Dovo
Dovo’s skilled workers create steel masterpieces with meticulous precision and great craftsmanship. Their expertise has been handed down from generation to generation allowing them to produce the highest quality straight razors, hair shears, manicure and pedicure nippers, scissors and shears, manicure sets, and Merkur safety razors which are the choice of demanding customers worldwide.
Dovo was founded in 1906, by Carl Dorp and Carl Voos. Employing a staff of thirteen, Dovo was purely a factory producing open razors, with a forge and hollow grinding shop. By 1930, Solingen had become bigger through the incorporation of outlying villages, (including Wald), and the law passed in 1938 to protecting the name of Solingen gave it greater pride and security as well as a still greater sense of local identity. Shortly before the Second World War, the founders wanted to retire and Fritz Bracht took over the DOVO company. A good move, as the small knight with sword and hammer had meanwhile made inroads into the markets in Western Europe and North America. Ernst Kirschbaum, who had completed his law studies and obtained a doctorate, joined the company in 1953 as a son-in-law of the family. The need for recovery after years of ruin and the employment of additional young staff meant that business was able to increase in style. Since the death of Dr. Ernst Kirschbaum, his son Markus Kirschbaum, who has a degree in commerce, runs the family concern in the third generation.
Continual innovations and modern styling have added to their lines, but Dovo is still best known for its hundred year razor making heritage. Experiencing a shaving renaissance, both straight and double-edged safety razors have regained a resurgence with men seeking a better and cheaper shave. Dovo continues the tradition by being the world’s largest straight razor manufacture that are in such high demand that they are currently experiencing a three-year backlog.
