Success with Art Nouveau: Golem Baukeramik

Golem tiles are unique. The Brandenburg-based manufacturer supplies clients and architects worldwide. Its trademark are faithful replicas of Art Nouveau- and Wilhelminian-style tiles, produced using traditional methods. Their flagship store has been located in Hackesche Höfe since 2001. The location is suitable: The glazed tiles that adorn the Art Nouveau façades in Courtyard 1 are made by Golem.
1. Tiles like in the old days
Not everything was better in the past. But tiles were. In Berlin, the old subway stations on line 8, the Art Nouveau façades in the first courtyard of Hackesche Höfe and the Golem shop in courtyard 6 bear witness to this. Here you can marvel at replicas of historical tiles and purchase them for your own bathroom or kitchen.
The company, based in Sieversdorf near Berlin, not only produces tiles, but is also a sought-after partner for the restoration of historical architectural ceramics. In addition to ornamental tiles, the company also produces matching borders, plinths and single-color tiles to create harmonious overall looks.

In the 1990s, the company made a significant contribution to the restoration of the façades in courtyard 1 of the Hackesche Höfe. It supplied the glazed bricks, known as ‘facing bricks,’ which characterize the design of Art Nouveau artist August Endell.
Golem has set itself the task of preserving traditional and almost-forgotten craft techniques, such as slipware painting: In this method, the outline of a motif made of thin clay is applied by hand to a smooth tile. After drying, the actual glaze is filled in within this outline.
Each tile is glazed by hand. This craftsmanship produces tiles of particular brilliance and depth of color. Differences in the thickness of the glaze result in a lively surface with slightly iridescent colors. Fine cracks in the glaze, known as ‘craquelure,’ are typical of the Art Nouveau style. Having visited the Golem store, you’ll hardly find DIY store factory tiles very appealing anymore.

2. Pottery under socialism
The history of Golem is closely linked to the biography of its founder Tomas Grzimek. As the child of a family of artists, he was influenced by the creative environment of his parents’ home. He learned about the craft of ceramics from his father’s companion. After training with the renowned ceramist Hedwig Bollhagen, he studied sculpture, specializing in ceramics, at the Weißensee Academy of Art. In his own workshop in the Oderbruch region in the north of Brandenburg, he experimented with traditional firing techniques and produced ceramic vessels. He was one of many self-employed ceramists who made a good living in the GDR’s economy of scarcity. After reunification, this business collapsed.

3. Bricks wanted
In the 1990s, many architectural monuments in the new federal states were in urgent need of restoration after decades of decay. There was a great demand for historical brick formats. This gave Grzimek and his business partner Ulrich Schumann an idea: They started a job creation project in the Oderbruch region to produce bricks for historical buildings. Many ceramists had moved there to escape the rising rents in Berlin. The pair got started with ten unemployed ceramists in an empty cattle shed in Sieversdorf. Golem still produces there today. Several buildings have been added in the neighborhood.
The two entrepreneurs designed the project from the outset in such a way that they could continue to run it as a business after their one-year subsidy expired. The workshop quickly made a name for itself, but was exclusively dependent on public contracts. After a decade, however, the region was largely restored. As a result, the company went bankrupt in 2001. But in the same year it was reestablished under the name Golem – Kunst und Baukeramik GmbH. The Hackesche Höfe played a decisive role in this.

4. Fresh start in the Hackesche Höfe
In 2001, Grzimek offers surplus architectural ceramics from restoration projects for sale in a vacant store in courtyard 7 of Hackesche Höfe. The offer is surprisingly well received.
Reproducing historical architectural ceramics is very time-consuming, and the production of a new piece is preceded by a six-month development period. So the idea of making permanent use of the painstakingly compiled pool of replicas of historical architectural ceramics appeared obvious. After the success of his sales exhibition in the courtyards, Grzimek knows how he can put his business model on a broader footing in the future: serial production of architectural ceramics. As the demand for tiles from the Wilhelminian and Art Nouveau periods is particularly high, these become the company’s main focus.
Golem stays in the Hackesche Höfe. When the Sophienclub closed in 2016, Golem moved from courtyard 7 to much larger premises in courtyard 6 after renovation and refurbishment. Golem can still be found there to this day.

5. Why Golem?
The Golem is a Jewish mythical figure, a mute, humanlike creature of enormous size and strength made of clay. It carries out orders from its creator and master and has no free will. According to legend, a rabbi in 16th-century Prague created such a creature using fire and magic to protect the Jewish community from attacks and to sweep the synagogue.
The founders of the company liked the image of a living being created from clay. Grzimek jokingly adds that the company name Golem “was also intended to scare people a little – after all, we wanted to intimidate our competitors.”

6. Golem today
Today, around 60 employees work on series production and custom-made designs at the three sites in Brandenburg. Golem continues to produce architectural ceramics for the preservation and restoration of culturally valuable buildings. Series production by now accounts for the majority of the business. The continuously growing stock of motifs now comprises over 300 motifs from former manufacturers in Germany. In addition to ornamental tiles, Golem also produces matching borders, plinths and single-color tiles to create harmonious overall looks.
Major customers are playing an increasingly important role. From Vienna's Schönbrunn subway station to the luxury department store Harrods in London – Golem tiles adorn buildings in international metropolises. Tiles in the green color of Jägermeister’s herbal liqueur bottles were newly developed for the company and historical tiles from Villeroy & Boch were reproduced for Deutsche Bahn for the restoration of Berlin's Zoologischer Garten station.

In the Hackesche Höfe, Golem products not only adorn the façades in courtyard 1, the company is also responsible for the paving in the entire Höfe area. If you would like to see even more examples of Golem tiles in use, you can also find them in the Höfe in the Lumas, Sawade and Trippen stores as well as in the neighborhood, in the historic pharmacy on the corner of Rosenthaler and Neue Schönhauser Straße and at the perfume retailer Diptyque in Neue Schönhauser Straße.
Anyone interested in Golem’s output can register for a factory tour in Petersdorf near Frankfurt an der Oder at werk@golem-baukeramik.de.

A visit to Golem Baukeramik
Head of sales Tobias Klaus talks about the Golem brand.