About us
How it all started
With a tradition spanning eight generations, Krepel has become the partner for luxury wooden presentation cases. Starting as a manufacturer of wooden cigar boxes, Krepel has become the premier designer and creator of custom-made luxury wooden presentation cases in Europe.
Cigars and tobacco, coffee and tea, jewellery and watches, spirits, textiles and chocolates are examples of products whose exclusivity calls for cases from Krepel.
Our motto:
“Make what doesn’t exist. Deliver what no one has thought of.”Mission
To create the best premium wooden packaging solutions that enhances the brand equity and delivers the brand dna to its fullest.
Illustrious past
We are proud of the long history of our family company, which dates back to 1732.
- In 1732, our Austrian ancestor, Johannes Richard Krepel, became responsible for the technical supervision of a copper mill. This copper mill was located by a brook, where our Head Office in the Netherlands is still situated today.
- To generate extra power, Johannes built a waterfall next to the mill. This waterfall still exists today.
- In 1808, Johannes’s son, Bernhard Krepel, took ownership of the copper mill, and the business has remained in the family ever since. The village that grew around the mill was named Klarenbeek („clear brook”) after the stream behind the waterfall.
- Bernhard famously said: “If I have water, I drink wine, if I don’t have water, I drink water.”
- During Johannes’s time, copper sheets were widely used to cover the bottoms of wooden ships. However, with the discovery that steel ships could also float, the demand for copper declined.
- In the second half of the 19th century, Bernhard’s descendant, Everhard Krepel, sought new opportunities. He discovered the rising market for cigars, which led to the company establishing a cigar factory in Poland and sales offices in both Poland and the Netherlands.
- Today, we proudly serve the entire European market from these locations.
Craftwork
Custom production. Elsewhere a dream, at Krepel a fact. You feel it as soon as you glide your fingers along the refined contours of Krepel’s wooden cases. No item is too small, too large, too common or too unique that Krepel cannot perfect it by designing a suitable case. We make what doesn’t yet exist. We deliver what no one has thought of.
Luxury Wooden Cases
We work with a range of woods, including okoume, cedar, beech, poplar, alder, mahogany and walnut. Woods that have their own special qualities and unique characteristic scents, colours and structures. Combined with the numerous options that we offer in the field of interiors and finishing, an almost endless pallet of luxury wooden presentation cases is created.
Quality Interior
The interior of our cases is naturally of the same high quality as the cases themselves. Natural materials and an almost self-evident simplicity in the design accentuate the objects you present, stylishly and with eminence.
Endless Color Possibilities
In addition, there are many options for printing. Thanks to the use of the most up-to-date techniques, we can provide your luxury wooden presentation case with printing in an infinitely inspiring variety of colours.
Custom Solutions
Krepel is specialised in translating your wishes within the specified constraints. Our specialists provide expert advice on the right type of wood, colour scheme, interior and which details best suit your premium products.
Sustainability
Sustainability plays a very important role within our organisation. We are very aware of the fact that we work with a natural product. And that’s why we are economical with our most important raw material – wood. Where possible, every last piece of wood is used and incorporated into one of our luxury wooden cases. The remaining waste wood is used as biomass for our modern furnace. This furnace is used to heat our factories and offices. Naturally, this sustainable approach to using our prime raw material generates cost savings. But equally important is the fact that, by making the most of this raw material, we draw CO2 from the air. After all, wood acts as a carbon sink and by processing it we lock in CO2.
FSC® Quality Mark
To highlight this vision, Krepel has the FSC® certificate and we can deliver FSC®-certified luxury wooden cases on request. The FSC® quality mark guarantees that the wood is sourced from responsibly managed forests. The whole chain from forest to end-user is strictly controlled. In addition, our company in the Netherlands uses green electricity and we have the Green Guarantees certificate.
The future
The development of sustainable business is a continuous process within our enterprise. Krepel not only monitors developments; together with the whole chain, it is also making its knowledge available in order to gain new insights.
Surroundings
We work in harmony with our surroundings and therefore support projects in our immediate environment as well as elsewhere in the Netherlands. We do this in collaboration with, for example, Staatsbosbeheer (the Dutch Forestry Commission), which is committed to the sustainable management of forests and the natural environment.
One of the projects we are involved in is the Bentwoud – a large nature reserve under development near the town of Zoetermeer. Here, a landscape is being created consisting of woodland, water features, marsh and grassy meadows in the interests of recreation and the natural environment.
Krepel is paying for the planting of one hectare of woodland. www.bentwoud.info
