In 1889, Paul Herder was sent to Belgium and the Netherlands by his father Robert Herder, our great- grandfather and company founder. His mission was to check the market prospects for our knives and to find an appropriate trademark specifically for the Benelux countries.

No easy task for the 17 year old Paul. However, he soon noticed a lot of windmills situated in the coastal areas on the polders where water was pumped out of the ground by wind power to dry the marshland.

He was familiar with the interplay of nature and man from his home in Bergische Land. Grinding had only been possible when the mill wheels turned through the water to drive the heavy grinding stones. So, he came to the conclusion that the picture of a windmill was undoubtedly an appropriate new "international" trademark. When he returned to Solingen, he told his father about his idea. His father was very impressed and agreed. This is how the "Windmühle" (windmill) trademark was born, and opened up other international markets. And by the way, this was not all that Paul found in Belgium ... he made the acquaintance of his future wife Anna Habran who came from the land of the windmills.