Selbermacherei
Selbermacherei is a Vienna-based, non-commercial grassroots community initiative founded in 2009 by Wolf Hoog, operating a German-language WordPress platform and in-person workshops that promote DIY skills, freegan practices, and alternatives to consumer culture for conscious consumers and sustainability advocates.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2009
- HeadquartersVienna, Austria
- Headcount1–10
- GTM typeB2C
- OfferingDigital Commerce or Content
What Selbermacherei does
Selbermacherei is a grassroots, non-commercial community initiative founded in 2009 by Wolf Hoog in Vienna, Austria, operating as a consumption-critical network promoting DIY practices, freegan lifestyles, and mutual support. Its core offering is the German-language WordPress website selbermacherei.hoog.at, which hosts an extensive Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0 Austria) archive of tutorials covering clothing upcycling, food and beverage preparation (e.g., lemonade, herbal liqueurs, preserves), natural cosmetics, sustainable living, and critique of consumer culture. The platform is supplemented by recurring in-person workshops and meetups hosted at Café Hoog near Augarten, Vienna, where participants engage in collaborative making activities ranging from clothing redesign to herb gathering and chocolate making.
The business model is explicitly non-commercial. Selbermacherei does not sell products or services and instead operates on voluntary contributions of time, materials, and, as a last resort, monetary donations. Web hosting is provided pro bono by easyname as part of that company's social projects support program. The go-to-market is community-led, relying on word-of-mouth, integrated social sharing buttons (Facebook, LinkedIn, Mastodon), and the Creative Commons licensing of all content to encourage replication and redistribution. The customer base consists of conscious consumers, freegan and sustainability advocates, and individuals affected by consumption addiction in Austria, primarily in and around Vienna, though the content is freely accessible online.
The initiative has no formal corporate structure, no external investors, no parent company, and no disclosed headcount. Its three declared core projects are Produktives Empowerment (productive self-empowerment through making), Netzwerk Gegenseitiger Unterstützung (mutual support network for self-making activities), and Manufactur Futuristic (new freegan economic practices). Strategic activity has been modest and steady, including a multi-year search for larger premises at the Fohlenhof in Akademiepark Wiener Neustadt to expand workshop capacity and explore a freegan seminar hotel concept, though no commercial expansion has been pursued. The project's outputs remain authored primarily by its founder and are distributed under Creative Commons to maximize community replication rather than revenue capture.
Selbermacherei firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Selbermacherei
- Legal name
- Selbermacherei
- Website
- https://selbermacherei.hoog.at
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2009
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 1–10 employees
- Short description
- Selbermacherei is a Vienna-based, non-commercial grassroots community initiative founded in 2009 by Wolf Hoog, operating a German-language WordPress platform and in-person workshops that promote DIY skills, freegan practices, and alternatives to consumer culture for conscious consumers and sustainability advocates.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Where Selbermacherei is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Vienna
- HQ country
- Austria
- HQ region
- Europe
Offices2 records
Markets served
Selbermacherei business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2C
- Offering type
- Digital Commerce or Content
- Cost components
- Infrastructure, Operations, Others
Revenue model
- No commercial revenue model: Selbermacherei operates as a community educational project without commercial revenue. It accepts voluntary time donations, material donations, and as a last alternative, monetary donations. The project is hosted by easyname as a social project.
Go-to-market motion1 record
Distribution channels1 record
Marketing channels4 records
Selbermacherei product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Selbermacherei is a community-driven educational platform offering free DIY tutorials, freegan practices, and self-sufficiency content in German, hosted on a WordPress website and complemented by in-person workshops at Café Hoog in Vienna. The initiative provides guidance on clothing upcycling, food preservation, natural cosmetics, and alternative consumption through hundreds of Creative Commons-licensed articles and regular community activities. It operates without commercial revenue, relying on voluntary time and material donations, and serves as a consumption-critical network promoting resource conservation.
Product overview
Selbermacherei is a community-driven educational platform focused on alternatives to consumption, operating as a German-language website featuring DIY tutorials, freegan practices, and self-sufficiency education. The core offerings include the main platform website, clothing upcycling workshops, food/beverage DIY recipes, and the 'Umdenken' (rethinking) framework. The three main projects are: (1) Produktives Empowerment - encouraging productive self-empowerment; (2) Netzwerk Gegenseitiger Unterstützung - building mutual support networks; and (3) Manufactur Futuristic - exploring new freegan economic practices. Selbermacherei is not a technology product company but rather a social/community project by Wolf Hoog, operating primarily through the website selbermacherei.hoog.at, with activities centered around Café Hoog, a freegan meeting place in Vienna.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Brands
- Café Hoog: The freegan meeting place and venue where Selbermacherei workshops and community activities take place, located near Augarten in Vienna.
