The sunny side of life: WEISHÄUPL

Text by Atrium Magazin für Wohnkultur, Design und Architektur
Schlieren, Switzerland
02.07.19

Three key ingredients go into making WEISHÄUPL furniture: loving attention to detail, painstaking care and a passion for craftsmanship.

Stefanie Weishäüpl-Ehrl, Philipp Weishäupl

It’s exactly 50 years since Weishäupl was founded. Together with Bob Arnold, who he knew from student days, Oskar F. Weishäupl started out in a small workshop in Stephanskirchen developing “modular and inexpensive furniture for the young and young at heart and for mobile living”.

The classic: made of hardwood and acrylic fabric, the umbrellas are available in various shapes and sizes

The development of its first sun umbrella in 1974 pointed the little business in Upper Bavaria in a new direction. The inspiration for it came to Oskar F. Weishäupl at the Piazza delle Erbe in Verona: “My first, spontaneous thought was: why should a market woman be the only one to spend the whole day protected from the sun and rain under such a big, beautiful umbrella?” On the face of it, transferring a market umbrella to a private setting might seem like a simple idea, but for Weishäupl it marked a watershed.

50 years of craftsmanship: every single piece of furniture is made at the workshops in Stephanskirchen (1-3); Colourful variety: all the fabrics are stitched to perfection in the company’s own sewing workshop (4)

The founder’s vision of “outdoor living” continues to shape the company to this very day. The launch of the Classic series in the early 1980s was another milestone in the firm’s history. Weishäupl’s first garden furniture owed its success to the use of teak in combination with a timeless design language – which is why Classic remains an important part of the collection even today.

In the years that followed, the company continued to launch designs that went on to achieve iconic status – including the Cabin Chair, which is based on a director’s chair, the beach cabana with multicoloured fabric, and elegant teak furniture. Today, Weishäupl Werkstätten is in the capable and personable hands of the second generation: Stefanie Weishäupl-Ehrl is in charge of sales and marketing, her brother Philipp is responsible for development and production. With their different strengths and skills, the siblings are the perfect complement for one another and continue to uphold the values their father defined 50 years ago: “There’s only one thing that makes our furniture so special: loving attention to detail, painstaking care and a passion for craftsmanship. Hearts and hands can accomplish what machines never can: they give things a soul. A soul that customers can sense in every single product that leaves our workshops.”

Top: Modern comforts: the daybed from the Flow series is made of powder-coated aluminium. Above:Timeless: made of teak and steel, the Classic line was Weishäupl’s first garden furniture range and remains a bestseller to this very day