Kunze fur house

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Kunze fur house

logo
legal form one-man business
founding 1863
resolution 1988
Seat Mannheim
management family
Branch Skinning with fur retailers

Paul Kunze (1976)

The fur house Kunze in Mannheim belonged under its owner Paul Kunze (born June 21, 1902 in Marseille ; † July 6, 1993 in Mannheim) and his son Dieter Kunze (born June 12, 1934 in Mannheim) to the "most famous fur houses in the Federal Republic" .

Company history

Eisenach

On October 2nd, 1863, the furrier Carl Kuntze started his own furrier business in Eisenach , Thuringia. His father was already a hat maker and furrier. He came from a family that had been tailoring since 1718. As was often the case back then, he learned not only to be a furrier, but also to be a hat maker , and even to be a bag maker . Of his five sons, two also became furriers, Wilhelm and Richard Kunze. Wilhelm Kunze († 1945) stayed in Eisenach and took over his father's business. The renowned Eisenach business was run by Wilhelm until his death in 1945. Whose only son, Herbert Kunze was killed in the war, and so the wife and daughter took over Lieselotte the business, both had also learned the furriers. Mother and daughter had to give up the Eisenach business in 1960 because of the "current conditions there" in the GDR. Both moved to Mannheim to work in the Kunze house there.

Mannheim

From left: Dieter Kunze, Wolfgang Joop , fur maker Heinz Müller (1979)
Award-winning broad- tailed complete (1961)
Roland Kunze (right) receives a gold medal (1981)

Richard Kunze went to Mannheim after his years of traveling , which had taken him to Leipzig, Paris and Marseille, and opened a furrier shop under his name in 1903 in Stadtquadrat M 1 .

At that time Mannheim was an unusually fast developing commercial, industrial and port city and the Richard Kunze company also grew rapidly. He soon moved into the former town hall colonnades and, in 1918, into his own building on Paradeplatz, which has now been converted into a commercial building. The son Paul Kunze was born in Marseille nine months before moving to Germany. Paul also learned the craft of furrier in his father's business. After his apprenticeship began in 1918, he continued his education in Lausanne, Leipzig, Berlin and Paris. In 1924 he passed the master craftsman's examination with the grade “very good” and rejoined his father's company.

After his father's death in 1941, Paul Kunze took over the management of the company located on Mannheim's Paradeplatz . During the Second World War (1939-1945) the commercial building was destroyed, only the single-storey part could still be used until 1949. It took until 1953 for the house to be rebuilt on five floors.

In addition to running his exclusive business, Paul Kunze was extremely involved in the fur industry. He was the founder and from 1947 to 1966 chairman of the fashion committee in the Kürschnerverband, a task that his son Dieter continued in the fourth generation. Paul and later Dieter Kunze passed on their knowledge in lectures to the students of the Federal Fur School in Frankfurt am Main. From 1950 to 1960 Paul Kunze held the post of second chairman of the central association of the furrier trade , he was a board member of the quality protection association of furriers, from 1953 he was chairman of the advertising association Mannheim. In addition to numerous other awards for the fur fashion created in its own atelier, the Kunze company regularly won a gold medal at the annual performance competition for the furrier trade . In his private life, Paul Kunze was interested in art and a patron of many artists. On his 70th birthday, Mannheimer Morgen wrote: “Admittedly, not everyone has his fur coat in their closet. But in Mannheim everyone knows who Paul Kunze is ”. In 1977 he received the Bloomaulorden , the highest civic honor awarded in Mannheim. He received the Federal Cross of Merit on Ribbon and in 1974 the Federal Cross of Merit, First Class. In 1984 he handed over the management of the business to his son Dieter Kunze.

The Kunze fashion shows were each a social event in Mannheim. When the company celebrated its 75th anniversary in 1978, the show put together and moderated by Dieter Kunze was expected to have around 800 guests; 2,800 visitors registered. 25 years later, for the 100th anniversary, a "small cultural-historical study" was carried out, which reproduced the past fashions in fur and textiles, "The fur fashion in the course of 100 years". The collection was acquired by Frankfurter Rauchwaren-Messe GmbH in 1964. It was shown at the Frankfurt fur fair in 1964 and was later available to fur companies for fashion shows for a small fee. In addition to numerous German and Swiss companies, it was presented in Vienna, London, Liverpool, Birmingham and Brussels, and in 1983 even in Dallas , USA. Most of the models were also included in the industry documentary film “The Second Skin”. Part of the collection was still at the German Fur Institute, Frankfurt am Main, in 2018.

