About Us

Origins

Erva was founded in 1967 by Walter Heyek, a master toolmaker from Vienna as a tool & die shop. The original location was a small space on Elston Avenue in Chicago, which eventually grew into a larger facility on Milwaukee avenue. Originally the company made machine tools for manufacturers and fabricated metal parts for a variety of industries - everything from typewriter components and industrial ladder steps to belly-dancer finger cymbals.

Erva Today

Today the majority of the company's business is the production of its own line of products, primarily for the lawn & garden industry. Our products can be found in garden centers and nature stores around the country. The company is currently led by Walter's son Erwin. The third generation of Heyeks at Erva is represented by Erwin's son Nick, who runs the direct-to-consumer side of the business (including this website).

The Factory

We manufacture virtually all of our products in-house, at 3100 W Grand Ave in Chicago, a 30,000 sq ft red brick classic 1920s factory building in the city's Humboldt Park neighborhood.

Manufacturing our product suite involves a large number of operations using many of pieces of equipment. Some things you would see on a walk through the facility are

• Forming, cutting, and punching of parts with our array of stamping presses
• CNC wire-bending of complex 3D wire forms
• Welding (MIG and TIG)
• Sheet metal rolling (e.g. cylindrical and conical baffles)
• Hot forging and hand-forming (e.g. decorative hangers)