Matchstick carl becomes traffic light man

Offenbach's Karl Winterkorn (1880-1939) was an original: from the 1910s until shortly before his death, he roamed Offenbach's pubs selling matches. He was popular and people treated the little man with great respect. Karl Winterkorn was known in the town as "Matchstick Karl". He confidently described himself as a timber merchant. Since 1999, a sculpture on Wilhelmsplatz has commemorated the lovable guy and, more recently, the pedestrian traffic lights at the Bieberer Strasse/Waldstrasse junction.

Mayor Sabine Groß explains: "The little matchstick cart belongs to Offenbach like Wilhelmsplatz or apple wine. I've known stories about 'Streichholzkarlchen' since I was a child. The traffic light with the little matchstick is another loving tribute to Karl Winterkorn and keeps a piece of Offenbach's history alive in the middle of the city."

The city councillors had passed a resolution to this effect, which the Office for Mobility has now implemented with the support of the Hochschule für Gestaltung (HfG): At the OIMD - Offenbach Institute for Mobility Design located there, Prof. Peter Eckart, Daniel Rese, Annika Storch and Marie Bünner, a student at the HfG, designed the figure of the little matchstick car as a "walking" and "standing" little man for the pedestrian signals.

"It was a particularly motivating project for me," says the budding designer, "as I always had the goal in mind that the two traffic light figures would also be implemented in the city." The basis for her design was the sculpture by Offenbach stonemason Judith Quartier on Wilhelmsplatz. The traffic light man has now been created in an elaborate process. For legal reasons, the new symbols appear in addition to the familiar traffic light figures that comply with the rules.