Audi 2006 Annual Report Download - page 32

Quality as a recipe for success
The designer label
Wunderkind GmbH & Co. KG, Potsdam
Couture label and cosmetics range
Established: 1999
Wolfgang Joop has
rediscovered his
inner “Wunderkind”,
with which he is
enjoying eminent
success.
ECONOMY: WINNING BRANDS
PHOTOS: WUNDERKIND
30 AUDI 2006 ANNUAL REPORT
Wolfgang Joop is back – this
time without the distinctive
exclamation mark, but as
self-assured as ever. “Wunderkind” is
the
name the couturier has given his
new label. A small player on a very big
stage, of deluxe “prêt-à-porter” calibre.
The name is like its collection: quintes-
sentially German but, like “kindergarten”
and “zeitgeist”, universally recognised.
The Italian press calls him “Wunder
Wolfgang”. And the moment his elfin de-
s
igns made their debut on the catwalks
of Paris, the international fashion world
found these handmade silk clothes
from Potsdam simply “wunderbar”.
“A handful of people”, an empty villa
and the idea of getting a new fashion
show off the ground. That was how Ger-
many’s most exclusive fashion label
came into being. “It was only really
meant as a little experiment. I wasn’t
planning to create a new company that
would then carry on operating,” assures
Joop. “Without stopping to reflect” he
simply designed a few delicate, extrava-
gant garments for which there were as
yet no established markets or cus-
tomers. “And suddenly, these clothes
looked like the fashion images I had
been dreaming of.” Wolfgang Joop likes
to sit in the kitchen, right at the heart
of Villa Rumpf, while taking a few mo-
ments to tell the story. In summer 2002,
he presented his test collection to fif-
teen carefully chosen buyers in the high
rooms of the impressive Potsdam brick
building. His return to the fashion busi-
ness transpired to be a resounding suc-
cess that took him to fashion shows in
New York and Paris. Today Wunderkind
can be found in Tokyo and Moscow, the
brand’s showroom is in Milan and the
new flagship store is in Berlin. As well as
fashion, Wunderkind sells cosmetics
there – hitherto a secret tip.
Wolfgang Joop and his team of 35 em-
ployees produce every Wunderkind
specimen item themselves, on the busi-
ness premises of Villa Rumpf, 100 metres
as the crow flies from his home. Joop
himself chooses the materials; only the
most expensive will do. The garments
are then made up by hand, whether by
men in India or by nuns in Magdeburg.
“By having my garments produced in
this way, I make them painstaking to
copy and therefore preserve their aura
of luxury,” explains Joop. For instance,
only fifteen of the silk jacket with silk
lining that was seven days’ work for the
seamstress will be made. This couture
character comes at a price: you will not
find a Wunderkind evening gown priced
at less than 5,000 euros.
Whether fashion, lighting, porcelain or writing implements, the success of
four German brands demonstrates their ability to hold centre stage amid inter-
national competition. The key: the high quality of their products. Text Esther Bahne