Steffen Muehlhauser
The painter
Born in 1956 on Bergstrasse. First woodcuts and linocuts at the age of sixteen. This is followed by hand-printed picture books and duck graphics. After school, the hobby becomes a purpose in life. No time and no desire for graphic training. Paint and print instead. Foundation of Bären - Presse together with Roland Adam. Market driving, first handicraft sheets. It's hard to believe, but it's possible to make money with jumping jacks. Steffen Mühlhäuser has been doing this for more than 20 years. Today he lives with his children in an old farmhouse in the Hunsrück.
Roland Adam
The technician
Born in 1958 on Bergstrasse. Fascinated by paper craft sheets of all kinds since childhood. Over the years, he becomes a tinkerer, inventor and versatile craftsman. Does an apprenticeship as a printer and has been working with Steffen Mühlhäuser in Bären - Presse since 1978. Emigrates to Ireland on a small sailing boat in 1981. But he comes back two years later and since then has been helping the paper figures from the bear press to make sophisticated movements. At the same time, Roland Adam built his floating home over a period of ten years. With the 11 m sailing yacht "Cariad" he is now on the seas of the world.
Dirk Lamp
The publisher
Born in Hanover in 1964. After breaking off agricultural training and doing community service in the Lüneburg Heath, he traveled to North and West Africa in order to then complete a proper apprenticeship as a timber merchant in Oldenburg. After a busy time and a subsequent study of pedagogics, the paths crossed with Roland Adam through the passion of sailing. In search of new shores, he offered to work for the Bären-Presse and took over the handicraft sheet publishing house in 1998 with enthusiasm and energy. Production and distribution are now in his hands. To this day he lives in Halle/Westphalia.
