A very shady story: Weishäupl

The season’s first rays of sunshine have a magnetic pull, drawing us outdoors the moment they arrive. Barefoot, we follow the spring sensations over the wood planks to the deckchair, raise the striped umbrella, coffee close at hand, and let our spirit wander. With the family or alone, with book or laptop on our knee, under the cover of the light cloth that submerges the sun in vibrant colours. Ah, linger a while, lovely moment …

Why not, thought Oskar F. Weishäupl in the early 1970s: ‘Why should only a market woman be able to spend the whole day under such a big, beautiful umbrella, protected from the sun and rain, as if in a little house? Why shouldn’t other people be able to enjoy the shelter of such a roof out in the open air?’

When the trained precision mechanic and industrial engineer founded his Kunstgewerbliche Werkstätte (‘Arts and crafts workshops’) in Stephanskirchen, Bavaria, in 1969, furniture was reserved for roofed-over spaces. In 1974, inspired by his open-air realisation on the Piazza delle Erbe in Verona, Italy, Weishäupl developed an umbrella made of wood and canvas that would become a company milestone.

Thus, the vision of a relaxed life in the outdoors was born. The umbrella was followed by additional furniture that could simply be left outside in the wind and the weather. The Classic series, in which the company employed teakwood for the first time, is still among its bestselling lines. To mark this anniversary, it is now being presented in a special edition in graphite grey.

Oskar’s daughter Stefanie Weishäupl-Ehrl and her brother Philipp Weishäupl passionately carry on the founder’s devotion to genuine craftsmanship, utmost quality and love for detail – the origin and philosophy of the firm. This is tradition in the truest sense, as Philipp Weishäupl confirms: ‘As the second generation of this fifty-year-old company, we’re proud to be producing umbrellas and furniture in Bavaria to the highest standards today.’

The siblings are maintaining the traditional craft and enriching it with new ideas, materials and techniques. ‘We aren’t closed off to progress,’ says Stefanie Weishäupl-Ehrl. ‘The one doesn’t exclude the other. But it’s only the heart and the hand that give each piece a soul.’ Today, some sixty people work in the factory and the sewing workshop in Stephanskirchen, near Chiemsee – also known as the ‘Bavarian Sea’.

The company’s designs remain focused on wood, as the natural material ages in an especially beautiful way. Along with native species, the company uses, in particular, teak from Indonesia, because logging there is subject to strict government control. ‘The issue of sustainability is of major importance to me in this regard,’ says Weishäupl-Ehrl. ‘A classic teakwood bench will last for a hundred years.’

The furniture includes elements made of stainless steel and aluminium, but it is, above all, the canvas and the upholstery materials that lend the wood furniture its Mediterranean flair. The fabrics are made of 100 per cent polyacrylic fibres and are woven and waterproofed by specialised companies with a decades-long sailmaking tradition. The umbrella with the multicoloured stripes has become an emblem of pure summer feeling. It grew out of a creative mood that jointly struck father and daughter. When the company presented the brightly hued umbrellas at the spoga garden fair in 2002, it was initially derided by the industry.

Fortunately, a few brave souls gave the colourful cheerfulness a chance. Shortly thereafter, sales shot skyward, and the umbrella is still radiating charm on the garden horizon. The new striped design is also a great look on the popular Cabin Chairs, as well as on a bath towel which the company has brought out in a new edition for the anniversary, and which cuts a fine figure at pool-, lake- or seaside.

Whether in the New Hampton, Chill, Balance or Slope series, or in collections made of aluminium, like Flow, Ahoi and Minu, the pioneering spirit of Oskar F. Weishäupl has become an indispensable part of the zeitgeist. This spirit is captured in timelessly beautiful forms that can be flexibly combined, that transform the garden and terrace into living spaces, and that accompany one throughout life, on sunny as well as rainy days. So let’s go outdoors and join in the celebration!


© Architonic