turtleneck
Hello! We are Helmut and Philip, the managing directors of HalmBrüder GmbH i.G.
Helmut runs a medium-sized family business based in Heppenheim on the beautiful Bergstraße. Here he develops high-quality stainless steel components for various applications and industries. Philip is a student of media and business psychology in Frankfurt.
Sustainability connects generations!
During a family vacation in the summer of 2019, it became clear to us once again that we need plastic-free alternatives! Even the Mediterranean Sea is not spared from environmental pollution. We noticed this during a walk together. Garbage bags, disposable tableware, and plastic straws are now part of almost every beach landscape. This sad truth became our motivation. We asked ourselves why people buy disposable products when there are already alternatives available.
The answer to this question probably lies in convenience. With almost every alternative, you have to give something up—and this is also the case with drinking straws. Some soften, others cannot be bent, and still others can break. This was also noticeable during a later visit to the hotel bar, when the paper straw was reduced to little more than wet cardboard.
Back home, we didn't have a concrete plan yet, but we did have the goal of finding plastic-free alternatives without having to give anything up.
Where there's a will, there's a way!
Once again, the well-known saying "Where there's a will, there's a way!" proved to be true.
Back at the company, Helmut reported on his experiences in the Mediterranean. Everyone understood the problem, and the solution was not long in coming. That same week, Helmut and his development team (Jonathan Noack, Matthias Jahn, and Thomas Münch) came up with the idea of converting a stainless steel cable protector into a drinking straw. The key feature: the cable protector is made of flexible stainless steel! Only the diameter, length, and shape had to be adapted to those of a drinking straw. Philip was involved in this process throughout and came up with some clever design suggestions. In November 2019, the first prototype was ready.
