Wilhelm Seibel I, establishes the Seibel Britannia Goods Factory in 1895. In 1911 the first branch factory, the Hessischen Metallwerke Gebr. Seibel. The company attains global recognition in 1936 with its Olympia Flatware furnished for the Olympic Village in Berlin. Thanks to the very healthy economy of the post-war years, staffing increased to almost 1000. In the '50s a major decline in the flatware industry resulted in the demise of almost 90% of all German manufacturers. Thanks to the bold leadership of Herbert Seibel, a grandson of the founder, who steered the company towards design oriented products, a catastrophe was avoided for the Hessische Metallwerke. The company was later renamed to Mono.