„Congratulations, boss“,

is how Uwe Schlesinger, a former journeyman, greets company owner Andreas Lewerken this morning. He extends his hand to him. Confused, Mr. Lewerken accepts the congratulations. -„For what?“ he asks curiously. -Today is our twentieth anniversary,„ is the answer.

It's true. A look at the files confirms it: Twenty years ago today, on April 1, 1985, the Kiebitzberg joinery was founded just outside the small village of Kuhlhausen. The fact that the company would be turning twenty this year had not escaped our notice and some highlights were already being planned. Nobody had thought of the exact date in the stress of everyday life. So thank you Uwe!

„Wooden toys from Kiebitzberg“ was the first slogan of this small, independent company, where in the early years only Andreas Lewerken himself worked with his wife Renate. Not exactly easy under socialist conditions. For us children, these toys were always something special. We grew up with them. There were - in our eyes - huge elephants, turtles, giraffes, but also grasping toys, wooden puzzles and play sets. They were sold in galleries all over the GDR, but of course we didn't understand any of that as children. We simply enjoyed playing with them, rolling them around the house until even the inventor got tired of them. Then came the fall of communism, times changed and with them the markets. Both we children and the company grew up and became adults.

Now the lapwing has turned twenty. And of course we children would like to join Uwe in congratulating him. But the congratulations are not just for the management - our parents. It's not just for them and the first generation of employees, the old journeymen. It goes to everyone involved, all employees, everyone who has accompanied us or is accompanying us along the way. In the fluctuating political and economic conditions of the last two decades, it is a merit that all employees have worked together to make a company thrive, expand it continuously and grow healthily - in good times and bad, so to speak.

In the coming months, we would like to report here on how the small one-man business has grown into a forty-strong group of companies that will be launching its first yacht over twenty meters long this year. But for now, we'd like to wish you a happy twentieth birthday! Or, as the saying goes Reinhard Mey would certainly express (because the spirit of the lapwing has long since passed into our children's blood): „Happy birthday to us.“

Agnes and Florian Lewerken.