And it came to pass in 2000 A.D. that the Schorndorf native Gerald Schatz set out to register his business – the Tojo Möbel GmbH. As a student, he had previously realized that a normal bed is somewhat suboptimal for a temporary move into a student apartment, shall we say. There needed to be a bed that could be easily assembled and disassembled and could be transported easily.
The first product
Before registering the business, the most capable designers and carpenters got to work to create such a bed. Thus, the first Tojo product, the system bed "Tojo-system," was born. Why should it be called anything else if it is indeed a system bed? This pattern of understandable names runs through the entire product portfolio today.
The early years
But back to the beginnings: Soon, after even more designers added their two cents, more furniture was created. Not just beds, but also shelves and cabinets. Here too, the preferred feature was easy assembly and disassembly as well as simple expandability and reducibility. The topic of sustainability became more and more prominent. This was something that was taken into account, as the wood never actually came from the Brazilian rainforest, but from areas where it was quite acceptable.
Expanding product portfolio and design awards
Soon, the Tojo range included not only beds, shelves, and cabinets but also coat racks, tables, chairs, stools, and children's furniture. Since they started early on to submit their furniture – all created by designers – to various awards, eventually the wall for the many received awards was no longer big enough.
New Building
And so it was decided to build a new company building to provide space for the awards again. A bit of a side effect was, of course, that there was now also enough space to display all the offered furniture and present it to the public.
Inauguration
The new building was then inaugurated in 2022 AD with much fanfare and celebration. With a legendary party that is still unmatched to this day.
Today
The new building spans 17,000 m³ and consists of 150 m² of office space and a 400 m² exhibition area, which can accommodate up to 150 people. This means that Monaco could fit into the building three times. While a 90 m² rooftop terrace invites for fresh air and barbecuing above, there is a large high-bay warehouse with a storage area of 1,500 m² below. From the terrace, you would have a unique sea view, if there only were a sea. But the vineyards of the Remstal are also beautiful.
Anyone who would like to visit us and admire our furniture – and ideally also purchase it – is warmly invited. The sales exhibition is open from Monday to Thursday, 9 AM to 12 PM and 1 PM to 4 PM, as well as Friday from 9 AM to 12 PM. There are about 500,000 parking spaces available outside; and an elevator, which usually works, provides barrier-free access in the building that is accessible at ground level.
25 years
This year we are celebrating our 25th birthday and are coming up with a few events to mark the occasion. For example, we will have sales on Saturdays. We actually wanted to interview our first customer for our anniversary, but unfortunately, he has already passed away. However, that is not due to our furniture.
We are definitely looking forward to our anniversary visitors this year.
The images for this post can be found here: