And so,
driven by my curiosity,
I went out into the world,
to behold the great number of diverse
and unique shapes
cunningly created by nature.
(Leonardo da Vinci)

I too was curious as I answered a newspaper advertisement in the summer of 1985 having just finished my studies. A company involved in the art industry, in the centre of Northern Bavaria was looking for a junior partner…

I was instantly fascinated by the vast array of artist brushes and the diversity of the shapes and uses which surrounded me at the da Vinci artist brush factory. The many different people from all over the world who were interested in the da Vinci products made this new world all the more exciting for me. Through international trade fairs and business trips, which have taken me to the four corners of the globe, I have had the chance to get to know the different artist materials’ markets. In addition, I gained my first glimpses of the current trends in modern art through the factory’s affiliated gallery. My admirable senior partners Marianne and Hansfried Defet took every care to ensure I was fully
prepared for my role.

As the fourth child of a bookbinding and stationery family, the market environment and company structures of many of our clients were familiar territory for me. The large and centuries old tradition however, of numerous artist brush factories and workshops, which were founded during the 19th century and which developed into a flourishing trade in the former free imperial city of Nürnberg were all new
to me.

In time, I could well understand why the da Vinci company specialised in producing artist brushes of the highest quality with the clearly defined goal from the beginning of positioning their own quality brand, not only in Europe, but throughout the world.

The Defet’s pioneering decision to register the name of the universal genius and famous artist

Leonardo da Vinci

so early on (registered and confirmed by the German patent office in 1952, sixty years ago), was an excellent basis for the internationalisation of sales, for which I have, over the course of the years, taken over responsibility.

The maxim, to use the best materials and traditional craftsmanship together with technological progress, and to implement these in a high-quality and up-to-date range of services, remains our company philosophy today.

Other cornerstones of the positive development that has occurred over the course of several decades have been, for example, the decision at the beginning of the nineteeneighties to launch a complete range of cosmetic brushes, also under the brand, which particularly profited from Marianne Defet’s pioneering design.

Another innovation in 1990, furthered in particular by Hansfried Defet, was to pool our resources to develop a mechanised production system and at the same time establish a high-quality synthetic artist brush for schoolsthe JUNIOR. We were able to make this idea a successful reality after the construction of our subsidiary factory on Tillystrasse.

In 2006 we once again invested in our Nürnberg factory, as for us the basic principle of ‘Made in Germany’, has never been questioned. Production and administration were reunited under one roof.

There was a time when artist brushes formed the foundations of our manufacturing program, but today our company meets the needs of customers throughout the world who are looking for quality tools for the most diverse uses, particularly in these areas of business.

The challenge is finding the perfect solutions to ever changing requests. Not only our management team but our entire workforce of reliable and specialised colleagues look forward to meeting the diverse needs of our customers in the future - thanks to the competence which has grown over generations, the established philosophy of our company and the passion which our whole team has for our top-class products.

There is maybe no other way
in the world,
to make a thing or being beautiful,
other than to love it.
(Robert Musil)