"Come in" is written on the door of the old Erzgebirge house just outside the toy village of Seiffen. And once you cross the threshold of the house, you immediately feel the warmth and cordiality with which you are welcomed here in this traditional place. Markus Füchtner's sweater reads "NUSSKNACKERKÖNIG" in large letters. Markus Füchtner is joined in the workshop by his wife Carola, his parents, his aunt Romy and two other employees. A real family business, dedicated to the traditional handcrafted production of nutcrackers from the Ore Mountains. Markus Füchtner took over the workshop from his uncle Volker in 2017.

Nutcrackers are made strictly according to traditional shapes. Smoking men, angels and miners are also made here. Each piece is turned, glued and painted by hand. Every brushstroke is applied to the smoothly varnished wood by the painters, just like in the old days. When you are allowed into the most sacred part of the house, the sawdust-filled workshop, it feels like a journey back in time. This is the trademark of "Original Füchtner": craftsmanship as it was 100 years ago - paired with a great spirit of invention and innovation.

It is therefore not surprising that traditional Ore Mountain craftsmanship has merged with high-tech materials research from the Fraunhofer IWU in this workshop. The result of this cooperation is "Wilhelm's smoking rockets", a product that is revolutionizing the art of woodcraft in the Ore Mountains. But from the beginning...

But what is Wilhelm all about? And why a rocket?

They actually only met up to watch soccer, to maintain their long-standing friendship and to discuss developments and trends in their home region, the Erzgebirge. The five friends Markus Füchtner, Tom Neubert, Ronny Hoyer, Silvio Neuber and Mario Kaden are deeply rooted in their home region and its traditions. When one of them, Ronny Hoyer, wanted to go on a trip around the world, it was important to him to be able to take "something from home" with him. And so he asked his friend, Markus Füchtner, if he could turn something for him. This was the birth of the 12 cm tall traveling nutcracker Wilhelm.

In the meantime, he has traveled to over 40 countries around the world, been to the Olympic Games, visited the German ambassador in New Zealand and, true to the James Bond motto "The world is nut enough", spent many months on the International Space Station ISS as part of the ESA Cosmic Kiss mission with the German astronaut Matthias Maurer as ambassador for the Ore Mountains.

Innovative space technology meets traditional wood art

It was there that Wilhelm first came into contact with innovative space technology and brought home a creative and very concrete (product) idea. But what was missing - a team with expertise in materials research?! Wilhelm received initial support from three strong networks - the creative center DENKSTATT ERZGEBIRGE, the association of Erzgebirgischer Kunsthandwerker und Spielzeughersteller e.V. and the innovation network smart³ e.V. – which also established the much-needed contact to the Fraunhofer IWU in Dresden. Together with the scientists and their extraordinary expertise in the field of intelligent materials, the implementation finally worked: a mechanism made of shape memory alloy was installed inside the rocket. The heat from a simple incense candle is enough to activate the smart material. The top of the smoking rocket opens and Wilhelm looks out of his "Wilhelm's Smoking Rocket".

In the meantime, this innovation, based on cooperation between craftsmanship and science, has won many prizes. Demand is huge and the order lists are long. Eight other craft businesses in the Seiffen region have been involved in the production of "Wilhelm's smoking rockets". Wilhelm connects: not only craftsmanship and science, but also companies and people in the region.

In Seiffen itself, Wilhelm is currently working on the "WELT-RAUM", a place where he would like to be the host himself. We are excited to see how this story continues and are already looking forward to the next exciting innovation from "Original Füchtner".