On 20th May 1849 Josef Wiesner becomes officially registered in his guild as master carpenter in Polling.

In 1851 Josef Wiesner is admitted to the local community of Altheim and thus is accepted as citizen of that community and subsequently recognized as master carpenter of Altheim.

In 1921 Rudolf Wiesner and Sebastian Hager take over the carpenter’s shop of their father Franz Wiesner and, in order to specialize as cabinet-makers, they redesign the joinery which is adjacent to the carpenter’s shop. With this they create the basis for the production of furniture.

1849 - 1889: The carpentry business of Josef Wiesner

On 20th May 1849 Josef Wiesner is accepted and recognized as master by his guild. He presents a certificate which was signed on 18th August 1848 and he then is master carpenter of Polling, where he purchased the right on 7th April 1849.

In 1851 Josef Wiesner is admitted to the local community of Altheim and thus is accepted as citizen of that community and becomes master carpenter of Altheim. He is officially registered by his guild on 1st June 1851. This is confirmed by an entry in the register, where all the masters which were presented are listed.

The situation on the market is not at all easy. His commissions are mainly repair work and his competitor Andreas Schreckeneder, who is well-established at the time, takes on the few new houses which are built.

In 1857 Josef Wiesner is given the honorary position as chairman of the carpentry guild in Altheim. He remains in that office until the old system of guilds is replaced by new trading regulations.

On 12th January 1883 a big fire destroys the house of Josef Wiesner and those of many others. He rebuilds his house together with his son in the same year. In 1889 Franz Wiesner finally takes over the carpentry business of his father.

1889 - 1921: The carpentry business of Franz Wiesner

From 1889 to 1921 the business is constantly growing in size. First, Franz Wiesner buys the meadow adjacent to his property and uses it as additional space for his business. The wood needed for barns and trusses is chopped and processed there. Only then it is brought to the site and put up.

Up to 45 carpenters are working on that yard during the following years. Their main customers are the farmers of the surrounding parishes. They have a lot of business when big fires rage and sometimes even destroy whole parishes.

Hütter is the most important competitor and at the time they have more customers than the business of Franz Wiesner. That is why the latter needs to be more creative in order to develop new markets. Therefore Franz Wiesner purchases old houses, renovates and sells them. In 1898 he builds a barn on his yard and uses it to store waste wood, which he sells and thus has created a continuous source of income.

In 1904 Franz Wiesner makes an investment whose value will only be known years later: he buys three hectares of wood in Gaugsham.

The first step towards the building business is taken in 1906, when he buys the garden belonging to the post, which up until then he had only leased, and also a part of the post barn from the postmaster Julius von Poth. He can thus extend his yard.

In 1908 he builds a shopfloor for a joinery on the grounds of the new garden. The workshop is equipped with a swing saw and a plane that he operates with a petrol engine, as electricity is not available at the time. Together with a store room for building material, the joinery forms the basis for the building business.

In 1910, Franz Wiesner builds a wood store room adjacent to the joinery, where he can store dry wood.

An important move towards expansion is made in 1911 as Franz Wiesner buys a mechanized saw. It is a wooden construction produced by the company ‘Esterer’ in Altötting. The saw is operated by a mobile steam-driven engine (a so-called Druschlokomobil), which has a capacity of approximately 6 hp. It uses about 20m³ of firewood a day.



The 1920s: years of expansion
United at the time: cabinet-making and timber construction

In 1921 Rudolf Wiesner and Sebastian Hager take over the company of their father. Sebastian Hager registers the bricklayer and carpenter trade, Rudolf Wiesner gets a building concession. Together they form the general partnership ‘Rudolf Wiesner und Sebastian Hager Baugeschäft und Holzindustrie’ (building business and timber industry), hereafter referred to as ‘Wiesner and Hager’.

At the time of the takeover the enterprise is a pure building and carpentry business. With the extension and transformation of a part of the joinery into a cabinet-making business, Rudolf Wiesner and Sebastian Hager create the basis for a second line of their business: the production of furniture.

We can only speculate how and why Rudolf Wiesner and Sebastian Hager decide to invest into the production of furniture. Are the reasons for this decision far-sightedness, a spontaneous idea or just pure chance?

A bit of insight into this matter offers a remark by Theresia Wiesner in 1980, made during an interview for the Wiesner-Hager company paper. ‘The existing joinery, which focused on the production of huts during the First World War, needed orders. Therefore it was obvious to add a cabinet-making business’.

