C. Deffner

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Company building on the Neckar

C. Deffner was a metal goods factory in Esslingen am Neckar , which existed from 1815 to 1969 and mainly manufactured equipment for tables and bars.

history

1815-1844

Carl Christian Ulrich Deffner , a son of the Ludwigsburg porcelain painter Christian Friedrich Deffner (September 16, 1758 - February 17, 1793), attended Latin school despite the early death of his father , where he came into contact with Karl Wagner. He later became the Württemberg legation secretary in Londonand during a stay in England arranged for Deffner to visit progressive workshops and factories in the country. He also provided Deffner with part of the capital that Deffner needed to buy into Heinrich Rudy's tin goods company in Esslingen in 1815. Deffner used the return trip from England and further trips to England and France to find out more about the market and production methods. Probably the first novelty that he introduced to Germany were kaleidoscopes , which found great sales at the Stuttgart Christmas market in 1815.

After his marriage to Luise Wagner, a sister of Karl Wagner, Deffner set up a workshop on Kasernenstrasse in Pliensauvorstadt, which expanded quickly. In 1819 Deffner was able to pay Rudy out and run the company on his own. At that time C. Deffner had 19 employees. In 1824, the quality of its products was highly praised at the art and industry exhibition. In the years 1825 to 1827 Deffner had new factory buildings built on a site in today's Pulverwiesen directly on the Neckar , where water power could be used. In 1829 he set up a health insurance company. Within four years the export figures for his articles doubled; 135 employees are occupied for 1834 and 200 for the period around 1840/50.

Detail from the pattern book, around 1830/40

In 1837 the company prospered so much that Deffner was able to have a villa built on the banks of the Neckar. The plans may have been from Giovanni Salucci and cited Palladio's Renaissance designs for villas in the Veneto . This house was probably the first such representative villa in Esslingen. In the course of the construction of the Vogelsang Bridge it was demolished in 1976, then owned by the city, against violent protests from the population.

In 1842 Deffner was one of the founders of the trade association, a year later he took part in the local trade fair. A report that Deffner wrote down on the occasion of this exhibition indicates that he was already making plaque ware at this time . He should have been the first plaque manufacturer in Württemberg.

1844-1877

Two years before the death of Carl Christian Ulrich Deffner in 1846, his son Carl Ludwig Deffner became a partner in the company. After attending the Latin school in Esslingen, Carl Ludwig Deffner had completed the trade school in Stuttgart and after his first experiences in his father's company in Berlin attended a trade institute and attended lectures at the university. Numerous stays abroad imparted further knowledge to him. Carl Ludwig Deffner, who headed the company from 1846, tried to convert the plant from water to steam power and not to let the number of employees become too large. His connections abroad helped to survive the revolution and famine year of 1848. In the following years, Carl Ludwig Deffner continuously expanded the company and enlarged and modernized the machinery. He presented his products at international exhibitions and made sure that Württemberg participated in the first world exhibition in London.

From 1852 Carl Ludwig Deffner devoted himself intensively to researching the geology of the Swabian Alb . The company's business was therefore more and more passed into the hands of his younger brother Wilhelm, who took over management after Carl Ludwig Deffner's death in 1877.

1877-1923

Detail from the pattern book, around 1870

After studying at the Technical University in Stuttgart, Wilhelm Deffner had also trained on numerous trips. Under his leadership, the company was entered in the commercial register for the first time in 1887. In 1894, the company was (1866-1949) (1856-1948) and Otto Deffner as under the management of his sons Carl general partnership entered. Carl and Otto Deffner also expanded and modernized the company. Reports about the turn of the century and beyond, however, are sparse; there is a record of 500 employees in 1899. A setback was brought about by the time of the First World War , during which production could hardly be carried out due to a lack of raw materials.

1923-1947

In 1923 Max Deffner (1900–1985) joined the company as managing director; In 1928 his cousin Erich Deffner joined them. In the 1930s it was mainly nickel-plated, chrome-plated and silver-plated tableware and metal-porcelain dishes that were sold. During the Second World War , metal crockery was mainly produced, and in the post-war period the company shifted to the production of costume jewelery and similar items from scraps of material.

