An old platitude says, „The best wedding present is a broom – it keeps the marriage clean.“ Once brooms did last as long as a marriage. But brooms today seem to fall apart as quickly as many modern marriages – they are made to soon land on the junk heap. Some manufacturers still exist, however, who value quality and produce goods that grow on you, the happy results of meticulous craftsmanship, for example:

- the sleek bags and belts made by Michael Sohr in Freiburg, one of the last skilled leather workers,
- the valuable cold pressed oils that are produced in the historical oil mill that belongs to the Eberhardt family in Oberweiler, south of Freiburg
- the hand-crafted brushes and brooms from Harald Bloechle‘s brush manufacture, made mainly by him and disabled people from Schramberg in the Black Forest,
- linens made by the Alsatian Gander Company in Muttersholtz (between Colmar and
Schlettstadt) with traditional Alsatian patterns that the Gander family has been
weaving on old looms for seven generations.

All these products have one thing in common: They are made from the best materials with great care by people who pay close attention to detail and are proud of the quality goods they produce, goods that are expensive, but ones that will bring joy for a long time. Our grandmothers recognized their worth when they remarked, „We are too poor to be able to afford cheap things.“

Badische Zeitung November 23, 2002:
"You can change the world a bit by this."

More informations:

www.michael-sohr.de
www.buerstenwelt.de
www.stiftung-st-franziskus.de