Already in the 1920s, Mara Kraul laid the foundation stone for today’s toy company. With artistic embroidery and knitting, which she made with the help of homeworkers, the basis of the company – which is still family-owned today – was created.
After the Second World War, her son Walter joined the company and developed first ideas for designing toys: Inspired by a giant mobile by Alexander Calder, which he had seen at the Venice Biennale, his mother now designed her own mobiles manufactured in the tradition of handicraft.
Inspired by his work as a Waldorf teacher at the Rudolf Steiner School in Munich and numerous nature experiences with his children, he created cable cars and waterwheels which – timeless as they are – are still an important part of Kraul’s product range today.
Soon a basic concept was established, which was finally consolidated when Walter Kraul took over the company in 1976: Toys with the elements earth, water and air, to which the fourth element fire could be added with the development of the candle seesaw and the game „shadow in the woods“. The increasing business activity led to the transformation of the company into the „Walter Kraul GmbH“ with the partners Walter and his wife Margarethe in 1988.
In 1989, their son Christoph became a co-partner, before he took over the management of the company for good in 1993. With Christoph, a grandson of the founder, the company’s range of products and services developed steadily.
As a meteorologist and physicist, he mainly designed the experiment kits that today form an important part of the product range. The basic concept of the four elements earth, water, air and fire is also consistently continued in these experiment kits in a technical and scientific manner.
Today, the inner circle of permanent and freelance employees includes about ten people. Up to 20 others work for us as home workers and temporary staff. Another important aspect for us is the cooperation with two workshops where people with disabilities are involved in the production processes.