The gummy bear originated in Germany, gum arabic was the original base ingredient used to produce the gummy bears, hence the name gum or gummy. Hans Riegel Sr., a confectioner from Bonn, started the Haribo company in 1920. Above, you’re looking at a real chandelier, made by Kevin Champeny, comprised of approximately 5,000 acrylic gummy bears with a 31″ diameter. It took him about 2 months to complete, and he’ll end up producing only 10 of these specimens, with no two being alike. Continue reading to see more interesting things you may not have known about gummy bears.
In 1922, inspired by the trained bears seen at street festivities and markets in Europe through to the 19th century, he invented the Dancing Bear, a small affordable fruit-flavored gum candy treat for children and adults alike, and which was much larger in form to its later successor, the Gold-Bear.
Even during Weimar Germany’s hyperinflation period that wrecked havoc on the country, Haribo’s fruit-gum Dancing Bear treats remained affordable priced for a mere 1 Pfennig, in pairs, at kiosks. The success of the Dancing Bear’s successor would later become Haribo’s world-famous Gold-Bears candy product in 1967.
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