1947-1969

Georg Deffner (1925–1981) joined the company in 1947. He tried to renew the machine park and, on the occasion of the 150th anniversary in 1965, declared that apart from the old drawing mill, none of the old machines that he had found in 1947 were still in use. However, the C. Deffner company was often no longer fully utilized in the period after the Second World War and repeatedly worked as a wage for other companies, such as Hanns Knäbler or WMF . The manufacture of handicrafts, which was relied on from around 1960, did not help either. C. Deffner last had 70 employees. Max and Erich Deffner therefore ceased operations at the end of 1969 and in 1972 the company was struck from the commercial register. The company premises were sold to the Esslingen district . The factory buildings were demolished; Today, the Esslingen District Office is located on the former Deffner area.

traces

The company FW Quist in particular collected catalogs from the company during the years in which it feared C. Deffner's competition. The sample books that have been preserved cover the period from 1830 to 1930. Price lists and export figures have also been preserved. Carl Christian Ulrich Deffner exhibited at the Leipzig Trade Fair in the 1830s and from the mid-1830s had the largest sales area of ​​all Esslingen companies. Deliveries to the countries of the Zollverein, Switzerland, North America, Italy, Greece, Holland including colonies, Spain and the Levant are documented for the year 1848. The countries of the Zollverein contributed 92,000 guilders, North America and Switzerland each with 45,000 guilders, the other countries with sums between 2000 and 5000 guilders. In 1918 the company still had representations in Austria-Hungary, France, England, Holland and Belgium, from the 1950s it was represented at the Frankfurt trade fair and exported in particular to the USA and Italy and Belgium, but also to Galeries Lafayette in France .

In 2004, C. Deffner's products were shown in the “SilberSachen” exhibition in the Esslingen City Museum.

  • Carl Christian Ulrich Deffner

  • Carl Ludwig Deffner

  • Japanese stylized catalog around 1890

  • Deffner family, Christmas 1890 at Villa Deffner

Web links

Commons : C. Deffner  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ https://www2.landesarchiv-bw.de/ofs21/olf/einfueh.php?Stock=6775
  2. ↑ Margret Burscheidt, "Beautiful, durable and cheap". The history of the metal goods factory Carl Deffner , in: Stadtmuseum Esslingen (ed.), SilberSachen. The Esslinger Metallwarenindustrie from 1815 to 1981 , Ostfildern 2004, ISBN 3-935293-45-3 , pp. 15–40, here p. 21
  3. ↑ Margret Burscheidt, "Beautiful, durable and cheap". The history of the metal goods factory Carl Deffner , in: Stadtmuseum Esslingen (ed.), SilberSachen. The Esslinger Metallwarenindustrie from 1815 to 1981 , Ostfildern 2004, ISBN 3-935293-45-3 , pp. 15–40, here p. 21
  4. ↑ http://www.landesarchiv-bw.de/plink/?f=1-366108
  5. ↑ Margret Burscheidt, "Beautiful, durable and cheap". The history of the metal goods factory Carl Deffner , in: Stadtmuseum Esslingen (ed.), SilberSachen. The Esslinger Metallwarenindustrie from 1815 to 1981 , Ostfildern 2004, ISBN 3-935293-45-3 , pp. 15–40, here p. 18
  6. ↑ Margret Burscheidt, "Beautiful, durable and cheap". The history of the metal goods factory Carl Deffner , in: Stadtmuseum Esslingen (ed.), SilberSachen. The Esslinger Metallwarenindustrie from 1815 to 1981 , Ostfildern 2004, ISBN 3-935293-45-3 , pp. 15–40, here p. 21
  7. ↑ Margret Burscheidt, "Beautiful, durable and cheap". The history of the metal goods factory Carl Deffner , in: Stadtmuseum Esslingen (ed.), SilberSachen. The Esslinger Metallwarenindustrie from 1815 to 1981 , Ostfildern 2004, ISBN 3-935293-45-3 , pp. 15–40, here p. 20
  8. ↑ Margret Burscheidt, "Beautiful, durable and cheap". The history of the metal goods factory Carl Deffner , in: Stadtmuseum Esslingen (ed.), SilberSachen. The Esslinger Metallwarenindustrie from 1815 to 1981 , Ostfildern 2004, ISBN 3-935293-45-3 , pp. 15–40, here p. 21
  9. ↑ Margret Burscheidt, "Beautiful, durable and cheap". The history of the metal goods factory Carl Deffner , in: Stadtmuseum Esslingen (ed.), SilberSachen. The Esslinger Metallwarenindustrie from 1815 to 1981 , Ostfildern 2004, ISBN 3-935293-45-3 , pp. 15–40, here p. 31