The History of the Bear Press
It all starts with an old Korrex printing press, printing format 50 x 70 cm, and a magician.
"The Story of the Magician Fernando" - a circus fairy tale. Hand-printed and hand-bound in a limited edition of 500 copies. We sell "The Magician" at flea markets, because in 1978 there were no craft markets yet.
At the first stall sits an old teddy bear wearing an even older top hat. He holds a bell in his hand, and a string runs from his arm behind the stall. We pull it, the bear rings, people look – the bear press is born.
Market life is tough; in Nuremberg, our jingling bear was stolen during dismantling.
The bear press didn't go under, however. New children's books were created, along with large-format prints, postcards, and stationery. And because old teddy bears were still readily available at flea markets for very little money back then, there was soon a new market bear and a rapidly growing bear family watching us work at home.
Finally, the first large cardboard bear also makes its way into the program of the bear press.
The jumping bear becomes a success story. In the coming years, the number of movable paper figures increases steadily until the bear press transforms into a full-fledged papercraft workshop. Every year we incubate new jumping jacks, men, women, and animals.
Demand is increasing.
We still produce the printing blocks using linocut techniques and print them on the Korrex press. The actual print run is then produced using offset printing. Throughout Germany in the 1980s, craft markets sprang up, and Bären-Presse took its "paper circus" on the road. Bären-Presse also made its way to major Christmas markets in cities like Cologne, Aachen, and Essen, delighting the public.
In 1998, Dirk Lampe joined Bärenpresse. He took over the model kit publishing house from Steffen Mühlhäuser and Roland Adam and has successfully managed the business ever since. Production, marketing, and sales relocated with him to Halle/Westphalia. With renewed energy, he expanded Bärenpresse's distribution network. The two "old guard" retained the enjoyable task of developing new products.