In 1907 Friedrich Hahne and Christian Wilkening founded a chair-making factory named Wilkhahn in Eimbeckhausen near Hannover.
In the 1940s their sons Fritz Hahne and Adolf Wilkening took over their fathers' chair factory.
He looked for new ways of enabling employees to share actively in the company's success.
In the 1960s he worked in close collaboration with the Ulmer Hochschule für Gestaltung (Ulm Academy of Design).
At a staff meeting in December 1970 Fritz Hahne announced a 50% profit-sharing scheme for employees to come into effect in January 1971.