Brahmfeld & Gutruf

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Brahmfeld & Gutruf - Hamburg jewelers since 1743 KG

logo
legal form Limited partnership
founding 1743
Seat Hamburg
management Andreas Freisfeld, Benjamin Freisfeld
Branch jeweler
Website www.brahmfeld-gutruf.com

Brahmfeld & Gutruf is a Hamburg jewelry store that was founded in 1743 by the gold and silversmith Hinrich Brahmfeld. It is therefore considered to be the oldest German jewelry company still in existence.

In the company's history, there have been branches in Germany and abroad. Shops in Berlin , Vienna , Baden-Baden and on Sylt have been run under the name Brahmfeld & Gutruf within the more than 260-year history. Today the company address is Neue Wall 18 in Hamburg.

history

The history of the House of Brahmfeld & Gutruf begins as early as the 18th century. Hinrich Brahmfeld (1703–1782) was allowed to go into business for himself as a son from a middle-class family in 1729 and buy the privileged office of goldsmith and silversmith . At that time, this was reserved exclusively for “honest citizens born in wedlock”. He laid the foundation stone for the jewelry store that still exists today - at that time at ABC-Straße 55, near Gänsemarkt . This would be the place of creation for his descendants for the next hundred years. During his creative period he laid the foundation for the company's current reputation, primarily with fine silver work for the Hamburg company . In keeping with the guild, he made his masterpiece - an elegant coffee pot made of silver , which is now exhibited as a cultural asset in the Museum of Hamburg History . Hinrich Brahmfeld married Agnetha Schröder from Hamburg. Nine children were born from this marriage. Brahmfeld was soon one of the most successful goldsmiths in Hamburg. His profane, as well as ecclesiastical, i.e. sacred, work was considered solid and elegant at the same time. In 1769 he was elected to one of the four highly respected "elderly people" whose most important task was the "inspection" - checking the silver content and stamping with the city hallmark .

The German silversmith's art of the 18th century was promoted by the generous orders of the rich trading families. The Hanseatic goldsmith Brahmfeld & Gutruf was also able to prove itself internationally. The Tsar in Moscow heard about the artistic skill of the Hanseatic League and ordered the armory of the Kremlin 300 pieces of silver. Other special exhibits are now in the Joods Historisch Museum in Amsterdam - z. B. the valuable silver Torah shield , which was donated in 1765 for the Celle synagogue by George III's court agent, Isaac Gans. Last but not least, these international orders indicate the consistently high level of his silversmith's art. Hinrich Brahmfeld died in 1782 at the age of 79.

Caspar Jacob Brahmfeld (1747–1814) followed the career of his father Hinrich. In 1785 he was also appointed master . He married two years later and had five children with his wife Elisabeth. Committed to tradition, he trained many apprentices , the last being his own son: Johann Friedrich (1790–1852). He soon took over the company and continued to give the reputation and the name Brahmfeld growing fame. In 1832 he was appointed a deliberation member of the Patriotic Society founded in 1765 . An honorable task, because the Hamburg Society for the Advancement of the Arts and Useful Trades was happy to rely on the advice and expertise of its members. Brahmfeld's reputation in the upper classes of the city can also be proven by the fact that in 1815 Johann Friedrich received an order from the Hamburg council to deliver twelve heavy silver candlesticks and four girandoles to the official building. With further orders and foundations, an important treasure trove of council silver gradually arose.

Johann Friedrich was also married. However, only daughters resulted from his marriage, which is why he worried about the succession of his flourishing business. At that time it was not possible for a woman to work as a goldsmith and silversmith. However, his daughter Emilie Brahmfeld married the business traveler Johann Georg Gutruf (1816–1884), who gave the jewelry business its double name and was accepted as a partner in the jewelry , gold and silver goods store . Like his ancestors, Johann Georg Gutruf ensured a high level of awareness far beyond the borders of the Hanseatic city for over three decades. According to tradition, he was one of the first to import diamonds from South Africa to Germany and sell them on via the Netherlands . The first diamond exchange was founded there in 1893.

The Great Fire , which destroyed large parts of the Free and Hanseatic City in 1842 , also destroyed parts of the original business building on ABC-Strasse. Gutruf, who had achieved the necessary prosperity, therefore decided in 1850 to move to Jungfernstieg , a renowned address with a direct view of the Inner Alster . This shop was to remain the headquarters of the jeweler for 160 years, well into 2010.

Emilie and Johann Georg Gutruf also had no sons. Once again it was a daughter, Antonie, who ensured the continued existence of the family business through marriage. She married Eduard L. Moll in 1862. The first son from this marriage, who was baptized Eduard Gutruf Moll (1894–1947), secured the further succession. He married Laetitia Amsinck at the age of 25 and was the proud father of four children.

