… made in Heidelberg are in demand all over the world?

For generations they have been part of school enrolment in Germany like the school cone: the Scout school backpack and the Lamy beginner’s pen made of wood.Both classics have their roots in the Rhine-Neckar Metropolitan Region. The first Scout satchel was invented in 1975 by Sternjakob, a company from Frankenthal. More than 10 million of them have been sold since. The ergonomically shaped wooden pen fittingly named “abc” was introduced to the market by the Heidelberg-based company Lamy in 1987. This is considered a significant milestone in the history of the family business whose products stand for design and quality worldwide under the motto “Made in Germany.”

The company history goes back to 1930—under a different name, though. It used to be “Orthos Füllfederhalter-Fabrik” (Orthos fountain pen manufactory). Its founder, C. Josef Lamy, had previously spent several years as branch and export manager for an American writing instruments manufacturer and afterwards put his knowledge to good use for the benefit of his own company. In 1939, production volume tallied 200,000 pens per year. In 1948, the company name was changed to its current name. In 1952, the breakthrough was achieved at last with the fountain pen “LAMY 27” and for the first time the company combined the values of what it stands for today: design, innovation and quality. Inspired by Bauhaus philosophy, Manfred Lamy, son of the company founder, defined the brand values of the company. Many internationally awarded design classics followed, amongst them the pen “LAMY 2000” designed by Gerd A. Müller in 1966, the pen for youngsters “LAMY safari” in 1980 and in 1987 the already mentioned pen for children “LAMY abc”, both of which were designed by Bernt Spiegel, or the “LAMY dialog” series produced since 2003 and designed by Richard Sapper.

In 2006, Manfred Lamy’s era came to an end. At the age of 70 the business patriarch retired from the operative business management handing it over to an external manager for the first time in the history of the company. This by no means marked an end to the company’s success, as Lamy continues to follow an unwavering course of expansion. At the moment, annual revenue amounts to approximately EUR 110 million and the company has shops located in all the major cities around the globe. The feeling of being connected with the region and the local down-to-earth mentality is still very present in the company, since all Lamy products are designed and produced at the corporate headquarters in Heidelberg—currently seven million per year.


www.lamy.com