Where it all began

History

For more than half a century now, the company G. Wurm, based in Cologne - the city of millions in the heart of Europe - has been selling its products to various customer groups in the retail trade. In addition to classic retailers, e-commerce customers and even multi-channel providers have come to appreciate and love our philosophy. (100% customer orientation, market-leading prices & incredible product selection).

1958: Our first product:

Cranes made of teak wood from our own handcrafted production. Design & draft: Günter Wurm.

This was the beginning of our successful business development.

1958:

It all started that year

Günter Wurm started the company in a cellar of a row house in Cologne Vingst. Supported by his mother, his sister and his brother Eckart, the family worked with great commitment and enthusiasm on various, very modern and handmade wall accessories made of teak wood. The pair of cranes made of teak describes the first product of the Wurm company, which was the breakthrough for the Wurm brothers and laid the foundation stone for the foundation of the company.

1960th

First contacts with the Far East

First contact with Asian manufacturing companies through Eckart Wurm's student exchange in Japan. Eckart Wurm studied business administration at the University of Cologne at the time and was accordingly responsible for the commercial tasks in the company. The lively exchange of ideas between the two business partners developed into a unique think tank which brought many innovative products to the market in the following years. In addition to the extremely successful product groups such as "typesetting boxes" and "miniatures", the pair of brothers were able to contribute to the writing of the two success stories "Holly Hobby" & "Sarah Kay" thanks to their excellent contacts to designers and licensors.

1970th

China and liberalisation

One of the most important changes in the history of Wurm was certainly the liberalization of China for the entire world trade. The two founders can proudly claim to have been one of the first western companies in the decoration industry to source most of their goods from the PRC - Peoples Republic of China.

1980th

Internationalization opens up opportunities

The world and the market opened up over the years. We bought dolls in Thailand, Christmas articles in Taiwan and trend articles in Hong Kong. Since the end of the sixties we travelled several times a year to our supplier in the Far East. We also visited the well-known fairs in Canton, Hong Kong, Tokyo, Taipei, Manila and New Delhi - in recent years mainly the Canton and Hong Kong fairs.

1990th

China's competitive advantage clear

Due to the rapid change in the economic mindset of the dominant nation of China, the company shifted more and more of its complete purchasing of goods to China. Other Asian countries could not keep up with the enormous speed of the Chinese economic development and the competitive advantages associated with it

2000th

Digitalization through World Wide Web

Through continuous development of the company, the two managing partners, Günter and Eckart Wurm, were able to respond perfectly to customer wishes in the early 2000s with a web shop, making G. Wurm one of the first companies to offer B2B goods online.

2011

Company name changed to G.Wurm GmbH & Co. KG

After the company had been managed since 1958 by the two partners as general partners and managing director until 2010, the company was renamed GmbH + Co KG in the course of the generational change in 2011. The sons of Sabine and Eckart Wurm, Philip and Thomas, were officially admitted to the company as limited partners.

2017

Reorientation with innovative ideas and traditional values

Our range of products now includes over 6,500 gift items. We are constantly updating these in order to meet the demands of our customers. Through constant new ideas, diligence, solidity and customer loyalty, we have achieved a strong market position at home and abroad over the past 50 years. New digitalised processes with electronically supported economic systems are to offer even faster and more transparent solutions for our customers in the future. We listen to our customers!

2022

Move to larger & modern premises and change to the international domain wurm.com

Big changes were in store for us in 2022: In May 2022, we said goodbye to our historic domain wurmkg.de and have since been accessible via our new international domain wurm.com. In the course of this, we made four new language versions of our shop available: Italian, Dutch, French and Spanish.

In August 2022 we moved to our new premises in the Airport Business Park in Cologne-Gremberghoven. In addition to the new office with an area of about 800 m², our new location includes a storage area of about 13,000 m² as well as a showroom of about 1,200 m², which invites you to browse and discover!