Founding Principles
Henrik Voss and Margarete Prill founded Comprvicit in 1987 after completing apprenticeships at separate Schleswig cabinet shops that had operated since the nineteenth century. They shared a conviction that mechanised production could assist joinery without replacing the judgement of experienced hands at the bench.
The studio name combines fragments of their surnames with the Low German word for careful fitting — a reminder that tolerances measured in fractions of millimetres separate acceptable work from exceptional work.
Workshop Evolution
Our first premises occupied a converted fish-packing shed near the Gaarden shipyards. Early commissions were modest: pantry cupboards for terrace houses and shelving for university faculty offices. Reputation grew through word-of-mouth among Kiel architects who valued reliable site measurement in buildings with settled foundations.
By 2003 we relocated to Bahnhofstraße, installing a dust-extraction system rated for hardwood sanding and expanding our staircase division. The current facility houses a Weinig moulder, two SawStop table saws, and a dedicated finishing room kept at stable humidity.
Team Structure
Eleven permanent staff work across design liaison, workshop production, and installation crews. Senior maker Tobias Ehrhardt oversees quality control, signing off every carcass before it leaves the building. Apprentice positions rotate every three years in partnership with the Holstein trade school.
We deliberately limit concurrent projects to fourteen active commissions, ensuring that production schedules remain realistic and clients receive honest delivery dates rather than optimistic promises later revised.
Community Involvement
Comprvicit sponsors the annual Kiel Handwerk exhibition, demonstrating traditional dovetail cutting to secondary students considering trade careers. We also maintain a pro-bono programme for two local heritage organisations, fabricating display cases and archival storage at material cost only.
Workshop tours for design students from Muthesius Kunsthochschule occur each semester, focusing on the relationship between architectural intent and practical timber movement in service environments.
Looking Forward
We continue investing in precision machinery while resisting full automation of assembly. Our strategic plan emphasises deeper collaboration with Passivhaus builders who require airtight integrated joinery and thermal-bridge-free window seat constructions.
Sustainability targets for 2027 include sourcing ninety percent of hardwood from verified European forests and reducing workshop energy consumption through LED lighting and heat-recovery ventilation already partially installed.