When Rainer Brang was looking for a suitable audio player for his young son, he couldn’t find what he was looking for from established manufacturers. No company offered what he wanted: an easy-to-use, child-safe, durable, sustainably produced, high-quality, and repairable audio player.
He decided to build a player for his son himself – and hörbert was born. hörbert’s concept is a response to plastic consumption in children’s rooms and the trend of disposability.
The family man tinkered for 14 months before the first hörbert came off the workbench in 2011. Since then, the former one-man business has grown to 20 employees. Since the first hörbert, which, by the way, was allowed to emigrate to Siberia with its German customer, ventured into the world, many thousands of children’s ears have been delighted by the musical wooden box.
… and the second order of a certain Rolf Zuckowski by Rainer Brang was initially thought to be a joke order, but upon his inquiry, it turned out to be real.
That was the secret accolade for the founder and Zuckowski fan.
We are proud that hörbert’s unique wooden design and the values it embodies have caused a sensation and received recognition:
At the Museum of Modern Art in New York, hörbert was exhibited from 2014 to 2015 in the “Art Lab,” a children’s art laboratory. Almost 40,000 visitors were able to touch, try out, and use hörbert – and we did not get him back.
In 2016, Winzki GmbH & Co. KG was officially named the county champion of Baden-Württemberg in the nationwide business competition KfW Award GründerChampions. The jury consisted of experienced representatives from politics and economics, state development banks, as well as chambers of commerce and industry.
They acknowledged us for our innovation capability, creativity, and for taking on social responsibility. This includes the environmentally conscious implementation of our work and the creation of jobs and training opportunities within the country.
Important decisions have been made within our company, as in 2016 we have embarked on the exciting path of self-organization. Since then, we have been replacing hierarchy with processes and creating a meaningful work environment according to our vision.
At the 12th State Award for Young Enterprises in 2018, we made it to the Top 20 out of 375 applicants. The State Award for Young Enterprises is presented every two years by the state government and L-Bank. The search is for companies that are economically successful and contribute to a sustainable society through responsible actions. This time, there were 375 applicants, and we are proud to have come this far.
hörbert landed in 2019 with a grade of 1.8 in first place in the test. 13 music players for children were tested. We are very proud of this rating, as it is the result of our continuous efforts to offer our customers a product that is unique in its design and manufacturing process.
hörbert was tested in 2011 in the basic version, without additional modules such as the automatic shut-off function or the Bluetooth module.
After the punctual delivery in 2019, we celebrated the successful completion of our first Kickstarter campaign, where 407 supporters contributed €30,868 to realize a project: A Bluetooth module for retrofitting for hörbert.
Through the expandability of hörbert, the lifespan and usability of the player can be extended – a core idea of sustainability that is anchored in our company’s DNA.
In 2021, hörbert celebrated its 10th Anniversary. hörbert’s concept has always been based on the highest quality in terms of materials and handmade production in Germany since the beginning. None of the other music players for children available on the market can look back on such a long history as hörbert. Initially, the focus was on offering a child-friendly player that is also a parent’s friend through quality and battery life, and today, our main priorities are Sustainability and Openness.
Instead of forcing our customers into a licensing business, we open up hörbert with Recording Functions, Internet Radio, Bluetooth Streaming, and Microphone for all customer wishes. We will naturally retain proven features, such as Repairability and production from renewable resources.
With our new hörbert, we have created a platform where we can be more flexible than ever in meeting the wishes of our customers in the future.
With your hörbert, you are a part of this success story. We thank you for your trust and we are happy when you share your hörbert experiences with everyone. For example, through our guestbook or social media channels…
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