Contact Details:

Telephone:

01246 269723

Email:

info@am-international-agencies.com

Fax:

01246 269724

Address:

A M International Agencies Ltd
Digital House
Peak Business Park
Foxwood Road
Chesterfield
Derbyshire
S41 9RF

Reutter Porzellan History

Martl Zimmermann was born on the 19th of September in 1921. During World War II she worked as a teacher in Posen, Germany. The uncertainty of finding appropriate employment after the war was very high, therefore, the 24 year old Martl decided to start an apprenticeship as a potter.
Her final work as an apprentice was to create a special journeyman's piece. That Christmas her pottery teacher gave his daughter a doll's house for which Martl had to potter tableware in several variations, for the little girl to use to play. The little girl had a lot of joy with the small doll's toys. At that time there was no possibility to buy such toys for the doll's house. It was also very expensive to produce tableware in such a small size. The final work turned out to be quite difficult for the young Martl.
By doing this particular journeyman's piece, Martl improved her professional skills in pottery and learned to reduce large shapes to small shapes and to adapt them to the scale of the doll's house. Little by little her enthusiasm for creating small pottery pieces became a passion for miniatures.
Powered by that passion and her talent, Martl established a small business in 1948.
In that very same year, M.W. Reutter Porzellanfabrik GmbH was recorded in the commercial register as a pottery. At that time the company only produced handmade crockery on a potter's wheel and unfortunately the pieces weren't branded yet.
Not until 1954 were the porcelain items marked with a golden stamp of the cloister of Denkendorf and with lettering “Denkendorf.”
In 1948 Martl married Willy Reutter. In 1956 Willy left his position as a precision engineer to help Martl with the company. Willy Reutter's background in precision engineering and machine construction later lead him to develop a method of extruding small porcelain pieces out of a lifting press.

The Brand

In approximately 1954, today's company brand was created by Marta Reutter. Look closely and you will see the letter “M” which stands for Martl and the letter “W” for Willy framed inversely by two “R's.”
This very day the logo is reminiscent of the founding couple, Martl and Willy Reutter.

German Economic Miracle 1950-1965

As early as 1951, the Reutters were one of the first companies to exhibit at the emerging Nuremberg Toy Fair and showed their small assortment of porcelain products. The Fair took place in the Wieseler House in Nuremberg. They did not have their own stand so they exhibited as a boarder. According to stories, at that time it was hard to be involved with a “Fair”, so Willy Reutter himself went by train to Nuremberg – with only a suitcase and a small table in his luggage. He didn't want his wife to travel alone in the years after World War II.
Now, for over 60 years M. W. Reutter has exhibited continuously at every Nuremberg Toy Fair.
Because of the economic recovery after the war, the Fair became very successful. Thus the hand-crafted production on the potter's wheel could no longer be managed due to the increased demand for the porcelain products. The process was very time-consuming and for the employees it was a very unilateral and monotonous work to lathe the same articles day after day.

For these reasons Martl and Willy Reutter decided in 1954 to diversify to porcelain manufacturing which enabled a faster throughput and a higher production volume. This change greatly facilitated the production.

Learning about porcelain production and the purchase of raw materials from the Bavarian Forest took a lot of effort for the married couple. Martl and Willy were particularly challenged by the location of the raw materials and tools in Baden-Württemberg (a region in the south-west of Germany) given that there were no other porcelain factories and respectively no other sub-supplier of materials and tools near their factory.

To overcome these challenges the couple had to gain a lot of knowledge by themselves. Consequently the whole production of the company had to proceed self-sustaining. Because of the great distance between the raw materials and their production facility, the cost of the raw materials became an important expense factor. Due to the higher raw material cost, the production of miniatures had to be increased. The focus on miniatures continues today.

The First Items of the Porcelain Production

Ash trays and perfume atomizers were the first items that were produced in large quantities. M.W. Reutter also offered the hobby market mosaic tables which were “in vogue” in that time. They were sold as an assembly set containing wooden tables, tesserae and samples so that the customers could design their own tables.
M. W. Reutter even sold painting craft kits containing white porcelain with patterns for both children and adults. These two hobby items were incorporated into the complete line so that M. W. Reutter could stand out against the competition.

One year at the Toy Fair, the couple thought of expanding their line with additional products for children including tea sets. By the end of the fifties, children's tea sets, gift items and toy miniatures in porcelain were produced for the first time.

1968 Expanding the Factory

Since the business was growing steadily, it was necessary to expand the raw production. At that time it was not possible to find a new place in Denkendorf, so the company was forced to move part of the production. A building in the nearby city of Nürtingen was found and purchased so that the raw production could be moved there.
Although raw production was in Nürtingen, all the pieces were painted, decorated and fired in Denkendorf for the final finishing.
In the early 70's the collection kept growing and new markets were discovered. One such market was a large range of brandy jars developed and supplied to distilleries in the Black Forest, Austria and Switzerland. The souvenir market also began to take shape with a large range of items being produced with varying special designs and shapes.
The miniatures in those years were very colorful and had a kind of folk and farmer designs.
Most of the miniatures were real play toys, but the time of the “shadow boxes” had just started, which made the miniatures perfect for decorations in wooden wall displays.
In the mid 70's, M.W. Reutter obtained its first license, “Sarah Kay”. These drawings from an Australian woman artist were very popular. This design was the first of its kind, which was sold in a new marketing concept of combining goods from several manufacturers in one market strategy, something which is done today with almost every license design. It gave the company a basis into a much larger gift market and worldwide exporting of the products.
Martl and Willy had two sons: Bernd and Bertram. Bernd Reutter, the eldest son, joined the company as a technical ceramic engineer in 1974. His younger brother Bertram Reutter followed him in 1980 as master of economics. Bertram Reutter continues today as the Managing Director of the company. Both sons changed the production process, the administration and collection of the company in the following years to cope with the changing market.

