Lothar von Faber

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Lothar von Faber

Johann Lothar Freiherr von Faber (born June 12, 1817 in Unterspitzgarten near Stein (Middle Franconia) , † July 26, 1896 in Stein) was a major German industrialist .

Life

Lothar von Faber was born the son of the pen maker Georg Leonhard Faber (1788–1839) and Sophia Kupfer (1790–1845). He was a grandson of Anton Wilhelm Faber. In 1836, his father sent nineteen-year-old Lothar to Paris for three years and six months to London . In Paris he acquired the basics of the Conté method and in London he met the leading pencil manufacturer who had the occurrence of Cumberland graphite under himself. Lothar von Faber gained valuable experience that would later be of use to him.

In 1839, after a three-year apprenticeship in Paris, Lothar von Faber took over the AW Faber pencil factory (now Faber-Castell ) founded in Stein by his great-grandfather Kaspar Faber in 1761 . He replaced his father Georg Leonhard Faber.

The company under Lothar von Faber

Letterhead from the AW Faber company around 1900

When Lothar von Faber took over the small factory after the death of his father, the company was on the verge of ruin. The businessman changed the production process, bought machines and took his brother Johann into the company as a partner. In 1849 he entrusted the youngest brother Eberhard with the management of the first foreign branch in New York . Lothar von Faber himself took over the sales abroad and traveled to numerous countries with his sample collection. Faber introduced significant improvements to pencil manufacturing and made his factory one of the leaders in pencil manufacturing. He set up branches in New York, Paris, London, Berlin and ran agencies in Vienna and Saint Petersburg. He employed over 1200 workers.

The company gained a new boom when Lothar von Faber acquired the right to sole use of the graphite discovered in Eastern Siberia ( Sajan Mountains ) through a contract in 1856 . In addition, he built a factory for slates , blackboard chalk and sponges in Geroldsgrün . In 1864 he was appointed a lifelong member of the Bavarian Reichsrat and in 1881 he was made hereditary baron .

In 1874 he introduced a petition to the Reichstag . This prompted the law on trademark protection , which came into force on May 1, 1875 and initially only protected pictorial trademarks.

Faber married Frederike Albertine Sophie Ottilie Richter on August 1, 1847 (* January 14, 1831; † January 29, 1903). The only son of this connection was Karl Friedrich Wilhelm von Faber (born September 1, 1851, † June 27, 1893), who was married to Bertha Johanna Faber (born April 11, 1856), but died before his father.

Lothar Freiherr von Faber died in Stein on July 26, 1896.

The company first passed into the hands of his widow, then to his granddaughter Sophie Ottilie , who married Count Alexander zu Castell-Rüdenhausen in 1898 and with him founded the family of the Counts von Faber-Castell . This also resulted in the company name A. W. Faber-Castell and the brand name Faber-Castell, which is still valid today .

Social commitment and honors

As early as 1844, Lothar von Faber set up a company health insurance fund (today: BKK Faber-Castell & Partner ). He created a fund for employees who had worked for him for more than 25 years. The establishment of a kindergarten, workers' baths and the factory library rounded off his commitment. The Stein community also participated in the entrepreneur's success. Faber played a key role in the construction of the Protestant church and in the construction of 20  workers' houses in Stein. In 1869 he took part in the establishment of a commercial establishment in Nuremberg. On February 21, 1883, the baron asked the Royal Bavarian State Ministry of the Interior for the approval of a life insurance company, whereupon the Nuremberg Life Insurance Bank was founded the following year. Today's Nürnberger Versicherung with its seat in Nuremberg developed from this.

He and his wife also set up several foundations.

Because of his importance as a large industrialist and his social commitment, he was granted honorary citizenship of the city of Nuremberg in 1861 . The state Lothar von Faber technical college in Nuremberg was named after him.

literature

texts

  • Gothaisches genealogical pocket book of baronial houses, 1895, p.218

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ In the 19th century, Spitzgarten was the name for the part of Stein (due to the later incorporations in the west of Stein, today is relatively small in terms of area), which lies east of the Rednitz. Today the main complex of the Faber-Castell company is located there. Today the Faberschloss and the factory owner's villa are located in Oberspitzgarten .
  2. ↑ Elmar Wadle: Trademark protection and trademark law Part 1: Development. In: Schriften zur Rechtsgeschichte , Heft 14, 1977, p. 249.
personal data
SURNAME Faber, Lothar von
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Faber, Johann Lothar Freiherr von (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German entrepreneur
DATE OF BIRTH June 12, 1817
PLACE OF BIRTH Stein near Nuremberg
DATE OF DEATH July 26, 1896
Place of death Stein near Nuremberg