As a trained and ambitious businessman, Eduard Gutruf Moll had goals that went beyond the manufacture of high-quality gold and silver goods. In 1913 he laid the foundation stone for one of the well-known Hamburg office buildings , the still existing “Gutruf-Haus”. The big house, which stretches from Jungfernstieg to Neuer Wall 14, was built simply and simply on the spot where the jewelry store built by his grandfather stood. The First World War broke out during the construction phase , but this could not prevent completion in 1915. The Gutruf House was also spared the bombs of the Second World War . Moll's only son has been missing since World War II. His three daughters inherited the Gutruf-Haus and in 1970 founded a civil law company for the management of the house, the Gutruf-Haus Gesellschaft. That society still exists today.

In 1955 the Berlin entrepreneur Erich Hülse (1894–1971) acquired the jewelry business from Moll's heirs. At that time he was already running a successful jewelry store in Berlin and was now looking for a way to settle in Hamburg. Spurred on by the success of the economic boom , Hülse continued to expand and chose Vienna and Baden-Baden as locations for further interim representative offices of Brahmfeld & Gutruf. Hamburg, however, became the center of his work. Without changing the style, he successfully continued the traditional company - always at his side Lotte Hülse, who became the first woman to head the traditional company in 1971 after the death of her husband.

In 1985 the 29-year-old stepson, Hanns-Christian Hülse-Reutter finally took over the management. Together with his wife Simone, who was in charge of jewelry design and at the same time co-owner of Juwelier Braun in Mannheim, he continued to run the company.

The Hanseatic tradition pretended not to change the shop facade for 70 years. The jeweler couple therefore did a renovation on the Jungfernstieg in 1987 and shortly afterwards unveiled not only a magnificent facade with two gold-plated pylons , which bore the old hand-carved company coat of arms, but also the interior, thanks to the plans of the architect Rainer M. Kresing , in front of 300 guests in a new architecture: the start of the modern era was complete.

A representative office was opened in Kampen on the island of Sylt in 1992. Vogue was there live at the opening and photographed the hustle and bustle of the 700 invited guests. The Hülse-Reutter family got involved in the polo club on Sylt and founded their own team, which consistently and successfully participated in the German Polo Masters. On this occasion, the couple presented the jewelry of their house and made the trophies for the winners.

A detailed history was produced for the 250th anniversary. Together with the Collegium Cadoro, an association of individualists among Germany's jewelers who are committed to promoting jewelry culture, and with the active support of the current owner, Dr. Andreas Freisfeld, a special exhibition was staged in the mirror hall of the Museum of Art and Industry Hamburg . The special exhibition jewelery of unprecedented proportions dealt with the jewelery history of the 20th century. At the end of the exhibition, Brahmfeld & Gutruf donated a kinetic brooch made of white gold, emeralds and diamonds to the museum on the occasion of the 250th anniversary. It can still be seen there today, along with other extraordinary and valuable pieces of jewelry from the entire time of Brahmfeld & Gutruf. This commitment documented the fruitful cooperation between the Hanseatic City of Hamburg and the traditional jeweler.

In the mid-1990s, the Hülse-Reutter family fell victim to the investment fraudster Jürgen Harksen , whose machinations were filmed in Dieter Wedel's film Gier in 2010. Despite the resulting economic damage, the family initially managed to continue the company. In 2007, however, the debts of the fraud became too great. A new owner has been found in Alfred Wurster, the owner of the family business “Wurster Diamonds GmbH” from the gold city of Pforzheim - a jewelery manufacturer operating across Europe.

In 2010, the Freisfeld family of jewelers acquired the naming rights to Brahmfeld & Gutruf and opened a branch on Hamburg's Neuer Wall under the name Brahmfeld & Gutruf - Hamburger Juweliere seit 1743 KG.

In addition to its own extensive jewelry collection from its own studios, the Freisfeld range also includes watches from the most renowned watch manufacturers in Switzerland and Germany. Dr. Andreas Freisfeld and his son Benjamin Freisfeld are the managing directors of the limited partnership Brahmfeld & Gutruf, founded in 2010 - Hamburg jewelers since 1743. Benjamin Freisfeld has taken over the direct management of the business on site.

