Georg Kellner was a piano maker, who in 1914 began building working model airplane models as a hobby. In 1930 Kellner developed a patented system of building blocks in different colors and shapes which could be fitted together with the aid of elastic connecting links, creating an entire cast of figures, mythical creatures, animals, vehicles and even cable railways: the Kellner snap-on figures were born. After World War II the company moved to Tabarz in the Thuringian Forest. Under socialism the wooden components were replaced by plastic and produced in series of hundreds of thousands. Converted into a state-owned company in 1972, production was shut down in 1989. However at the same time Hans Georg Kellner set up a workshop for wood design in Berlin and in 1992 he bought back the formerly family owned business in Tabarz. He re-established the line of famous snap-on figures in wood again, with leather and colored felt.