Christophe-Philippe Oberkampf
Christophe- Philippe Oberkampf (actually Christopher Philip Oberkampf, born June 11, 1738 in Wiesbaden Bach, today Blaufelden in the district of Schwäbisch Hall, † October 4, 1815 in Jouy -en- Josas near Versailles ) was a French textile manufacturer and textile printers of German origin.
Life and work
Already Oberkampf father Jacob Philipp Oberkampf (1714-1781) was considered as a dyer and calico printer with the family in Switzerland and pursued a Indienne factory in Aarau, later in Othmarsingen near Lenzburg and founded the KBC; other family members were employed in this industry.
Even the age of eleven was sent to Basel and Mulhouse in Alsace to cotton goods in the teaching Christophe- Philippe.
In 1758 he went with his brother Frederick to Paris, where they worked first as engravers. For fourteen months later, he became head of a Indienne factory in Jouy -en- Josas near Versailles, which he took over in 1759 with a French partner as Sarrazin Demaraize, Oberkampf & Co. The company has been gradually expanded and converted from a factory to a mechanically operated factory.
The company recorded a steady upswing and included already in 1764 an area of about 18,000 m²; 1774 worked around 900 workers for Oberkampf. Through constant communication with experts in Switzerland, Alsace and England, where he traveled often, and continual improvements to the colors and machinery, Oberkampf soon enjoyed the reputation of one of the best manufacturers of printed cotton cloth in Europe; the most famous textile designers of her time working for him, many of the designs are textile in Paris today at the Musée de la mode et du.
As German and Protestant double outsider in Catholic France, Oberkampf yet added well into the French society: In his first marriage he married the daughter of a Parisian wine merchant, in second marriage a shipowner 's daughter from Caen; since 1770, he was a French citizen. 1783, the company " royal factory ", Oberkampf in 1787 by Louis XVI was. raised to the peerage.
In 1789 he paid off his partner and occupied key positions in the company gradually with family members, he gradually made partakers. His brother Friedrich had already since 1769 Indienne own factory in nearby Corbeil -Essonnes. His nephew Samuel Widmer ran a chemical laboratory in Paris, which was a leader in the field of synthetic pigment production since 1791.
The years of the French Revolution did not harm Oberkampf: Because he always adequately paid his workers treated loyal and had brought the town prosperity, but also by political maneuverability, he and his company came unscathed by the ravages of time.
He could even expand its manufacturing plants and a cotton mill - complement and a weaving mill in Essonnes - the first in France at all. So he became financially independent in the days of fines imposed by Napoleon 's continental blockade of English products such as cotton. At times, employed Oberkampf around 2000 workers.
In 1790 he became mayor of Jouy -en- Josas, under Napoleon Bonaparte in 1800 member of the General Council of the department of Seine- et- Oise. An appointment as a senator, he refused, however.
Napoleon, a penchant for successful movers and outsiders - as he was also one - had Oberkampf visited several times in Jouy -en- Josas and personally pinned him to the cross of the Legion of Honour. 1806 was the producer at the National Exhibition in Paris a gold medal, in 1809 a prize for the " most useful industrial companies in France. "
With the downfall of Napoleon and the descent of the company Oberkampf started: The aging patriarch, the company could no longer hold together and increasingly was in the red. After his death in 1815 and the suicide of his successor Samuel Widmer, the company came into foreign hands and was finally closed in 1844 after the bankruptcy. Center of the French Indienne - production Rouen was in Normandy.
Aftermath
Oberkampf applicable in the economic history research as one of the pioneers of the period of transition from the manufactory to the factory system.
In Paris, a street and a metro station are named after him. The town of Jouy -en- Josas honored him with a bust. He is buried in the garden of his house, where today the Conservatory of the City. In urban museum him a separate room with original fabric swatches dedicated.
To date, Toile de Jouy ( Jouystoff ) is a synonym for high-quality printed cotton fabric and in the memory closely associated with the name Oberkampf in France.