Products and services
- Selbermacherei Website Platform A German-language community website serving as a platform for alternatives to consumption, featuring DIY tutorials, freegan practices, and educational content about self-sufficiency and resource conservation. Free and accessible to all users under Creative Commons license.
- Alte Kleidung Neu Gestalten (Clothing Upcycling Workshops) Community workshops where participants redesign old clothing items using techniques such as batik, bleaching, patches, and iron-on plastic bag motifs to create new personalized garments. Held in-person at Café Hoog in Vienna.
- Food & Beverage DIY Recipes Collection of homemade food and beverage recipes including lemonade, herbal liqueurs (Absinth, Limoncello), fruit liqueurs, preserves, elderflower recipes, and various natural remedies, published as free online content.
- Umdenken (Mindset Rethinking Resources) An educational framework encouraging users to rethink consumption through guiding questions: What do I really want? Does someone else need this? Can I build, repair, or make it myself? Can I borrow or get it secondhand? Only as a last resort: buy locally, fairly, and ecologically.
- Produktives Empowerment (Productive Empowerment) Core project initiative focused on productive self-empowerment through doing things oneself, as opposed to passive consumption, with goals including collaborative advertising campaigns.
- Netzwerk Gegenseitiger Unterstützung (Mutual Support Network) Network initiative building mutual support for self-making activities, with goals including developing a collaborative search engine for sharing resources and skills.
Companies that use Selbermacherei
Customer profileSegments3 records
Ideal customer profiles3 records
Selbermacherei technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed No
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Selbermacherei partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
One partnership is on record.
- easynameminoreasyname provides free web hosting for Selbermacherei as part of their social projects support program. This is infrastructure support rather than a strategic partnership, acknowledging easyname's contribution to enabling the project's online presence.
Scale indicators2 records
Recent moves4 records
Expansion highlights3 records
Selbermacherei competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- Repair Café International: International foundation supporting a global network of community repair events. Directly comparable to Selbermacherei's model of free, volunteer-led in-person workshops (clothing redesign, etc.) where participants learn hands-on skills rather than buying new products.
- Foodsharing e.V. German non-profit platform for sharing surplus food to reduce waste. Closely mirrors Selbermacherei's freegan ethos, German-language community base, and volunteer-driven non-commercial model focused on alternatives to consumption.
- freegan.info: Long-running English-language freegan community and information resource covering dumpster diving, waste reduction, and alternative consumption. Direct conceptual peer to Selbermacherei's freegan network.
Broad incumbents
- iFixit: Large DIY repair education platform with extensive free repair manuals and a community of fixers. Comparable through its emphasis on self-repair as an alternative to consumption, though it operates at much larger scale as a commercial business.
- Transition Network: UK-originated international network of community-led sustainability and resilience initiatives. Broader in scope than Selbermacherei but shares the model of grassroots local chapters promoting reduced consumption and self-sufficiency.
- Open Source Ecology: Open-source DIY/maker community developing industrial machines and life-skill technologies. Shares the 'do-it-yourself' philosophy and Creative Commons ethos of Selbermacherei, though focused on technology/industrial production rather than consumption critique.
Market position
Strengths4 records
Weaknesses4 records
Competitive moat3 records
Key risks5 records
Key highlights5 records
Customer concentration
Selbermacherei social profiles
Digital presenceSelbermacherei financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Selbermacherei leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles1 record
Selbermacherei funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Selbermacherei M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Selbermacherei
What does Selbermacherei do?
Selbermacherei is a community-driven educational platform offering free DIY tutorials, freegan practices, and self-sufficiency content in German, hosted on a WordPress website and complemented by in-person workshops at Café Hoog in Vienna. The initiative provides guidance on clothing upcycling, food preservation, natural cosmetics, and alternative consumption through hundreds of Creative Commons-licensed articles and regular community activities. It operates without commercial revenue, relying on voluntary time and material donations, and serves as a consumption-critical network promoting resource conservation.
Is Selbermacherei a public or private company?
Selbermacherei is a private company. It is classified as founder individual operated bootstrapped and is currently operating.
When was Selbermacherei founded?
Selbermacherei was founded in 2009. It employs 1 to 10 people.
Where is Selbermacherei based?
Selbermacherei is headquartered in Vienna, Austria, in the Europe region.
How does Selbermacherei make money?
One revenue line is on record: no commercial revenue model.
Who are Selbermacherei's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are Repair Café International, Foodsharing e.V. and freegan.info. Broad incumbents are iFixit, Transition Network and Open Source Ecology.
Does Selbermacherei have an API?
No public API is recorded for Selbermacherei.