Corporate Info of Henn GmbH

The history of the Henn family business starts at the beginning of the 20th century.
Since 1900, four generations of skilled and well-trained craftsmen have crafted precious stones into rare masterpieces.

2004

Axel and Hans-Juergen established Henn GmbH as equal partners, following the Henn family tradition of cutting a variety of high-quality gemstones and creating unique objet d'art, highly desirable collectibles for collections and museums worldwide. They also design and manufacture their own classic and contemporary jewellery lines and display a wide selection of exquisite mineral specimens in their gallery in Idar-Oberstein.

1997

Ingo Henn relocated to London after years of training and working in several countries, such as Italy. He established Henn of London in Hatton Garden, creating his own high-quality jewellery line, combining rare jewellery making techniques, such as handengraving and enamelling, with high-quality gemstones, cut by the Henn family.

1993

Hans-Juergen took over as sole owner after the retirement of his brother, Karl-Heinz, accompanied by his son Axel.

1986

Ingo Henn, Axel's brother, started his jewellery making apprenticeship at Gebrueder Henn. He subsequently qualified as a mastergoldsmith, certified jewellery designer and gemmologist.

1983

Axel Paul Reinhard, Hans Juergen's oldest son, joined Gebrueder Henn. He attended business college and passed his gemstone cutting apprenticeship and further qualified as a certified gemmologist.

Since
1968

The business of aquiring and cutting loose gemstones increased steadily in volume and importance. Hans-Juergen travelled to all major gemstone producing countries, including Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Brasil, to source the rough for subsequent fashioning in Idar-Oberstein.

1968

Hans-Juergen ventured to Sri Lanka on his first gemstone buying trip at a time when the purchase of loose stones directly from the miners was still considered a novelty.

1960

He was joined by his younger brother, Hans-Juergen Henn, a well trained mastergoldsmith and passionate gemstone dealer. Together they founded Gebrueder Henn.

1957

Karl-Heinz Henn, their oldest son and qualified mastergoldsmith, established his own jewellery retail shop in Idar, still the present company's address.

1946

Paul Henn and his wife Ettna set up their own company and started to exhibit at the annual "Leipziger Messe".

1936

His two sons, Paul and Ernst Albert, took over the company and relocated to Idar. Ernst Albert was in charge of sales and administration and Paul of carving and cutting the gemstones.

1900

Ernst Henn founded his gemstone cutting and carving business in the village of Vollmersbach, near Idar-Oberstein.

The Henn family continues to deliver and produce high quality gemstones and jewellery, just as it has for the past 100 years.