When Uli first came to the German Aerospace Center, he was the exotic Chemist guy, thinking completely differently and not having any idea about space and aircraft structures. However, he was skilled at working with natural fibers and organic polymers for various applications. Once, he even cooked a biopolymer from lice pee (no joke).
One day he saw two people building legs for space lander structures for the one – its name is »Philae« – you see in the picture [ESA Media Relations Office].
Fascinated by what he had observed, a new and exciting idea took hold of Uli: transferring this technology to „earthy“ applications, with organic materials.
He started crafting pencils – his father was an artist. He adopted the space technology to the specific needs of pencils, changed high tech materials to organic ones and redesigned the machinery. The first pencils from jute, flax and sisal fibers were born.
»Do. Or do not.
There is no try.«
Our current machine for the production of manaomea design material, from pens to furniture, was made by Uli and our dear automation friends. It is very small, very silent and 100% powered by green energy from small-scale hydropower plants. We take particular pride in its high production quality and the fact that we can realize a nearly closed recycling loop with it.
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