1980 Enlarging the Factory

By 1979 a new industrial zone was established in Denkendorf and M. W. Reutter took the opportunity to unite the production again in a newly built facility. Since 1980 the complete production has been back in Denkendorf.
In the 80's, the miniatures became increasingly popular and the company specialized more and more into this field. Many more details in the miniatures were requested so they became thinner, finer and smaller.
Despite the success in the miniature and gift market, it became more and more difficult to compete within the toy market with the children's tea sets. The competition from the former GDR area was especially difficult to fight, as the prices from this socialistic area were not realistic and had political and monetary backing. Also, the market was open in this field and not protected by the West German government. While there were eight manufacturers of children's tea sets in the 60's, there were only two left at the end of the 80's. Since 2004, M. W. Reutter is the only manufacturer of this kind of items in Europe. This was accomplished by constantly improving the quality, developing new shapes and designs, as well as fashionable updated packaging. Today, M. W. Reutter continues to offer an attractive line of children's tea and eating sets.

The 90's

The growing export market of the company made it necessary to change and develop products for the different markets. The miniatures, which originally were in a scale of 1:9 and 1:10 needed to be scaled down for the American and English market to a size of 1:12. Step by step the whole collection was changed into this size. Today M. W. Reutter produces nearly all of it's miniatures in this size.
As demand and interest for miniatures increased, more and more wooden furniture was developed to display the miniatures.
In 1991 M.W. Reutter acquired the rights to convert the famous original drawings of Sister Maria Innocentia Hummel to be used on Reutter porcelain pieces. These designs have been known worldwide as the Hummel Figurines produced by Goebel Germany.
Following this success, other famous designs were added to the line such as Beatrix Potter with the Peter Rabbit designs, Paddington Bear, Flower Fairies and others.
In 1993 Willy Reutter passed away very unexpectedly and Martl followed in 1997. Both were active until their passing and contributed with their advice to the development of the company.

From 2000 to 2010

For more than 60 years M.W. Reutter has been successful in the national and international markets. They ship their products today to more than twenty-seven countries around the world. With efficient production, a high quality standard and with constant new development of products, M. W. Reutter became well-known. New items, designs and shapes are developed every year to please their collectors and friend who appreciate the detailed and fine work.
International ideas are included in the collection, for example in 2009 they developed a miniature sushi set, something certainly unique for a German factory. In 2010 they developed a new line in the size of 1:24 scale offering probably the smallest porcelain tea set in the world.
In 2002, a completely new souvenir line was reintroduced. Today M. W. Reutter offers historical art printing on a very high quality of porcelain.
The town of Denkendorf acquired Martl Reutter's collection of miniature and full size porcelain creations. These pieces can be seen in the historical museum of the town, which also documents the history of the Reutter family reaching back to the 18th century.
Today, M. W. Reutter participates in national and international shows in Germany and around the world where they exhibit their products for the trade.

From 2010

Since 2012 they are developing more and more miniature items for the souvenirmarket, miniature tables with little tea-sets and mini displays with a special arrangement of miniatures. So even their souvenirs do have the characteristic Reutter look.
In 2013 they are celebrating the 20 year Jubilee of M.I. Hummel Original Designs on Reutter Porcelain. For this event they did issue a special Jubilee Catalog.
From 1993 until 2013 M.W. Reutter have realized more than 16 Hummeldesigns on their Porcelain.
A special Hummeldesign „The Strummers“ has been added to their collection.


From 2015
Since 2012 the business has introduced the skills and artwork of daughter Michelle, a graphic designer, and the son Phillipp, an economist. This younger generation has changed the media presentation of the company.
Since 2014 Reutter Porzellan has been achieve on Facebook and has its own Onlineshop which is growing every day, to support retailers.

Reutter Porzellan has an ongoing product development and design strategy across all the product lines of the company. So you will constantly find new products to discover.

There are also a lot of new wallpictures and individual pieces in the 1:12 scale size miniatures.
No matter if we are creating a new Coffee shop with matching table and chair, a little hamper with greeting card or a beach chair on a beautiful beach setting, Reutter has them all!

Our lovely Flower Fairy designs and the very well-known Hummel Collection are still highlights of our gift collection. Also we have the endearing designs of Beatrix Potters' Peter Rabbit which has been updated and brought out in a classical new style.


With more than 400 different city designs printed in art quality for the high-end souvenir sector, Reutter has similarly strengthed their roll in this market.


No matter if you need something for a Birthday, Christmas or for your own collection, everyone will find something special at Reutter Porzellan.

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