History
Craftsmanship since 1862
Semper idem
For more than 160 years, our workshop has made luminaires that light opera houses, parliaments, churches, town halls and yachts around the world. Every piece is the work of our craftspeople, and no industrial process can replace their skill.
Today we employ chasers, metalworkers, grinders and polishers, design engineers and project managers. Each of them has built up a range of skills well beyond their original trade. Experience and knowledge handed down over generations come together here. That know-how is the basis for commissions of every kind, from everyday to highly specialised. Giving bold artistic visions a perfectly crafted form is the hallmark of German Light Manufactory 1862.
In 1862, K. A. Seifert opened a haberdashery and fancy goods shop at Jacobsgasse 37 in Wurzen. Out of these beginnings grew a company that turned more and more to metal and bronze goods. The catalogue of the 1880 Trade and Industry Exhibition in Wurzen already lists the firm as K. Seifert, Metall- und Broncewaaren-Fabrik. Its speciality: “lighting articles for gas and paraffin, such as chandeliers, candelabra etc.”
That was the beginning of a story that shapes us to this day.
1862The beginning
K. A. Seifert founds the Sächsische Broncewaarenfabrik K. A. Seyffert in Wurzen.
Over the following decades, a shop for haberdashery and fancy goods grows into a company that matters more and more to the lighting industry.
1889Electric light
Electric lighting opens up new possibilities.
On 27 May 1889 the company becomes a joint-stock company. Under Karl Max Seifert, the founder's son, the works keep growing.
By this time the company already employs several hundred people.
1900Growth and expansion
The Sächsische Broncewaarenfabrik has around 241 employees and showrooms in Leipzig, Berlin, Munich, Hamburg and London.
Its products sell far beyond the region. Alongside gas lighting, more and more luminaires are made for electric light.
1934New structures
The company is sold and continues as Sächsische Broncewarenfabrik Neidhardt & Zimmermann OHG.
Luminaires for shipbuilding join the product range.
1952A new era
The state takes a capital stake in the company, represented by the Rostock shipyard.
1968Lighting for rail vehicles
The company begins to develop and manufacture luminaires for rail vehicles.
1972Nationalisation
The works are nationalised by force and continue as VEB Spezialleuchtenbau Wurzen.
Around 140 people work in the company at this time.
1984Lead enterprise
The works join a Kombinat, a state-run combine, with seven other companies and take the lead role within it.
Technical luminaires for shipbuilding and the rail vehicle industry dominate the range.
1985The Semperoper returns
Destroyed in the Second World War, the Semperoper in Dresden reopens after four decades of reconstruction.
Rebuilding its huge chandelier is a feat of craftsmanship in its own right. A gas ring found in the ruins gives the decisive clue to its original size: 4.25 metres in diameter.
Since the reopening, 256 lamps light the historic chandelier. In all, 363 luminaires in the house were made in Saxony.
1990Back in private hands
After German reunification, the former owner Günther Hessel takes the company back into private ownership. It continues as Sächsische Broncewarenfabrik Wurzen GmbH.
The buildings are modernised and new machines bought.
1996A growing archive
The predecessor of today's German Light Manufactory 1862 takes over a collection of more than 1,000 casting patterns, along with the trademark rights of long-established German luminaire makers.
This archive of patterns and knowledge keeps growing and still serves reconstructions and new designs today.
2000Specialisation
Leuchten Manufactur Wurzen GmbH is spun off as a subsidiary of SBF Spezialleuchten Wurzen GmbH, dedicated to decorative lighting.
2005International markets
The company enters the Middle East and expands its international business.
2006Working with Swarovski
The partnership with Swarovski brings together traditional luminaire making and an internationally known partner for crystal and light.
2015New management
The company is sold. Gabriele Pötzsch takes over as managing director.
2026Deutsche Leuchten Manufaktur 1862
With its new name, Deutsche Leuchten Manufaktur 1862 (German Light Manufactory 1862), the company makes its history a visible part of its identity.
More than 160 years of craftsmanship, experience and development come together under one name.
From generation to generation
An old photograph of the workforce may say more about our history than any chronicle.
Men in suits stand next to workers in smocks and aprons. Serious, contented faces look into the camera. In the windows above them, the products of their work are on display.
Perhaps an apprentice proudly showed this photo to his family. “Bottom row, fifth from the left, that's me.” Perhaps his son or a younger cousin wanted to become a chaser too, and later a friend of his own child.
This is how knowledge is passed on. Not only in books, drawings and models, but from person to person, from hand to hand and from generation to generation.
Today we combine this wealth of experience with modern methods and new ideas. Semper idem. Always the same, not in the sense of standing still, but in the sense of constancy.