Long-standing Hamburg-based stand constructor turning 170: PREUSS MESSE grabbing people’s attention since 1846

When Carl Benz applied for a patent for his first motor vehicle in January 1886, the company C.F.A. Preuss & Sohn in Hamburg was busy preparing for its 40th anniversary. The world’s longest-standing stand construction company PREUSS MESSE will celebrate the 170th anniversary of its founding in 8 May 2016. And the old hand just keeps going.

From a dance island to Ohnsorg: in 1846, company founder Gustav Preuss begins to host private and public parties and events. Curiosities such as a floating dance island on Hamburg’s Inner Alster lake make the early event marketer the top address in Hamburg for attention-grabbing stagings around the turn of the century. Preuss and his team are also in great demand as props managers and stage constructors, and are responsible for the first stage decor of what eventually becomes Hamburg’s Ohnsorg-Theater. Very quickly, the company PREUSS makes a name for itself nationally as a designer for major exhibitions.

Six generations, one story: the company, which is now run by Gustav Preuss’s great-great-great-great-granddaughter Sabine Lewin, has been focusing entirely on event and trade fair stand construction since 1945. Car manufacturers and breweries, ice cream makers and producers of electronics: PREUSS has been working with the big names in many industries for decades, and has increasingly worked for premium companies in the B2B sector. And thanks to its global network of partners, the family-run stand construction company can guarantee its customers top event appearances all over the world too.

‘We have now been bringing together those wishing to show something off and those wishing to see something new since 1846,’ summarises managing director Peter Preuss. ‘And we still get a kick out of surprising people – and out of always being slightly different, even though so many brands are similar these days. Our customers acknowledge this by writing a part of their history together with us. Long may this continue – and it currently is, as our order books are bursting with projects. And our brains are full of ideas.’