An Interview with Dick Franz

Interviewed by Charlie Dale

 

When Dick Franz, North American Steiff Archivist, was here for the Spring Steiff Event, he agreed to an e-mail interview for this blog about Steiff. Hope all of you enjoy this as much as I did putting it together.

 

Dale: How many hands work on a Steiff piece before it's finished?

Franz: It can vary from animal to animal depending on the complexity of the design but there are over twenty stations in the manufacture of one Steiff. These range from cutting material, sewing the body, placing eyes, , stuffing bodies, sewing noses, and detail painting. Of coarse at every stage there are quality control check points before the product proceeds to the next phase. 

Dale: How many kinds of stuffing are there?  Are they ever combined? What determines what kind of stuffing?

Franz: There are two basic types of stuffing for non replicas. These are foam or fiber. Both are non allergenic. These are sometimes used in combination with pellets for ballast. The ballast is used to help make the animal more posable or feel or more realistic. For example we might weight the paws so that they dangle or weight the bottom so the animal will sit easily.

Dale: How are the artist's picked for Steiff?  Is there a reason they are not credited on the merchandise like the "Charlie Bear" line?

Franz: In Germany many Companies use internships or work study programs. Steiff takes advantage of these and uses them in many skilled areas including the design department. As with most artists, Steiff artists have a style. Some are better at designing teddy bears and others do better with animals. Artists are put on projects according to there strengths. At Steiff we refer to the "Steiff Look". It is unique and the overall objective is to obtain the best Steiff design possible.    

Dale:  Have you ever designed a bear/animal Steiff?

 

Franz: Steiff is a worldwide company selling to countries that have very different tastes. We have our worldwide line that is the same for all countries but we also manufacture Country specific items. I attend the US product development meeting where a small group develops concepts and designs for our US market. In these meeting we develop the concept, the pattern and size, and pick the fabrics. These notes are sent to the design department in Germany to be formulated into a pattern which is then sent to the sample department where a sample is created. The sample is then sent back to us for changes and then finally approval. Many of my concepts and ideas have been used over the years. But a Steiff creation is ultimately a group effort. 

Dale: Is there a "job" at Steiff that you would like to do but haven't had a chance to do yet?

Franz: This year begins my 44th year with Steiff. I have always liked variety in my work and my time at Steiff has certainly provided that. I can't think of any other job that would suit me as well as what I am doing. I love being involved with the new product, meeting collectors and retailers all over the US. 

 

Dale:  Would there be a "Holy Grail" ( a piece a collector would kill for) Steiff piece, and if so what would it be?

Franz: This is a great question. In my experience in meeting thousands of collectors, I have found that Steiff has something for everyone. Steiff has created many one off pieces that have turned up over the years. They were samples for buyers or made just for a special display. I quickly learned "with Steiff that you never say never". As soon as you say "they never made a piece like that" , one will turn up.


Thanks to Dick Franz for the interview, and his time.  Please be aware that the Steiff pieces shown in this post can be ordered through Keillor's A Teddy Bear Shoppe,  and are part of the new Fall Steiff Line. 

I can be contacted at Keillorsteddybears@yahoo.com or call 330-854-0481.

Some Basic Steiff History

by: Charlie Dale
March 11, 2014

I've decided to provide some background information on the history of the Steiff history, based on the fact that Keillor's A Teddy Bear Shoppe is having their annual Steiff Spring event coming at the end of the month.  I also felt that a basic history lesson in where Steiff started might be of some interest to the followers of this new blog and Keillor's A Teddy Bear Shoppe.

Steiff is a German-based plush toy company known for its excellent, high quality stuffed toys.  It began in 1880 by Margarete Steiff, who was later assisted by her brother Fritz.  Margaret, a polio victim learned to sew with one hand and despite her infirmity, she was able to build an internationally successful company that thrives to this day.

The toys began as elephants, and were originally a design Steiff found in a magazine and sold as pincushions to her friends.  However, children began playing with them, and in the years following she went on to design many other successful animal-themed toys for children, such as dogs, cats and pigs.  She designed and made of the prototypes herself.

The company's success lies in its lack of willingness to compromise on quality.  Every item is still handmade using century-old manufacturing techniques in their factory of Giegen, Germany.

Richard Steiff, Margarete's nephew, was responsible for developing the Steiff brand in the US and in the beginning demand has so high more than one million pieces have currently shipped to our shores.

