Holger Gehl

‘I enjoy the challenge of uncharted territory.’

Holger Gehl loves to travel. He also spent four years living in Taiwan as a child, all of which makes him the perfect candidate for special missions in distant places. He is the man Deutsche Werkstätten can always rely on to take up the most difficult challenge with enthusiasm! Not satisfied with staying in one place, he decided to leave Germany as soon as he had completed his apprenticeship as cabinetmaker. His first stop was a shipyard in the Netherlands followed by a year with a yacht building firm in New Zealand. He first joined Deutsche Werkstätten in 2005 as Project Manager, responsible for a joint venture with a shipyard in Turkey for three years. Back in Hellerau he was asked to build up the Installation Department, served as Head of Procurement and made a significant contribution to optimization of production processes.

Often described as the company ‘joker’, he was also given the task of exploring new markets in New Zealand, Russia and the United Arab Emirates. It was a natural consequence that he should be put in charge of the newly founded DW China in 2017. The Chinese market presents a huge opportunity for Deutsche Werkstätten: “No other country has so many potential clients.” However, Holger Gehl is also very much aware of the work to be done in convincing Chinese clients that Germans are not only capable of manufacturing some of the best engineering and building materials but can also produce excellent interiors. And because he has a wonderful knowledge of the German market, he has also been Managing Director of the building construction company D&B GmbH since 2020.