Friedrich Richard Küttner

Friedrich Richard Küttner (born December 31, 1847 in Sehma ; † July 31, 1929 there ) was a German entrepreneur and textile manufacturer.

Live and act

In 1872, two years after the death of his father Friedrich Wilhelm Küttner, Küttner took over the family business in Sehma in the Ore Mountains as the third oldest son in the third generation . By producing cotton yarns and threads for the up-and-coming trimmings industry in the Ore Mountains, he had expanded the business with new machines and manufacturing processes (including chemical steam bleaching) to counteract the influences and the like. a. following the crinoline fashion , which brought the hoop skirt back into fashion. Despite good business development, Friedrich Richard Küttner was only able to start working as an entrepreneur after completing his military service in the Franco-German War in 1871 at the age of 24. In the war years, business was almost completely idle. After that, the business developed very dynamically until 1890, so that the production facilities were constantly expanded. Around 1880, hydropower was replaced by self-generated electricity. In addition, Sehmas was connected to the Zschopautalbahn in 1872 .

Grave site of the Küttner family of manufacturers in Sehma with the inscription for Friedrich Richard Küttner on the left inscription plate

Küttner expanded the previous production and sales line by trading raw materials for the local lace and bobbin industry . There was also the trade in English woolen yarn, Milanese and Chinese silk, which was needed for the silk cord and trimmings industry that was flourishing in the Ore Mountains. On his trips abroad he closely followed the development of the production of artificial silk and was one of the first in the industry to recognize the opportunities to include artificial silk as a supplement and possibly even as an independent chemical material in addition to natural silk and fibers in the product range. This was done in 1890 by importing and processing the rayon invented by Hilaire de Chardonnet and produced in the Fabrique de Soie Artificielle in Tubize (Belgium). The company's production processes have now been completely converted to the processing of imported but still imperfect artificial silk. It came on the market in a twisted and dyed state - especially for embroidery purposes -, gained increasing importance and replaced the manufacture and trade of bobbin thread and trimmings. In Plauen i. V. a sales agency was opened in 1903, which was converted into a branch in 1908.

Thanks to his entrepreneurial foresight and the associated business success, Küttner was one of the largest employers in the region. Like his family generations before, he was very closely connected to his home town of Sehma in the Ore Mountains from birth. He thanked it with donations of various kinds in the form of foundations and the like for the communal as well as for the church area.

After 35 years of activity, Friedrich Küttner retired into private life in 1906 and appointed his third son, Hugo Küttner, to be his successor. On the one hand, this expanded production into a large company over the years. In 1927 the plant in Sehma became the largest processing plant for artificial silk with more than 1000 employees in Europe. On the other hand, in 1908/1909 he built an artificial silk factory in Pirna on the Elbe, with a continuous production line from manufacture to delivery of the finished textile product. The father gave him the help he needed, especially through his contacts across Europe. The artificial silk plant in Pirna became one of the largest plants in Germany, and the products reached top quality at home and abroad until the plant went bankrupt in 1993. Friedrich Richard Küttner died in Sehma in 1929.

Honors

The school in Sehma, which was rebuilt and expanded in 1922/23, was named Friedrich Richard School after him.

literature

• Sehmaer Heimatblatt , issue 05/94
• Festschrift on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the company Fr. Küttner, Sehma i. Erzgeb, Pirna ad E., Sehma / Pirna 1920
• Friedrich Richard Küttner: My Memoirs, 1924
• Klaus Müller, Georg-Heinrich Treitschke: Artificial silk from Pirna. A company in Germany's timescale. GRÜN-WEISS series No. 45, Verlag Gunter Oettel, Görlitz / Zittau 2014, ISBN 978-3-944560-12-0
• Otto Weiss: The company Küttner AG, Sehma and Pirna i. Sa. your beginning, advancement and development. JJ Weber, Leipzig 1932

Web links

• Friedrich Mahn: "Friedrich Küttner A.-G." (accessed March 1, 2015)