Kaspar Faber

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Kaspar Faber (born March 31, 1730 in Langenzenn , † 1784 in Stein near Nuremberg ) was a German entrepreneur. He founded the well-known stationery company Faber-Castell .

biography

After leaving school, Faber trained as a carpenter. In 1758 Faber arrived from Langenzenn in the community of Stein near Nuremberg . In the same year his son Anton Wilhelm was born.

Two years later he finally settled here as a carpenter and opened a small workshop in 1761, in which he made " Bleyweißstefften "; a typical field of activity of the carpentry trade at the time. Efforts to make pencil making a trade fair to the guild failed because of the lack of approval from the Nuremberg Rugsamt , which was responsible for the trade supervision in the imperial city and its surrounding area.

To prevent these pencils, originally made of pure graphite, from crumbling and breaking so easily, around 1771 he made the first experiments with ground graphite, which he mixed with sulfur, antimony and binding resins. However, he did not make use of the technique of gluing pens into wooden sticks, which had long been known in Nuremberg.

Production was still on a small scale during his lifetime. With his small craft business, he laid the foundation for a pencil manufacture that his great-grandson led to a global brand in the mid-19th century.

Honors

progeny

  • Anton Wilhelm Faber (1758–1819), after the death of his father the company operated under his name “AW Faber”. It is said that his wife went to the market in Nuremberg with the wicker basket to sell pencils.
    • Georg Leonhard Faber (1788–1839), ⚭ Sophia Kupfer (1790–1845); Georg Leonhard took over the company in 1810
      • Johann Lothar Freiherr von Faber (1817–1896), ⚭ Ottilie Richter (1831–1903); Lothar took over the business in 1839, marketed the pencils for the first time under the brand name "AW Faber", introduced the hexagonal shape of the pencils and founded his own sales system with branches in Europe, the USA and India. In recognition of his economic and social merits, he was given the personal nobility in 1862, in 1881 he was raised to thestatus ofhereditary baron , in 1865 he was appointed lifelong and in 1889 hereditary Imperial Councilor of the Crown of Bavaria .
        • Wilhelm Freiherr von Faber (1851–1893), ⚭ his cousin Bertha Faber (1856–1940); Wilhelm was Lothar von Faber's only son, worked in the company from 1873 and was determined to succeed him from 1877. The villa was built for him next to the "Old Castle" built in 1872. He suffered the death of his sons and after his untimely death left three daughters in addition to his wife. Lothar therefore had to continue running the company until his own death.
          • Lothar Freiherr von Faber ; died between the ages of 3 and 4.
          • Alfred Wilhelm Freiherr von Faber ; died between the ages of 3 and 4
          • Ottilie Freiin von Faber (1877–1944), ⚭ 1898 Count Alexander zu Castell-Rüdenhausen (1866–1928); With the death of her two brothers, she became the oldest girl and became the heir to the company. After Lothar's death, the inheritance was administered by his wife until Ottilie's marriage. Lothar von Faber had decreed in his will that future generations would always have to integrate the name "Faber" in the new common family name. With royal approval, Alexander zu Castell-Rüdenhausen took on the name "Graf von Faber-Castell" when he married on February 2, 1898and renounced his rights to the Castell family. With the marriage, the new family line of the Counts of Faber-Castell and the brand name " Faber-Castell "arose. 18 years later Ottilie separated from Alexander and married Philipp von Brand zu Neidstein .
          • Hedwig Freiin von Faber (1882–1937), ⚭ Wolfgang Graf zu Castell-Rüdenhausen (1875–1930)
            • Alexandra Countess of Castell-Rüdenhausen (1904–1961), ⚭ 1927 Friedrich Christian Prince of Schaumburg-Lippe (1906–1983)
            • Wulf-Diether Graf zu Castell-Rüdenhausen (1905–1980), ⚭ I. 1928 (divorced 1941) Hildegard Princess von Hanau (1903–1990), II. 1942 Luise Ullrich (1910–1985)
      • Johann Faber (1819–1901), brother of the previous one, 1847–1878 partner in the company ⚭ 1848 Käte Meißner
      • Johann Eberhard Faber (1822–1879), ⚭ Jenny Haag (* 1836); Eberhard went to the USA in the turbulent year of 1848, where he opened a stationery store in New York at 133 William Street the following year (moved to Broadway 718/720 in 1877). He realized thatFlorida red cedar was ideal for pencils and began exporting them to Stein in 1852. In 1861 he founded his own pencil production on the East River in New York. After this burned down in 1872, he built a larger factory in Brooklyn.
        • Bertha Faber (1856–1940) ⚭ her cousin Wilhelm Freiherr von Faber (1851–1893)
        • Sophia Faber (born August 14, 1857)
        • John Eberhard Faber (born March 14, 1859); together with his brother Lothar founded the pencil and eraser factory "Eberhard Faber" in Neumarkt in the Upper Palatinate in 1922 , which from 1978 temporarily belonged to the Staedtler Group .
        • Lothar W. Faber (born September 27, 1861)
        • Louise Faber (born January 2, 1866)
        • Rosie Faber (born February 3, 1871)

literature

  • Gerhard Hirschmann: Stein near Nuremberg - history of an industrial place. Frankenverlag Spindler: Nuremberg 1962, 259 pp.
  • Gerhard Hirschmann: Stein - from industrial location to city. Extended and continued 2nd edition, Lorenz Spindler Verlag: Nürnberg 1991, 313 pp.
  • Asta Scheib : An ornament in your home: the story of Ottilie von Faber-Castell . 8th edition. Rowohlt, 2009, ISBN 3-499-33172-1 , p. 768 .
  • Rochus von Liliencron:  Faber, Kaspar . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 6, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1877, p. 497.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ in Hirschmann, 1991, the spelling of the first name is always Caspar
  2. ↑ Hirschmann, 1991, p. 102
personal data
SURNAME Faber, Kaspar
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German entrepreneur
DATE OF BIRTH March 31, 1730
PLACE OF BIRTH Langenzenn
DATE OF DEATH 1784
Place of death Stein near Nuremberg