Spinnrad

Spinnrad is a German company that sells raw materials and ready-made products for making one's own cosmetics, foods and household goods. It was founded in 1970 in Gelsenkirchen, in Germany's North Rhine-Westphalia region, and today trades as Spinnrad GmbH from Bad Segeberg [5]. Its identity is built around Selbermachen — doing it yourself — the idea that customers should be able to mix their own creams, cleaners and foods and know exactly what goes into them.

The business did not begin as a cosmetics maker. It started as a small furniture and craft-goods shop, and its name comes from the spinning wheels (Spinnräder) sold in that first store [5]. It remains active, with a current online shop, social accounts and staff team, and continues under Stieper & Söhne GmbH, which took ownership in 2008 [5].

Peter Krämer opened Spinnrad in 1970 as a retail business in Gelsenkirchen, adding a wholesale arm the following year [6]. Born in Gelsenkirchen in 1946, he had trained as an industrial clerk and studied law before building the company; he died in 2022 [6]. The shop first sold gift items and later branched into cosmetics, home furnishings, furniture and fashion. A co-founder has occasionally been named alongside him, though only Krämer appears in the company's own account of its beginnings.

The turning point came through television. From 1974, the WDR program Hobbythek, hosted by the science presenter Jean Pütz, made everyday chemistry, cooking and handicrafts popular with a wide German audience [5]. When Pütz began making creams and soaps on air using Spinnrad's raw materials, the company's fortunes became tied to the show. Its own timeline marks 1974 as the start of that success; the record of founder Peter Krämer dates the working Spinnrad–Hobbythek collaboration to 1986, when supply of raw materials for home-made cosmetics began in earnest [6]. The two dates describe the same story from different angles — the broadcast ran from 1974 to 2004, while the partnership itself dates to the mid-1980s.

Krämer expanded quickly, opening branches across Germany and using franchising to grow faster; in 1989 he received the Deutscher Franchisepreis awarded by the magazine Impulse [6]. Spinnrad opened its first online shop in 1997, and by 2000 ran 220 stores nationwide, earning the nickname Die kleine grüne Drogerie — the little green drugstore [5].

That reach did not hold. In 2002 the Spinnrad drugstore chain became insolvent and was sold to Intertee GmbH [5]. In 2008 the company passed to Stieper & Söhne GmbH and moved its headquarters to Bad Segeberg [5]. Its products were afterwards distributed through pharmacies, health-food stores and organic markets. The company marked its 50th anniversary in 2020 and introduced a new logo in 2021.

Spinnrad has belonged to Stieper & Söhne GmbH since 2008, when the firm acquired it after the earlier insolvency and sale to Intertee GmbH in 2002 [5]. It operates as Spinnrad GmbH, registered at the Amtsgericht Kiel under HRB 8816, with Joana Bergmann as managing director [3].

The company's guiding line is Selbermachen – Wissen was drin ist ("make it yourself — know what's in it"): giving people the ingredients and recipes to produce their own cosmetics and foods rather than buying finished goods. Spinnrad describes itself as an ecological and health-oriented provider, and frames its mission as making DIY accessible to everyone while holding to high quality standards. Its stated values are sustainability, tradition, handmade production, individuality and connection, gathered under the tagline Macht was Gutes! ("Do something good!"). The range includes vegan and organic raw materials.

Spinnrad's catalogue centres on cosmetic raw materials — plant oils, essential oils and more than 160 ingredients paired with recipes for home-made skincare — alongside ready-made Pflegekosmetik care products, DIY kits, and separate lines for food, cleaning and the garden. Among its better-known items are the Jojoba Peelingperlen (jojoba peeling pearls), which the company describes as natural, biodegradable and free of microplastics [1], and the orange-based Oranex cleaning range. The German EU-organic control-body code DE-ÖKO-039 is listed in the company's legal notice [3].

The brand's public profile in Germany was closely linked to Jean Pütz, whose Hobbythek broadcasts helped turn DIY cosmetics into a recognised movement. Its franchising model also drew formal recognition, with founder Peter Krämer receiving the Deutscher Franchisepreis in 1989.

Spinnrad remains active. It runs a live online shop with current seasonal campaigns, maintains Instagram and TikTok accounts, and lists a working staff team; a new company logo was introduced in 2021. Having come through its 2002 insolvency, it continues to trade under Stieper & Söhne GmbH from its base in Bad Segeberg.