After completing his apprenticeship with his father, Herman August is taught glaze painting at Holmegaard Glasværk, then travels around Europe and works in workshops in Berlin, Strasbourg and Paris. In 1867, he returns to Næstved full of impressions and inspiration. Now he is ready to take over the workshop.
Already in 1875, he built a new workshop at Kählersbakken in Næstved. This is where he really starts to try his hand at artistic design and experiment with the glazes. This artistic venture attracts many well-known Danish artists, and it was Herman August that started the artistic colony in Næstved. The glazed colours became his signature – especially the red lustre. Normally, this was only used for decoration, but at the world exhibition in Paris in 1889, he put up a product completely dipped in the metallic red lustre glaze. Together with his signature, HAK, the red lustre became Kähler’s trademark.
It was also man-of-the-world Herman August Kähler who generated international interest in Kähler Keramik. He attended exhibitions around the world, generating interest from retailers and museums in Paris, New York, Chicago, Malmo, Stockholm, Brussels, Berlin and San Francisco. Herman August had a major impact on the Kähler workshop. To this day, his initials, HAK, are stamped at the bottom of all Kähler products.