from New York to Burk in Germany by post mail.

 

 

brush order from Prag 1932
In the year 1936, Otto Feurer took over the company from his father Karl. In this time period the first reconstruction of building complex was carried out. The period during and after World War II was very difficult for our company. The ability to serve our European customers was interrupted, but 1950/1951, the export business resumed. Since that time, our export business has expanded each year. Today around 65% of our production is exported to more than 42 foreign countries.

 

From 1960 through 2003, our company was developed further by Eduard Feurer, Otto’s son. With hard work and dedication, the cooperation between our company and the customers has expanded further and new customers have been persuaded to buy our kolibri brushes. In fact, our returning customer base is more than 50 years old.

Since 2003 when Eduard retired – Katrin Hackenberger, Thomas Hackenberger, and his son Martin are the new owners. They feel obligated to continue to produce the same high-quality products, and to guide the company in its traditional, old-world ways of producing the finest brushes. That’s way after his apprenticeship as a carpenter Martin completed a second 3-year education as a brushmaker and additional a 3 year study to became a master of brushmaking.

 

Eduard Feurer and his wife Gerlinde. Eduard was owner from 1960 - 2002.
The product range of Feurer & Sohn GmbH kolibri brushes contains a wide range of the premium brushes for all painting techniques. In additional to more than 200 standard lines, we produce all kind of brushes on request. All of our brushes, from our standard lines to customs brushes, can be ordered in small packing units.

It isn’t possible to grant our quality and service without the help of our 16 highly qualified workers, some of whom have worked at our company for 30 years. Currently, we are training young people to make brushes by hand, because we are convinced our clients continue to expect exceptional quality from us.

wide range of kolibri artist brushes- our booth at the creativeworld in Frankfurt 2010

Since January 1st , 2022, the production of the traditional brand kolibri brushes is part of Mesko-Pinsel GmbH. The most important message is that with this takeover a further step has been taken to bundle competence and to preserve the traditional Franconian craft of the brush makers in the region and to further develop it in a sustainable way.

In picture from left to right: Christian Schuller (Mesko), Martin Hackenberger (kolibri), Michael Schuller (Mesko)

Mesko-Pinsel GmbH is member of the German Brush Maker Association.

Association of German brush producers

Verband der Deutschen Pinsel- und Bürstenhersteller