Richard Steiff joined the company in 1897 and gave the company an enormous boost in popularity by creating the teddy bear in 1902.  In 1907, Steiff manufactured 974,000 bears, and has been increasing its output ever since.

The Steiff company motto, as styled by Margarete Steiff, is "Only the best is good enough for children."  Steiff products are subjected to meticulous testing and inspection.  They are required to be highly flame resistant and, among other things, smaller pieces such as eyes must be able to resist considerable tension, wear and tear, etc.

The most common materials used in Steiff toys are alpaca, felt, mohair and woven fabrics.  Eyes are generally made of wood or glass, and the stuffing is commonly wood shavings or polyester fibers.  A large amount of the work is done by hand, from design sketches to the airbrushed highlights.  The final touch on any Steiff toy is the trademark "button in the ear" (assuming the animal has one; in  any case they'll find a spot/hole for it).

The famed "button in the ear" was devised by Margarete's brother Franz in 1904, to keep counterfeits from being passed off as authentic Steiff toys.  It is metal and originally had the symbol of an elephant, later that was replaced by the name Steiff  The button is still used to distinguish Steiff toys from fakes.  Some special current toys have both the elephant and the name.  These types of toys are considered highly collectible.

Richard Steiff (February 7, 1877- March 30, 1939) Richard was born in Giengen, and entered his aunt's toy making enterprise in 1897.  WHile attending the Arts and Crafts (Kunstgewerbeschule) in Stuttgart, he would regularly visit the nearby Nill'scher Zoo (which was closed in 1906) and spend much of his time drawing the residents of the bear enclosure.  Is sketched were incorporated into the prototype of the toy bear he created in 1902 and code-named Steiff Bar 55 PB (where 55 equals the bear's height in centimeters; P which equalled Plusch, plush; and B equalled beweglich, moveable limbs).

At its debut at the Leipzig Toy Fair in 1903, the bear initially attracted little attention, but its fortunes were saved when an American buyer snapped up the entire lot of 100 bears and another 3,000 just before the exhibition finished.  The heyday of Steiff company thus began.  At the Saint Louis World's Fair in 1904, the Steiff's sold 12,000 bears and received the Gold Medal, which was the highest honor at the event.  The kind of toy bear they pioneered acquired the appellation "teddy" from several legends about President Theodore Roosevelt.  Steiff bears, with a small metal Steiff clip in the ear, can now be quite valuable.

Richard Steiff also  attained several other technological milestones.  He developed the Roloplan, a kind of kite, which could take aerial photographs of the Steiff factory and its surroundings in  Giengen.  The Imperial German Army expressed an interest in the Roloplan for aerial reconnaissance purposes, but abandoned such plans when it proved to be unreliably slow.

In 1903, Steiff also planned and erected a factory building of concrete and steel called the Jungfrauenaquarium (Virgins' Aquarium), which allowed all the workers inside to enjoy ample natural light, a first for its time frame.  He equipped the building with a ramp so that his aunt could reach the upper levels in her wheelchair.  Richard Steiff died at the age of 62 in Michigan.


There have been Steiff collectors fro almost as long  as the company has existed.  Early on, adults realized the high quality and exceptional value of Steiff Collectibles, so soon both adults and children were avid fans of these "toys."  There are more than two dozen quads on how to collect Steiff, but our advice is simple:  Collect what you love.  Collecting Steiff, both new and vintage, is a hobby that thousands of people around the globe enjoy.

How to identify Steiff

All Modern Steiff products and virtually all Steiff products are marked with the famous "button in the ear" trademark that identifies Steiff animals as genuine.  Through the years, it was silver colored and quite small.  Many items also include an ear tag or flag.  White tags with black type mean the piece is an exact replica of an earlier item.  White tags with red type indicate that the item is a limited edition.  Yellow tags identify that item as from Steiff's general assortment.

Other information

The Steiff range is divided into two segments: (1) collectibles and (2) toys.  While there is some overlap, most products fall into one of these two categories.  The collector range includes high quality Teddy Bears and animals made from mohair, alpaca, wool felt, cotton velvet and other natural products of valuable Woven Fur.  Now, 125 years later, this simple truth "Only the best is good enough" still guides our company in the production of both lines for collectors and children.

(Please be aware that the antique Steiff pieces pictured in this article ARE NOT available at Keillor's A Teddy Bear Shoppe, and were only used to illustrate this article.)