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Once upon a time, almost one hundred years ago, when the world was no longer so new, there was a young piano-builder named Georg Kellner who was passionate about flying.  And since real airplanes were just too big to park next to the bed in the evening or to take-off right in the garden on a sunny morning, Georg Kellner built model planes.  While they were smaller in size, they were able to fly like the real ones. They became so popular, the piano-builder turned into a full-time model maker.

After the first World War, Georg Kellner decided to offer his models as a construction set, a completely new and novel idea. The first to become fascinated by this concept were the nautical enthusiasts: the British. He quickly turned his attention and efforts to building model ships. Driven by springs, steam machines or electric engines, these ships sailed on waters far beyond the ocean - in pretty lakes, ponds and pools everywhere. The models found their way to India, South Africa, even to Australia…  Kellner’s models even showed up in classrooms as lesson plans, with many of the schoolboys wanting their very own.

During the golden years of the 1920’s Georg Kellner married his sweetheart, Hildegard and in 1928 their son Wolfgang was born.  Soon after those highflying times, the effects of the worldwide economic depression would come crashing down.  However, Georg Kellner remained an ingenious “tinkerer,” full of love for children.  His thoughts often turned to how he could brighten their days - the models had to be simple for small hands.  The challenge became how to join the single blocks of wood. He came up with the idea of a joint that would loosen easily but still be sufficiently stable and inexpensive to produce. And he would not have been Georg Kellner if he had not found the solution: rubber!  He called them “Gummi.”  Yes!  And, hence it became "Jummi."  Block – hole – Jummi – hole – block.   One block stuck to the next… a “bowling ball” head on top … and there you are!  A figure to grow…  This simple and ingenious idea is, to this day, still significant.

Kellner patented his “fitbits” and included them with all those construction sets, whose colorful wooden content contained worlds of adventure for children: chimney sweepers, sailors, a sultan with his elephant, a rabbit, a frog and a mouse all lived in the house, carts and carriages, and cable cars driven by fantastic figures through kitchens and kids' rooms in the thirties.  There was no end to the creation of new wooden friends – until the second World War.

Georg Kellner moved his family from Leipzig to Tabarz, in the forest of Thuringia, where they, together with their Fitbit friends, survived the horrible turmoil of war.  However, the company's site in Leipzig was destroyed, and after the end of the war, ruins and rubble had to be put together to build something new.  All the while Georg Kellner was building his playful worlds for children, this part of Germany was constructing socialism.  In addition, the worldwide “debut” of plastics in the 1960’s meant new, cheap and handy = modern.   With an almost infinite array of forms, the “Fitbits” too, changed their wooden look – with the exception of their bowling ball head.  Under the direction of Georg’s son Wolfgang in 1965, a more colorful and chubbier Tulip Gardener found his way to Eastern European countries where Quiek the Mouse, Quak the Frog and all the other Fitbits followed.  They had exceeded everyone’s expectations, with hundreds of thousands of pieces produced each year. 

However, this privately owned company was not compatible with the idea of a socialist society.  State control and increasingly strict regulations were dramatically reducing business ideas and activities.  In 1972, everything came to halt when expropriation took effect and the Kellner company became a nationalized property.  Under a new name, plastic dolls, windows and various items were produced – all according to pre-planned economic criteria.

Meanwhile… Kellner’s grandson Hans-Georg, obviously born with that unique Kellner talent of play, decided to blaze his own trail through the woods of life – away from the former Kellner company.   His fist step landed him as a toolmaker but shortly after, having studied woodworking and design, Hans-Georg found his way back through the woods, which he often defines like this:  keep all paths open…think – and reflect change…discover the world…be amazed…create playfully

When socialism came to an end in Germany in 1989 and the state collapsed, the production line in Tabarz was abandoned.  Hans-Georg Kellner moved to Berlin where, together with Frank Zimmer, a workshop for wood creations was established.  These creations’ dimensions were considerably larger, spacious, free and no longer suitable for boxes.  And instead of mass-production, unique pieces were fabricated.  Piece-by-piece, wood grew into sculptures of play.  A playground is space for play, play frees fantasy and fantasy makes small and tall people fly… It's as simple as that.

In 1992, Hans-Georg Kellner had the opportunity to purchase the formerly nationalized properties of the Kellner toy company and transferred his Berlin studio to Tabarz, where a fresh wind blew new life into the old, run-down houses.  Somewhere in a drawer's deep darkness the Fitbits were still asleep – but they kept Hans-Georg Kellner awake.  Until one morning, with some courage and lots of Jummis, he brought those funny fellows to life again.

Quiek, Quak, Max, Hopps and Eduard found themselves in Nuremberg on the shiny floor of the International Toy Fair in 2000. These Fitbits looked just as they did the very first time around, only with a fresh coat of paint, some soft leather and fancy felt.  They had kept their charm and took designers and toy buyers by storm - especially the hearts of those who remembered them: the grown-up kids of those troubled times from the past century.  But what connects them with the kids of today?  Easy – the joy of play.  The joy of play does not only connect us throughout time but also throughout the world. Soon after their debut in Nuremberg, children of all ages in every corner of the world came to know and love the quirky  Fitbits.  They found their way to Switzerland, to Spain to France… And these days they even travel to Australia… 

And, well - as you all know, travelers are most famous and fabulous for their stories, stories, stories…