The foundations for the company were laid in 1783, when Johann Nikolaus Worlée took the citizen’s oath of the Free and Hanseatic city of Hamburg as a spice trader.

According to prevailing tradition at the time, the company, which was established in 1851, focussed on trading in colonial goods. Natural resins from the forests of Southeast Asia and Africa, which were used as the basis for producing varnishes and paints, soon followed.

After the end of the war in 1945, the Hamburg-based company also started to develop new business segments. Today, the company has developed into a modern service enterprise with its own production and processing plants as well as a number of branch offices throughout the world. The linchpins of the company philosophy are customer satisfaction and quality assurance.