Dieter Kunze closed his business in the winter of 1987/88. As he has been since his father, he was known throughout his professional life for his flair for good fur design. In 1988, the Scandinavian fur animal breeder association Saga entrusted him with the management of their newly created design center, in which fashion designers are familiarized with the processing of fur. In 1991 Dieter Kunze retired to his farm in Helsinge near Valby , about 40 kilometers from Copenhagen.

Like his father, Dieter Kunze was also active as a patron of art. In December 2010 he opened an exhibition at the Mannheim Art Association “in his last official act as director of the Rudi Baerwind Foundation” (and as its co-founder) .

The children Miriam and Dieter Roland started their own business in 1988 under the company name Kunze + Kunze in Mannheim with two fur shops, a small shop with an area of ​​55 square meters and two shop windows and a main store with 220 square meters. They designed the small shop as a teenager with galvanized steel girders, wooden floors and white wallpaper and bales of straw wrapped in plastic as seating. In addition to the designer furs on offer, Miriam had designed her own leather collection. The larger shop, previously a furniture store, was given the words “fur” and “spontaneous” as an addition to the company logo. The workshop was also located here. A sculptor from Karlsruhe was also involved in this facility, with the materials wood, steel and glass. In addition to the fur collection of around 200 pieces, there was a textile collection as an addition. With a spectacular fashion show against the backdrop of an aircraft hangar, Miriam, 26 years old, and Roland, 28 years old, in the year they founded their business “with a different coat”, also drew the attention of a young clientele with their funny colored creations.

  • Fashion show in 1980

  • In the front left, fur designer Dieter Zoern , next to Dieter Kunze

  • On the catwalk: fur models from Dieter Kunze

Works

Historical fur collection: mole jacket, represents the time around 1910
  • Paul Kunze: The history of the furrier trade. In: The furrier. 1953.
  • Paul Kunze, Friedrich Hering: The history of the tobacco trade. In: The furrier. 1953.
  • Dieter Kunze: Kürschner specialist technology, present + future. In: 20 years of the Federal Fur School - the start of a new generation. 1988.

Web links

Commons : Pelzhaus Kunze  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Without indication of the author: Paul Kunze dead. In: Winckelmann Pelzmarkt. No. 1200, Frankfurt am Main, 6 August 1993, p. 4.
  2. ↑ a b c d Without indication of the author: 75 years of Kunze Mannheim. In: Winckelmann Pelzmarkt. No. 441, Frankfurt am Main, June 2, 1978, p. 9.
  3. ↑ a b The fur fashion in the course of 100 years . Richard Kunze anniversary publication. Mannheim 1963.
  4. ↑ a b c nk / mac: Samples of Palatinate charm and citizenship. Paul Kunze - one of the active men - has a birthday. In: Mannheimer Morgen. June 21, 1972, p. 5.
  5. ↑ "La": Paul Kunze's 50th anniversary as a master craftsman. In: Pelz International. January 1975.
  6. ↑ a b Without naming the author: Paul Kunze is celebrating his 85th birthday. In: Winckelmann Pelzmarkt. No. 903, Frankfurt am Main, June 12, 1987, p. 8.
  7. ↑ Without an author's name: Great response to the Kunze anniversary. In: Winckelmann Pelzmarkt. No. 442, June 2, 1978, Frankfurt am Main, p. 11.
  8. ^ Willi Treusch: fair and association chronicle of 25 years…. Manuscript 1972, p. 21.
  9. ↑ Title page and listing of the collection "Fur fashion in the course of 100 years"
  10. ↑ Without an author's name: German fur in Dallas. In: Winckelmann Pelzmarkt. No. 717, Frankfurt am Main, October 21, 1983, p. 9.
  11. ↑ Without the author's name: Saga Design Center with Dieter Kunze. In: Fur report Kurt Lindemann. Oberursel, February 2, 1988, p. 15.
  12. ↑ Without indication of the author: Dieter Kunze 60. In: Winckelmann Pelzmarkt. No. 1242, Frankfurt am Main, June 10, 1994, p. 3.
  13. ↑ www.mannheim.de: Rudi Baerwind 1910–1982: Exhibition at the Mannheim Art Association . December 14, 2010. Last accessed April 9, 2018.
  14. ↑ Annika Wind: Uncomfortable but creative lateral thinker . In: Mannheimer Morgen. August 15, 2009, p. 31 (PDF file). Last accessed April 9, 2018.
  15. ↑ UBF (Ute B. Fröhlich): Kunze and Kunze - the double twin. In: Fur report Kurt Lindemann. Oberursel February 1, 1988, p. 15.
  16. ↑ Without an author's name: "Follow me" Kunze-Jugend presented in the aircraft hangar. In: Fur report Kurt Lindemann. Oberursel, November 4, 1985, p. 14.
  17. ↑ www.kuerschner-innung.de (PDF file). Last accessed April 9, 2018.