Virtual exhibition

"Alexa, switch on the light!" There is a mechanical click, the light comes on and the little gears of the almost one hundred year old ELPA staircase light timer mesh together in a well-oiled manner. I beg your pardon? You read that right: A smart Alexa controls a mechanical staircase light timer!

"This exhibit nicely illustrates the technological arc that this exhibition takes: from analogue technology from our early years to the first electric clock thermostats to smart, networked systems today," Paul Schwenk describes with a smile, adding "We have to understand the past in order to be able to shape the future." By this, the great-grandson of the company's founder doesn't just mean the technology: "There are a lot of exciting, touching and also curious stories and anecdotes from the 100-year history of our family business that want to be discovered!"

This and much more was possible in 2021, the year of our 100th company anniversary, always on Saturdays and Sundays when visiting our exhibition in the historic Fruchtkasten at Haigerloch Castle. In addition to the analogue classic - our legendary theben-timer - we also showed modern and forward-looking technology there, such as our LUXORliving smart home system. But the people behind the products were also presented: Ellen Herl, the "good soul" of the company is part of the exhibition and, like her brother Paul Eberhard Schwenk, also comes alive again in many contemporary witness interviews. The videos could be called up via a QR code.

An artistic addition to the exhibition was the banner by Tim Berresheim - a collaborative work of art with the participation of Theben employees. Like our virtual, dancing Abu Simbel, the banner was augmented, i.e. you could (and can) discover further exciting elements in the 7-metre-long banner with your smartphone and the app "TB - Theben 100 AR" (free in the Google Play Store and Apple Store).

Well, curious now? Then let's go...