Footnotes

  1. ↑ Brahmfeld & Gutruf returns. In: Hamburger Abendblatt . September 14, 2010, p. 23.
  2. ↑ Hamburger Abendblatt . November 1, 2008.
  3. ↑ a b Brahmfeld & Gutruf . In: hamburg-hansestadt.de .
  4. ↑ a b Erich Schliemann: The goldsmiths of Hamburg. 3 volumes. Schliemann, Hamburg 1985, ISBN 3-88771-005-3 .
  5. ↑ a b Ulrike Schramm-Vogel: silver, gold and precious stone. 250 years of Brahmfeld & Gutruf, Hamburg. From goldsmith to jewelry store. 1743-1993. Grütter, 1993, p. 15.
  6. ↑ a b Deborah Knür: Hanseatic jewels with history . August 30, 2003.
  7. ↑ a b Ulrike Schramm-Vogel: silver, gold and precious stone. 250 years of Brahmfeld & Gutruf, Hamburg. From goldsmith to jewelry store. 1743-1993. Grütter, 1993, p. 16.
  8. ↑ Edward van Voolen, Irene Faber & Annette Weber: Jewish Ceremonial Silver from Germany in the Jewish Historical Museum. In: Leo Baeck Institute Yearbook. Vol. 40 (1), 1995, DOI: 10.1093 / leobaeck / 40.1.265 , pp. 265–288 (pp. 275 ff.)
  9. ^ Joods Historisch Museum: Torah shield
  10. ↑ Ulrike Schramm-Vogel: silver, gold and precious stone. 250 years of Brahmfeld & Gutruf, Hamburg. From goldsmith to jewelry store. 1743-1993. Grütter, 1993, p. 22.
  11. ↑ Ulrike Schramm-Vogel: silver, gold and precious stone. 250 years of Brahmfeld & Gutruf, Hamburg. From goldsmith to jewelry store. 1743-1993. Grütter, 1993, p. 26.
  12. ↑ Ulrike Schramm-Vogel: silver, gold and precious stone. 250 years of Brahmfeld & Gutruf, Hamburg. From goldsmith to jewelry store. 1743-1993. Grütter, 1993, p. 27.
  13. ↑ Ulrike Schramm-Vogel: silver, gold and precious stone. 250 years of Brahmfeld & Gutruf, Hamburg. From goldsmith to jewelry store. 1743-1993. Grütter, 1993, p. 36.
  14. ↑ a b Ulrike Schramm-Vogel: silver, gold and precious stone. 250 years of Brahmfeld & Gutruf, Hamburg. From goldsmith to jewelry store. 1743-1993. Grütter, 1993, p. 33.
  15. ↑ Ulrike Schramm-Vogel: silver, gold and precious stone. 250 years of Brahmfeld & Gutruf, Hamburg. From goldsmith to jewelry store. 1743-1993. Grütter, 1993, p. 52.
  16. ↑ Ulrike Schramm-Vogel: silver, gold and precious stone. 250 years of Brahmfeld & Gutruf, Hamburg. From goldsmith to jewelry store. 1743-1993. Grütter, 1993, p. 44.
  17. ↑ Ulrike Schramm-Vogel: silver, gold and precious stone. 250 years of Brahmfeld & Gutruf, Hamburg. From goldsmith to jewelry store. 1743-1993. Grütter, 1993, p. 81.
  18. ↑ Ulrike Schramm-Vogel: silver, gold and precious stone. 250 years of Brahmfeld & Gutruf, Hamburg. From goldsmith to jewelry store. 1743-1993. Grütter, 1993, p. 91.
  19. ↑ Ulrike Schramm-Vogel: silver, gold and precious stone. 250 years of Brahmfeld & Gutruf, Hamburg. From goldsmith to jewelry store. 1743-1993. Grütter, 1993, p. 94.
  20. ↑ Ulrike Schramm-Vogel: silver, gold and precious stone. 250 years of Brahmfeld & Gutruf, Hamburg. From goldsmith to jewelry store. 1743-1993. Grütter, 1993, p. 98.
  21. ↑ Inga Griese: Why Sylt doesn't actually need lighting at night . In: The world . August 9, 2003.
  22. ↑ Ulrike Schramm-Vogel: silver, gold and precious stone. 250 years of Brahmfeld & Gutruf, Hamburg. From goldsmith to jewelry store. 1743-1993. Grütter, 1993, p. 106 f.
  23. ↑ Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe Hamburg: Kinetic Brooch  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.@1@ 2Template: Toter Link / www.mkg-hamburg.de  
  24. ↑ Hamburger Abendblatt . September 30, 2004.
  25. ↑ Hamburger Abendblatt . March 19, 2003.
  26. ↑ Hamburger Abendblatt . November 7, 2009.
  27. ↑ Jeweler wants to shine again. In: Hamburger Abendblatt . December 7, 2007.