What happens when Scandinavian and Erzgebirge Christmas traditions fall in love? A gnome! In his appearance, the gnome resembles a dwarf, he can be as teasing as he is attentive and helpful, even if his fashionable accessory, the pointed cap, usually slips low over his eyes - and in Scandinavia he is just as inseparable from Christmas as the smoker in the Erzgebirge.

And that's how this smoking gnome came into the Christmas world. This gnome owes its humorous Scandinavian design, reduced to the basic shapes of cone and ball, to a workshop in Seiffen, where it is made from solid beech wood according to all the rules of woodturning. Unlike classic smokers from the Ore Mountains, the dwarf does not exhale the fragrant smoke from the incense candle through his mouth. Instead, the opening for the air supply is located in the neck, and the smoke from the glowing incense cone rises from the steeply pointed cap. The metal holder that holds the incense cones is also located under the pointed cap. Five incense cones are included with the dwarf so that you can immediately fill your surroundings with aromatic fragrance.

The fact that a famous wood art developed in the originally densely forested Erzgebirge is not only explained by the availability of the material. As a branch of industry, handicrafts became all the more important as the local mining industry rapidly lost resources and profitability. Folk art slipped into this gap, which mining - no less than Christmas - still shaped with numerous motifs. A center of wood art emerged around Seiffen, where one of the first specialized trade schools was founded in 1853 to promote handicrafts. In the so-called Toy Corner, small and large craft businesses still produce the classics of the folk art of the Erzgebirge: from hoop animals and smoking men to miner figures and nutcrackers to candle arches and wing pyramids.

The burning of fragrant plants, woods and resins is deeply rooted in spirituality and ancient customs. Whether it is traditional Chinese medicine, the sweat lodge of the indigenous peoples of America or the incense ceremonies of the Twelvetide: they all refer to the purifying power attributed to the burning of incense. Even if the cultic significance gradually receded into the background, the custom of burning incense was nevertheless preserved. We inevitably associate the scent of frankincense and myrrh, pine and sandalwood with a festive feeling of well-being – as if the scent of incense already contains a power that lifts the spirits and thus cleanses body and mind of troubles.

Certain manufacturing steps are carried out by hand. Slight dimensional and color deviations may therefore occur.