Wool Tit (Wollmeise) – The Wool Tit / Wollmeise (lat. parus lana)
The name
In real life I’m Claudia Höll-Wellmann but in 2002, when our company “Rohrspatz & Wollmeise” was founded, I became “Wollmeise” (Wool Tit). Although the “Rohrspatz” (cheeky sparrow), my husband, no longer makes his lovely wrought-iron pavilions, devoting his energies to the wool, we have become very fond of the name and we’ve kept it.
In the beginning was the needle and not the yarn
Knitting was at the start of my career in handicrafts. I was always searching for suitable materials, patterns and, above all, colours for my designs and I very quickly arrived at the limits to the colour-ways available on the market at that time. So I dyed my own wool – and a whole new world opened up for me. There are endless possibilities when playing with colour and I hope to make yet more new and exciting discoveries.
My aim is to dye quite specific shades. I allow myself to be guided by nature, by things I come up against or by moods: Spice Market, Stormy Skies (Gewitterhimmel), Dance of the Mice (Mäuseballett). For a long time, for example, I tried to create the incomparable velvety lilac blue of violets and not just the ordinary lilac colour. And one of these days I’ll get that really special essence of Red Cabbage (Blaukraut)! I’m still working on it … ;-)
Perfectionism
When it comes to quality I’m a perfectionist. I select my materials very critically and I am passionate about delivering the best-possible goods. We work to a very high standard of quality, which doesn’t always make life easy but I won’t accept anything less.
Together we are strong
Up until a few years ago it was still possible for me to run the dyeing plant and everything else alone. However, thanks to the increased demand from our customers, we have now become a small family-run enterprise. When our products please so many people then it proves to me that we have taken the right road.
I’m particularly pleased that one of my children, my son Tobias, has joined the company. At the moment he is specialising in management and logistics, which he runs alone, full of enthusiasm.
Wollmeise GmbH