Postage & Fix
| Furniture factory Portois & Fix Lohnverarbeitung GmbH
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| legal form | Sole proprietorship (Austria) |
| founding | 1881 |
| Seat | Vienna |
| management | Brigitte Engelhardt |
| Number of employees | 3 |
| Branch | Furniture industry |
Portois & Fix was an important furniture maker and interior designer in Austria-Hungary . The company was founded in 1881 by the Viennese master upholsterer Anton Fix (1846–1918) and the French (according to other sources Brussels) August Portois (1841–1895).
history
Johann Fix founded a wallpapering workshop at Heumühlgasse 20 in Vienna's 4th district in 1842 . His son Anton took over the business in 1872. In the company's heyday, Fix fitted out apartments in the Ringstrasse buildings . Fix received several awards at the World Exhibition in 1873 .
In 1881 Anton Fix and the furniture manufacturer August Portois merged into one company and were thus able to offer complete home furnishings. Furniture production was officially registered in 1884.
In 1883 the company was represented at the International Electrical Exhibition in Vienna. Orders from Germany, Russia, Turkey, Switzerland, Italy and Egypt followed. The two entrepreneurs opened branches in London, Milan, Paris, Wroclaw, Budapest, Cairo, Karlsbad, Bombay, Bucharest, Constantinople and Turin. In 1892 a “garde meuble” was set up in Stadlau , where customers could store their furniture and have it repaired. Customers were the imperial court, imperial and royal highnesses, the nobility, industrialists, the upper middle class and companies. In its heyday, the company employed around 700 people. August Portois retired from the company in 1892 and returned to France, he died in 1895.
The architect Max Fabiani built the company headquarters from 1897 to 1901 at Ungargasse 59–61, in the 3rd district of Vienna ( Portois & Fix house ). For its time, this building had a spectacular facade with uniform tiles that were laid without ornamentation. The young architect caused a scandal with the controversial architectural style.
From 1890, Portois & Fix worked closely with artists, especially later with the Wiener Werkstätte . With the execution of designs by Otto Wagner , Max Fabiani , Koloman Moser and Josef Hoffmann , Portois & Fix belonged to the greats of "Viennese Modernism" around 1900. At this time the company had 700 employees. Much of the work from this period was presented in arts and crafts exhibitions and published in arts and crafts magazines. The furniture from the Wiener Werkstätte can now be seen in various museums and can often be found in auction houses.
Anton's son Robert Fix (1877–1945) had also made a name for himself in the company as a furniture designer; He worked for the company until his father's death in 1918. After Anton Fix passed away, Robert devoted himself to painting, studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna and designed many things. With the end of the monarchy, however, the heyday of Portois & Fix slowly came to an end. After the First World War , the company still produced furniture.
For years, Portois & Fix was managed by other shareholders. From 1959 the company was registered as a sole proprietorship under Liselotte Simon (born August 2, 1919) and from 1974 under the management of her daughter Brigitte Engelhardt. The address was at Barichgasse 30 in the 3rd district of Vienna. The company specialized in commissioned work such as the Burgtheater, State Opera, Parliament, Spanish Riding School, branches of Creditanstalt and other banks, Augarten Porcelain, WIFI, ÖMV, ORF and the royal palace of Amman.
On June 16, 2004 the company was converted into a sole proprietorship, but today only repair work is carried out on existing facilities.
In the summer of 2008, the museum in the Österreichische Postsparkasse presented an exhibition on Portois & Fix in cooperation with the Imperial Furniture Collection .
Interior fittings from Portois & Fix (extract)
- Café-Konditorei Demel , 1., Kohlmarkt 14
- Stadtbahn - Pavilion of the kuk Allerhöchsten Hof (architecture: Otto Wagner ) at the Hietzing underground station, 13th, Schönbrunner Schlossstrasse
- Equipment of the ship Circivich Trieste
- Restaurant and delicatessen shop Zum Schwarzen Kameel , 1., Bognergasse 5, based on a design by Adolf Loos
- Main shop of the chamber jeweler Rozet & Fischmeister , 1., Kohlmarkt 11
- Hunting lodge in Mayerling , Lower Austria , for Crown Prince Rudolf, who died there in 1889
- Main business of the former textile company E. Braun & Co. , 1., Graben 8
- Café-Konditorei Gerstner , 1., Kärntner Straße 13–15
- Hotel Sacher , 1., Philharmonikerstraße 4
- Hotel Imperial , 1., Kärntner Ring 16
- Jeweler AE Köchert's shop , 1., Neuer Markt 15
- Men's outfitter Knize , 1., Graben 13, together with Adolf Loos
- Interior of the Hotel Astoria, 1., Kärntner Straße 32
- Loosbar ( American Bar ) , 1., Kärntner Durchgang 10, together with Adolf Loos, 1909
- Hotel Metternich, Baden near Vienna , 1910
- Café Bristol, Baden near Vienna, 1912
- Altkettenhof Castle in Schwechat , Lower Austria
- Schwadorf Castle , Lower Austria (1926)
- Palais Salm-Vetsera , 3., Salesianergasse 11 (demolished around 1916)
- Motor ship "Oesterreich" on Lake Constance, 1928
literature
- Stefan Üner: Portois & Fix , in: Wagner, Hoffmann, Loos and the furniture design of Viennese modernism. Artist, client, producer , ed. v. Eva B. Ottillinger, exhib. Kat. Hofmobiliendepot, Vienna March 20 - October 7, 2018, pp. 145–147, ISBN 978-3-205-20786-3 .
- Parisian esprit and Viennese modernism - the company Portois & Fix. With contributions by Eva B. Ottillinger, Peter Haiko, Ulrike Scholda and Bernadette Decristoforo. Exhibition catalog, 2008.
- Bernadette Decristoforo: Portois & Fix - A Viennese furnishing company of modernism, diploma thesis Vienna 2009
- Vera J. Behal: Art Nouveau furniture. Collection of the Austrian Museum of Applied Arts. Prestel Verlag, Vienna 1988, ISBN 3-7913-0547-6 .
- Ingrid Haslinger: Customer - Kaiser. The story of the former imperial and royal purveyors. Schroll, Vienna 1996, ISBN 3-85202-129-4 .
- Dorothee Müller: Classics of modern furniture design. Otto Wagner, Adolf Loos, Josef Hoffmann, Koloman Moser. Keysersche Verlagsbuchhandlung, Vienna 1984, ISBN 3-87405-166-8 .
- Maria Rennhofer: Koloman Moser - Life and Work 1868-1918. Brandstätter, Vienna 2002, ISBN 3-85498-123-6 .
Individual evidence
- ↑ Little Chronicle. (Deaths.). In: Neue Freie Presse , Abendblatt, June 20, 1895, p. 1 (online at ANNO ).
- ^ Parisian esprit and Viennese modernism: The company Portois & Fix. (No longer available online.) Wagner: Werk - Museum Postsparkasse, archived from the original on September 12, 2011 ; Retrieved March 10, 2009 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ On the opening of the Herzoghof. In: Badener Zeitung , April 27, 1910, p. 4, center. (Online at ANNO ).
- ↑ Local news. - Opening of the Café Bristol. In: Badener Zeitung , April 6, 1912, p. 7 (online at ANNO ).
Web links
- The Portois & Fix house on Ungargasse. District Museum Landstrasse, archived from the original on October 12, 2013 ; accessed on January 3, 2018 .
- Voglhofer Antiquitaeten | Biography - Portois & Fix