On turning out his first self-made product, Kristall-Weiss (Crystal White), Germany’s first brushable lacquer, in 1893, Max Winkelmann scored an immediate hit. This was followed by many more successful paint products for a wide range of applications – some of which seem quite curious when we look at them now.
Many products, one brand
The rust preservative Eisenglasurit (Iron Glasurit) was the second self-made product that Max Winkelmann launched onto the market. Its success familiarised people with a name that now, about 120 years later, is synonymous worldwide for premium-quality paints – Glasurit.
In 1898, five years after the market launch of its first self-made product, the Winkelmann company was already manufacturing so many different products that there was a demand for a uniform name. The earlier product name of Glasurit presented itself as the ideal trade name for paints made by the Winkelmann company. Not only did it sound good – it also actually meant “glaze-like hard coating”. And that’s how the Glasurit brand came to be registered more than 110 years ago.
Symbol of progress and innovation
The company developed paint and lacquer products for a wide range of applications: floor and oven Glasurit, radiator enamel, and even special paints for straw hats and coffins were part of the product range at the beginning of the 20th century. Paints for the automotive industry were also produced in the Münster-Hiltrup paint factory.
The year 1925 ushered in the nitrocellulose paints era. The latter were manufactured in the new “Glasso” paint factory. The Glasso paints named after the factory made possible Germany’s first spray paint application for cars – thus once again turning the name of Glasurit into a symbol of progress and innovation. Glasurit has now specialised in automotive refinish paints, and is the worldwide technological leader in this field. But that is quite a different story.
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