AE Köchert
| AE Köchert Juweliere GmbH
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| legal form | GmbH |
| founding | 1814 |
| Seat | Vienna |
| management | Wolfgang Köchert, Christoph Köchert, Florian Köchert (Salzburg) |
| Branch | Jeweler , goldsmith |
| Website | www.Koechert.com |
The AE Köchert jewelers have been among the most renowned jewelers in Austria since they were founded in 1814 . The main store has been located at Neuer Markt 15 in Vienna since 1873 ; In December 2005, another store was opened at Alten Markt 15 in Salzburg .
history
Jakob Heinrich Köchert (1795, Riga – 1869, Vienna) began in 1819 as a journeyman with Emanuel Pioté (* 1781 in Limoges), who had come to Vienna during the Napoleonic Wars . Pioté made jewels in the French style, which were very popular with the nobility and the court. Köchert later married the sister of Pioté's wife.
When the then court jeweler M. Cohen died in 1831, Pioté and Köchert applied for the title of purveyor to the court, which Piote initially received and, after a renewed application, his partner Köchert. From then until 1918, as kuk court and chamber jeweler and goldsmith, they were the personal jeweler of the Austrian emperor and his court.
The company then moved to the Palais Pallavicini on Josefsplatz . In 1848 Pioté withdrew from the business and Köchert became the sole owner. When the then chamber jeweler von Mach died in 1849, Köchert and the jeweler Biedermann were elevated to chamber jewelers. As a result, Köchert was also entrusted with the care of the crown jewels . The diamond stars for Empress Elisabeth, immortalized on Winterhalter's portrait, were designed by the company soon afterwards.
After Jakob Heinrich Köchert, his son Alexander Emanuel Köchert (1824–1879) took over the business. In 1850 he married Karoline Mayseder, the daughter of the composer Joseph Mayseder . After the death of her father, she inherited the house at Neuer Markt 15, where the company moved and is still based today. Like his father, Alexander Köchert was entrusted with the care of the crown jewels. When the treasury was being prepared for opening in 1871, Köchert inventoried the holdings and cleaned and restored the Austrian imperial crown . He created new jewels from old ones for imperial use, such as a diamond diadem for Empress Elisabeth with the Frankfurt solitaire. The “ Sisi stars ” designed by Köchert for Empress Elisabeth are famous . At a performance of Mozart's Magic Flute, Sisi raved about the star decorations of the Queen of the Night to such an extent that the otherwise thrifty Emperor Franz Josef I commissioned Alexander Emanuel Köchert for a large number of diamond stars , which he presented to his wife on the first wedding anniversary.
At the Vienna World Exhibition in 1873 , Köchert received the gold medal together with the architect Theophil von Hansen . At that time he was one of the leading European jewelers of the 19th century.
After Alexander Köchert's death, his sons Heinrich (1854–1908) and Theodor (1859–1936) took over the business. In the 1880s and 90s, for example, jewels were commissioned for the wedding of Crown Prince Rudolf to Stephanie of Belgium or the birth of imperial children. However, after the Crown Prince's suicide and the Empress's murder, the number of orders dropped sharply. Orders for baptism and wedding gifts in the imperial family and for the actress Katharina Schratt were still placed by the emperor. The heir to the throne Franz Ferdinand and later Emperor Karl I also commissioned works from Köchert. In 1916, Köchert put the crown jewels in order for Charles I's coronation.
In addition to the court and the nobility, customers increasingly included the upper middle class, such as Wittgenstein, Haas, Sacher, Todesco, Dreher, Epstein and Mauthner. With the growing popularity of the Viennese Art Nouveau , Köchert and the Wiener Werkstätte now worked together. The architects Josef Hoffmann and later Oswald Haerdtl designed pieces of jewelry.
After the First World War and the collapse of the monarchy, Köchert was able to maintain its position despite adverse circumstances. Theodor Köchert's sons Erich (1882–1949) and Wilfried (1900–1981) continued to run the business. The old aristocratic customers were increasingly replaced by artists like Richard Strauss and wealthy citizens. After the annexation to the German Reich in 1938, many of these customers left the country. Köchert had to accompany the imperial regalia when they were brought from Vienna to Nuremberg in the same year.
After the Second World War , the company was continued by Erich Köchert's son Gotfrid (1918–1986) and Wilfried's son Dieter (1926–1991). Today it is managed in the sixth generation by Christoph Köchert (* 1964) and cousin Wolfgang Köchert (* 1964) and Florian Köchert (Salzburg) (* 1977). The company also works with Hans Hollein or Boris Podrecca to make newer pieces. At international auctions, pieces of jewelery from this period that are signed "AEK" achieve top prices.
The company has been a member of the Association les Hénokiens since 2014 , an organization of family businesses that have been majority-owned by the founding family for at least 200 years and are run by a descendant of the founder.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Roland Mischke: The Kaiser was a customer here. Handelsblatt, July 12, 2003, accessed on February 4, 2009 (Austria's monarchy abdicated in 1919, but there are still exclusive shops in Vienna that were once imperial and royal purveyors. Today they fight against “brand madness” with customization and quality. ).
- ↑ Claudia Haase, Alexandra Kropf: Where the customer is still Kaiser. (No longer available online.) Wirtschaftsblatt, June 15, 1996, formerly in the original ; Retrieved February 2, 2009 . ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )
- ^ Association les Hénokiens: AE Köchert . Retrieved July 5, 2017.
- ↑ derStandard.at: AE Köchert, a noble jeweler with a focus on tradition . Article dated December 10, 2017, accessed December 10, 2017.
literature
- Reinhard Engel: Luxury from Vienna I. Czernin Verlag, Vienna 2001. ISBN 3-7076-0121-8 .
- Ingrid Haslinger: Customer - Kaiser. The story of the former imperial and royal purveyors . Schroll, Vienna 1996, ISBN 3-85202-129-4 .
- Ulrike von Hase-Schmundt: Art Nouveau Jewelery The European Centers. From 1895 to 1915. Heyne Verlag.
- Irmgard Hauser-Köchert : Köchert - Imperial Jewelers in Vienna , Jewelery Designs 1810 - 1940 SPES Carlo e Lucia Barocchi, Firenze 1990.
- János Kalmár, Mella Waldstein: KuK purveyors to Vienna's court . Stocker, Graz 2001, ISBN 3-7020-0935-3 . Pp. 94-99.
Web links
Coordinates: 48 ° 12 '23.7 " N , 16 ° 22' 14.1" E