Kurt Naef
In 1954, Kurt Naef a carpenter and designer of wooden toys, founded Naef Spiele AG. From 1951 to 1956 he studied Interior Architecture in Basel and Amsterdam. Together with his wife Alice Dunkel, he started an arts and craft company in Basel. Enquiries from customers for more refined play objects, led to Kurt Naef producing these himself. many of the toys are in the Bauhaus style and all are very modernistic.
In 1967 Naef Spiele AG opened a modern factory in Zeiningen and started international cooperations on commercial and design matters, specially with Japan. In 1988 the company was sold and Naef had his second marriage with Lotti Engeler. He retired in 1992. In 2003, Kurt Naef together with Lotti's son Hans-Peter Engeler, repurchased the company, which today is managed by Hans-Peter Engeler's son Patrick.
The toys are of remarkable quality, made from the best European wood and expensive top-quality paints and varnishes. Nowadays these vintage Swiss objects are rather interior objects than toys.
Naef had a sharp eye to attract talented designers. Among them were:
• Alma Siedhoff-Buscher (1899-1945) who studied at Bauhaus in Weimar and Dessau
• Josef Hartwig (1880-1955), who studied at Staatliches Bauhaus Weimar and created the Bauhaus chess pieces,
• Jo Niemeyer (1946), who studied visual design and architecture at the College of Art and Industrial Design in Helsinki and created the Modulon (1984)
• Sabu Oguro (1936), who studied at the Design Academy of Art Tama, Tokyo and created animal pairs and families (1980)
• Tomi Ungerer (1931-2019), who studied art in Strasbourg and created wooden animal figures
Literature
Der Spielzeugmacher | The Toymaker, Charles von Büren, Birkhäuser, 2006.
In 1954, Kurt Naef a carpenter and designer of wooden toys, founded Naef Spiele AG. From 1951 to 1956 he studied Interior Architecture in Basel and Amsterdam. Together with his wife Alice Dunkel, he started an arts and craft company in Basel. Enquiries from customers for more refined play objects, led to Kurt Naef producing these himself. many of the toys are in the Bauhaus style and all are very modernistic.
In 1967 Naef Spiele AG opened a modern factory in Zeiningen and started international cooperations on commercial and design matters, specially with Japan. In 1988 the company was sold and Naef had his second marriage with Lotti Engeler. He retired in 1992. In 2003, Kurt Naef together with Lotti's son Hans-Peter Engeler, repurchased the company, which today is managed by Hans-Peter Engeler's son Patrick.
The toys are of remarkable quality, made from the best European wood and expensive top-quality paints and varnishes. Nowadays these vintage Swiss objects are rather interior objects than toys.
Naef had a sharp eye to attract talented designers. Among them were:
• Alma Siedhoff-Buscher (1899-1945) who studied at Bauhaus in Weimar and Dessau
• Josef Hartwig (1880-1955), who studied at Staatliches Bauhaus Weimar and created the Bauhaus chess pieces,
• Jo Niemeyer (1946), who studied visual design and architecture at the College of Art and Industrial Design in Helsinki and created the Modulon (1984)
• Sabu Oguro (1936), who studied at the Design Academy of Art Tama, Tokyo and created animal pairs and families (1980)
• Tomi Ungerer (1931-2019), who studied art in Strasbourg and created wooden animal figures
Literature
Der Spielzeugmacher | The Toymaker, Charles von Büren, Birkhäuser, 2006.
Kurt Naef
1926 (Eptingen, Switzerland)
2006 (Zofingen, Switzerland)
Manufacturer & toy designer
1926 (Eptingen, Switzerland)
2006 (Zofingen, Switzerland)
Manufacturer & toy designer
Jo Niemeyer
1946 (Alf, Germany)
Artist & designer
1946 (Alf, Germany)
Artist & designer
Sabu Oguro
1936 (Tokyo, Japan)
Toy designer
1936 (Tokyo, Japan)
Toy designer
