25 years of supplying the bear necessities of life
It’s often said that necessity is the mother of invention, and that was especially true for Anke Morgenroth, the driving force behind Bear Essentials, celebrating 25 years in business this year.
Used to traditional style teddies in her native Germany, Anke wanted her four Breffni born children to have a top quality bear to cuddle.
“I couldn’t find really nice teddy bears in Ireland for my own four kids, so that’s how the idea developed.
“I wanted to create a product which is lasting, which means that my own collectible bears are all made of high quality mohair. They can still be around in a 100 years time, like the bears you find on the Antiques Roadshow.
“So that was my main aim: to design my own teddy bears, to have my own product and from there it went in so many different directions I never could have imagined,” recalls Anke who has lived in Ireland for over 40 years now.
Working from home would enable Anke to combine career with child rearing. She converted a room into a workshop but rapidly outgrew that and moved into the family’s conservatory. That also proved only a short term solution.
With build a bear events, bear themed birthday parties and teddy bear picnics proving a hit, in 2006 she invested in the Silver Bear Centre. That allowed her to further broaden their offering with nature workshops, heritage days and community events. Over the last decade much of that has given way to their teddy bear restoration work.
“Even though we have a thousand products on the Bear Essentials website, the teddy bear hospital has totally taken over here,” says Anke.
An injury to her wrist has limited the time Anke can devote to sewing so she has recruited her newly retired hubby Nico to help colleague Louise to provide the much needed TLC (Teddy Loving Care) to damaged bears.
“He trained for a whole year on how to restore old teddy bears,” she explains of Nico, adding that she now focuses on the admin side.
“I get about five hospital enquiries a day - that’s a lot! Before Covid the calls were coming worldwide, and after Covid it is more concentrated in Ireland and the UK.”
Can every bear be rescued?
“About 98% of bears can be rescued,” she says noting the main problems arise with baby’s cotton comforters.
“We get them at their worst when you can’t see how they looked before - that’s actually a sewing machine job. We work by hand, like the hospital you see in The Repair Shop show.”
When the Celt calls Anke has a dear old fluffy friend awaiting surgery - her own teddy from her childhood.
“He is actually at the moment on the repair table here because I refuse to restore him myself, but I think my husband is going to do a little bit of work on him.”
Surprisingly her teddy doesn’t have a name. We delicately broach the age of the teddy for fear of it could be construed as asking a lady her age, but she happily reveals he’s an old fellow.
“We have hundreds of people sharing lovely memories with us of what their bear means to them or their family, but strangely enough I have very little memory of my own teddy, but I have photographs of him with my mum and myself.”