There are many items that are still made by hand in Germany. (vegefox.com – stock.adobe.com)
Shopping for a special gift? What about something crafted by hand right here in Germany? Here are some items still made by trained artisans.
The map below includes links to artisans and special locations affiliated with handmade German products. Not all the companies listed maintain a shop premises; check individual websites for purchasing information.
Toys
There are all kinds of toy gifts that are still handmade in Germany. The Steif company specializes in crafting stuffed animals, and you can visit the factory and museum in Giengen, near Ulm. In Hesse, Nanchen Natur makes sturdy cloth dolls of all sizes, in a huge variety of skin and hair combinations, and for every age.
There are numerous wooden toy companies and the play figures created by Ostheimer are still carved and painted by hand. You can even visit their workshop near Stuttgart for a tour. The Fridlin company makes colorful motor-skills toys for toddlers that are so well-respected they are on exhibition at the Friedrich Fröbel Museum, which is dedicated to the inventor of the first kindergarten. For older kids, the wooden blocks and marble runs from Baumkinder are sure to feed the inner engineer.
Sturdy, handmade cloth dolls are popular toys for children in Germany. (rodimovpavel – stock.adobe.com)
Wooden Holiday Decorations
The Weihnachtspyramide (Christmas pyramid) is a staple at Christmas markets and originates in the Erzgebirge (Ore Mountains) of Saxony along the Czech border. They were first crafted in the Middle Ages as an artistic way to combine the traditions of bringing both light and evergreen wood into the home during wintertime.
Other holiday decorations like Schwibbogen (candle arches), Rauchermen (incense smokers) and Nutcrackers are also from this area; they originally depicted people and mining scenes from the region’s mining heritage. Specialized woodworking villages like Seiffen in the Ore Mountains have numerous workshops selling hand-made Christmas décor and wooden toys.
In southern Bavaria, the village of Oberammergau is also known for its wooden Christmas décor. Here, the specialty is religious figures and nativity scenes. It is fun to wander in and out of the many workshops where craftspeople carve figurines alongside their products.
Oberammergau is the place to find handmade wooden Christmas nativity items. (Fotostudio Gerth – stock.adobe.com)
Cuckoo Clocks
While it is unclear who invented the cuckoo clock, this quintessential German handcraft was perfected in the Schwarzwald (Black Forest) area. The first mention of a clock with a mechanical cuckoo bird chirping every quarter hour is in a 1629 description by a traveling merchant.
For the ultimate gift, travel the Deutsche Uhrenstraße (German clock route), a nearly 300 km loop through the Schwarzwald past towns like Triburg, where numerous clock makers have shops, and Furtwangen, where you can see the German Clock Museum. Schönwald is another village worth checking out, since it is where the first Black Forest cuckoo clock was made; visit the August Schwer workshop, one of the oldest in the area.
Purchase a popular and handmade cuckoo clock in Germany’s Black Forest. (harshavardhan – stock.adobe.com)
Musical Instruments
Germany has been a hotbed for musical innovation since the earliest classical operas emerged, and today it continues to elevate music through modern sounds.
In the early 1800s, German horn players invented the first valve for brass instruments, making complex sounds a possibility. Both Thein Brass, in the northern German city of Bremen, and Voigt Brass, based in the eastern German village of Markneukirchen specialize in handmade trumpets and trombones.
For rhythmic instruments of all kinds – from cymbals and chimes to cajons and frame drums – the Schlagwerk company offers a large variety of handmade traditional and new percussion.
Death metal meets German engineering at one of the many small workshops across the country creating handmade electric guitars. The Zeal Guitars workshop in Kaiserslautern offers three models in numerous customizable styles. For those of you in Bavaria, Schwartz Custom Guitars in Neumarkt in der Oberpfalz, has seven customizable electric guitar styles and two electric basses to pick from.
Germany is a great place to invest in a handmade electric guitar. (Framestock – stock.adobe.com)
Eyeglasses
With world-renowned precision optics and a history of perfecting eyewear, Germany is the perfect place to purchase handmade glasses.
From luxury brands like Maybach and the unique styles of Mykita, to the timeless looks of Lunor and natural materials of Hoffmann, there are options to fit everyone. To see a large selection of handmade glasses in person, visit the Funk Eyewear factory store in Kinsau, about an hour north of Garmisch.
The world’s leader in optical technology, the Zeiss company is also the oldest optics manufacturer in the world. Their ultra-modern museum is a great day trip for the scientifically minded; it’s located in Oberkocken, just over an hour from Stuttgart or Ansbach.
With world-renowned precision optics and a history of perfecting eyewear, Germany is the perfect place to purchase handmade glasses. (Arsenii – stock.adobe.com)
Custom Made Shoes
High-quality shoes are a German staple, and a gift of a handmade pair is a must for any footwear aficionado. The well-known Birkenstock is partially handmade, but many companies specialize in handcrafted and custom-made shoes. Use the keyword Maßschuhe to find local, custom shoemakers near you.
The town of Pirmasens, not far from the KMC, is known as Germany’s shoe town. Historically, it was the footbed of shoe manufacturing and is still home to numerous factories and shoe outlet shops. For handmade or custom shoes, visit the Zarini shop. 20 minutes away, the German Shoe Museum operates out of an old shoe factory.
Custom made shoes are a high-quality gift made in Germany. (hedgehog94 – stock.adobe.com)
Pens and Pencils
A handmade fountain pen is the perfect gift for the writer or artist in your life (hint, hint). Traditional fountain pens come with a few components such as the barrel to hold an ink cartridge, and the metal nib that feeds the ink onto the paper as you write.
Special pens with replacement ink cartridges are still very popular in Germany today; ballpoint styles are even used by school children. Companies like e+m craft wooden handmade ballpoint and fountain pens in addition to refillable mechanical pencils. For modern styles and metal casings, the Diplomat company also handcrafts ballpoint and fountain pens.
Traditional fountain pens with refillable cartridges are popular in Germany. (Natalia – stock.adobe.com)
Bicycles
While bicycle components may come from around the world, there are German bicycle companies that specialize in handcrafting your ride.
While a few norther companies create city or touring bicycles, both Cheetah, based near Stuttgart, and Nicolai, near Hannover, offer mountain bikes. In addition, the Velo Lab in Bremen handcrafts cargo bikes for larger loads.
German bicycle engineering is famous worldwide. (Nomad_Soul – stock.adobe.com)