A continuous thread: Fischbacher 1819 turns 200
Brand story by Jasmin Jouhar
Berlin, Allemagne
12.03.19
Weaving its magic for 200 years, Fischbacher 1819 celebrates this milestone with new collections and the opening of an exhibition space in Munich.
2019 is a big year for Fischbacher 1819 as the Swiss textile manufacturer celebrates its 200th birthday. Founded in 1819 in St Gallen, the family-run business is now in its sixth generation of operation. This continuity is no coincidence, of course, and as CEO Michael Fischbacher confirms, ‘Each generation has taken pleasure in carrying the legacy forward.’ The key has been about balance: the balance between holding fast to tradition and the courage to reinvent oneself.
The company is celebrating its bicentennial with current fabric collections and – right on time for the Münchner Stoff Frühling trade fair – the opening of a new exhibition space in Munich. In their Gabelsbergerstrasse 9 showroom, Fischbacher 1819 is putting the variety of its fabric collections on display. The central focus is the JUBILEE collection, which at once brings to life the opulence of past eras and celebrates the firm’s innovative strength.
Like a shower of confetti, around 150 sequins in three different shapes and colours are hand-sewn onto each linear metre of the pure silk JUBILEE fabric
Like a shower of confetti, around 150 sequins in three different shapes and colours are hand-sewn onto each linear metre of the pure silk JUBILEE fabric
×Venturing into uncharted territory has been part of the company ethos for 200 years. The founder, Christian Fischbacher, collected woven fabrics from peasant women and brought them to market in St Gallen. Profiting from the textile production that flourished in the region, the business grew quickly, and the succeeding generations have remained true to St Gallen to this day. ‘Every generation has formed and further developed the company in its own way,’ explains Michael Fischbacher. ‘This in itself reflects the design freedom that we carry in our DNA, right alongside our passion for textiles and our curiosity about new markets.’
Thus the product line, too, has continuously adapted to the needs of customers and market developments. In the 1960s, for example, with the apparel industry gaining in importance, the company jointly developed clothing fabrics with Parisian haute couture houses. Twenty years later, the focus is on home textiles – and here again, not just on selling fabrics, but also on designing them in-house. In 2019, the firm’s creative energy has lost none of its intensity. Indeed, it is what Fischbacher 1819 stands for.
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