Garden gnome Horst

A genuine garden gnome – also known as Nanus Hortorum Vulgaris – is always shaped from clay, then fired: never, ever made from a cheap plastic mould! It’s home is in Thuringia, to be precise the small town of Gräfenroda, in the old days the centre of garden gnome production in Germany. There were originally 14 firms that in the good old days specialised in the manufacture of these world-famous figures, of which one has survived – Philipp Griebel, founded in 1874.
The ‘Griebel’ gnomes are made of hollowed clay shaped in plaster moulds: their characteristically cheerful colours are individually hand-painted.

A real garden gnome is always made of clay and baked in a fire (and not cast in plastic). It is at home in Gräfenroda in Thuringia. Fortunately for us, production there has been transferred from the hands of the traditional Griebel manufactory, founded in 1874, to the "Zwergstatt" - otherwise the clay garden gnomes would soon no longer exist. Our garden gnomes are given their hollow clay bodies in plaster moulds and their colourful shape by hand, brushstroke by brushstroke. To protect them from the weather, they are coated with a layer of clear varnish. Worth noting: Since March 2022, the gnomes have been under the special protection of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Thuringia.