About
us
Westerwald and
Teddy Bears –
a colourful
mix!
Vera Moeller "You are in
the wrong town of Neunkirchen. We live in the proximity of Rennerod!"
Not for the first time one in the house of Verena Greene-Christ
and Siegfried Christ gave this telephone information to a customer."
There are over twenty larger and smaller towns in Germany with
the name `Neunkirchen´
- mistakes would always occur when customers would not pay attention
to the postal zip code," says Verena Greene-Christ, "only a
few kilometers away there is already another Neunkirchen."
Verena Greene-Christ
In the idyllic
Westerwald countryside
in the midst of fields, meadows and forests the Christ family
lives in a village with a bit more then 500 people. When Verena
together with mother Vera Moeller, who today is probably one
of the oldest bear artists in Germany, moved into her husbands
house ten years ago his peace and quiet was suddenly gone.
"Two women,
three cats, a dog and hundreds
of teddy bears transformed the immaculate household into a terrible
disorder, "laughs Verena Greene-Christ, "today my husband takes
it with a lot of humor."
Since 1986
Vera Moeller manufactured at first dolls, then started teddy
bears and taught this to her daughter who at that time still
lived in the USA. At the end of 1987 Verena, a professional
florist, returned to Germany and the mother/daughter team started
their "bear career." First at small hobby and doll markets then
at bear fairs they presented their teddies
to the public. After an appearance on the german TV show "ZDF-Fernsehgarten"
it was over with the idyllic peace. A contract with the german
toy company sigikid followed, where Verena worked as a freelance
designer for many years.
Siegfried Christ
After her marriage
she moved in – as the germans say - with `Sack und Pack´,
which means - with a lot of things!
"At first the
people in our village probably laughed about me. Teddy bears
are not really the regular daily branch of trade around here.
After a while customers or friends who asked for the bear people
didn´t have trouble getting directions." Siegfried Christ
started also into this unknown and unusual trade. All three
of them went to exhibitions all around Europe. In 1994 their
supply company SINA-BEARS developed.
"It started
at a dinner after one show. Several bear artists asked us why
we wouldn´t open a wholesale company." Verena laughs when
she thinks about those first few decisions. "We decided spontaneously
to work with an english weaving mill and to order mohair for
resale," tells Siegfried Christ, "three days later we were sitting
in an airplane and returned with an order of six rolls of mohair.
We were unbelievably excited
and proud." The first catalog was a small page with the six
different types of mohair and some accessories. After only a
short time the team presented its wholesale and retail products
in an extensive catalog." I was very content that there were
customers, who had remained faithful to us from the very beginning,"
says Verena proudly.
The mail-order
business was operated by the couple with all their energy, but
in February ´01 they closed after almost seven years.
Only from time
to time the artist can get together with her mother Vera Moeller
and succeed in manufacturing a few teddies which can be seen
either at some
exhibitions or at the teddy shop Gessner in Berlin and at the
shop of Maria Devlieghere in Brugge/Belgium. With the new "Colourful
edition" in 2000 the artist team brought a new teddy collection
to the market.
The new logo `Creative Dreams´
shows that the team turns to new innovative designs and ideas.
In her two-year
editorship activity with the magazine TEDDY & CO readers
became acquainted with Verena Greene Christ as a critical and
fair observer of the teddy scene. She presented bear artists,
brought the bear making business to the hobby artists and reported
on novelties, show happenings and current dates. Verena knows
the `szene´ in and out by heart, knows many of the artists
as well as newcomers. For a long time she used to be active
as a free lance writer for the magazine `BaerReport´
in Cologne.
With the attempt
which they started some years ago to get German and European
bear artists to exhibit in the USA the Christ family found a
lot of interest in Germany. The "GETA-Tour" did not
need to be advertised for - most often it was sold out up to
one year in advance. The tour had up to sixteen european bear
artists and collectors which went to shows in Washington or
Baltimore.
"We always
had a lot of fun. The journeys were supposed to be business
and fun for all and also an experience." Unfortunately Verena
Greene-Christ decided to no longer offer these trips.
"Our work gave us a lot
of satisfaction. We are now turning to other things in life.
But I can´t imagine to not see ourselves in this Bear-World
anymore and to not meet our friends. I am certain we will stay
around."
