The Erzgebirge nutcracker is becoming a team player. While he was previously known as a grim-looking old man who used leverage to get at hard nuts as a loner, nutcracking is now teamwork. To this end, Seiffen-based wooden toy maker Markus Füchtner has developed the "Knack-Dialog" together with young designers and freelance creators. The nine new characters will be sold at an international auction in Leipzig this month. The proceeds are intended to promote the next generation of traditional arts and crafts.
Füchtner's workshop is considered the birthplace of the Erzgebirge nutcracker, which was invented here by his great-great-great-grandfather Wilhelm. In keeping with tradition, they represent authorities: King, Hussar, Forester. Markus Füchtner has also dedicated himself to this.
A year ago, the Hamburg agency Scholz & Friends approached him with the idea of dusting off the cliché of the old man from the Nutcracker, says Füchtner. "At first I thought: Oh God, where is this going?" But the design drafts amazed him, especially the idea of a mirror image of the king and queen.