At the beginning the cabinet-making business is rather modest. Three cabinet-makers and one unskilled worker make furniture of a very simple design.

According to nearly all sources which form the basis for this chronicle, the first large order is made by the amateur theatre association of Altheim. The new auditorium needs to be equipped with folding chairs and for the first time Wiesner and Hager make a name for themselves for furnishings.

During the starting time of their business Wiesner and Hager also have orders for many new hotels and accommodations for the visitors and patients of the health resort Bad Schallerbach, which is experiencing an upturn.

In 1922 Wiesner and Hager gain first experience, even though not extensive, in the equipping of cinemas. A certain Johann Jansky opens the first cinema in Altheim in the ‘Fuchs-Keller’ and it is furnished with simple folding chairs by Wiesner and Hager. At the time Rudolf Wiesner and Sebastian Hager do not have the slightest idea how important the equipping of cinemas will be in the future.

Apart from the folding chairs by Wiesner and Hager, also the other furnishings and installations of the first cinema in Altheim are simple. The projectionist, for example, can only access the projection room via a ladder.

In 1923 Rudolf Wiesner and Sebastian Hager invest more money in the production of furniture. They construct a ‘plant’ with a chair production on the ground floor and a cabinet-maker’s workshop on the first floor. With that they create the capacity necessary for the orders to come, mainly from the hotel and catering business.

From then on the chair production is characterized by mass production. The main focus is on simple chairs, garden furniture such as deckchairs, folding chairs and folding tables. Special productions such as entire bed and living rooms are made in the cabinet-maker’s workshop on the first floor.

A real highlight in the history of Wiesner and Hager is the export of garden furniture to England from 1928 to 1930. In total

• 60.000 deckchairs
• 44.000 garden chairs and
• 40.000 stools

are supplied to an English trading company, with total proceeds of more than 300,000 shilling. For the size of the business, which Wiesner and Hager have at the time, this represents an amazing figure.

In order to manage all the export orders, it is necessary to employ more people. In 1928 already more than 150 workers are employed in the production of chairs, in 1930 this number has risen to 275. However, the world economic crisis in 1930 puts a sudden end to the trade with England. As described in more detail later on, the following years turn out to be a real matter of existence, not only for Wiesner and Hager, but also for many other companies.

The building business is constantly developing during the twenties. Wiesner and Hager employ on average forty to fifty carpenters and bricklayers. In the sixties even up to 60 people are employed due to some devastating storms, which resulted in a lot of repair work.

Sebastian Hager takes care of the building business, whereas Rudolf Wiesner applies himself mainly to the production of chairs.

The 1930s: struggle for survival

The outbreak of the world economic crisis in 1929 hits Austria during the early thirties. Until 1933 the gross domestic product (GDP) has gone down to 77.5 per cent of the level of 1929. Industrial production has decreased by more than a third in the same period of time. The business of Rudolf Wiesner and Sebastian Hager cannot escape the severe depression.
After the successful twenties, they suffer from a serious setback and the company is nearly doomed to close down. In retrospect Theresia Wiesner describes that period as follows. ‘The worst years were from 1930 to 1934. Most of the time we could only employ the people three days a week, if at all.’ She answers the question on how they were able to overcome the difficult time. ‘It was possible because all the people in the company were like a family. We were, if you want, a community joined together by fate and we firmly stuck together. Only this made it possible to overcome that difficult period.’ At the time the building business is limited to occasional repair work for farmers. The furniture production mainly receives orders from the tourist sector. Hotels and inns, mostly in Tyrol, order seating furniture.

Beginning with the year 1935 the situation is slowly improving. A new market has emerged: new cinemas need to be built and equipped.

An order from Linz turns out to be a milestone for Wiesner and Hager when it comes to the equipping of cinemas: they win a tender for the equipping of the cinema ‘Koloseum’. 1,500 cinema seats are made and installed.

Karl Huber remembers that ‘the financial possibilities of the company were very restricted. Therefore they were forced to transport the seats on a one-horse cart to the train station. I wrote the freight notes at the time’.

This order establishes the long tradition of Wiesner and Hager in the equipping of cinemas as the company demonstrates its competence in the equipping of larger objects. In the same year, in 1935, Wiesner and Hager obtain the contract for another prestigious project: the equipping with seats of the festival theatre in Salzburg (the ‘Festspielhaus’). The large auditorium of the festival theatre, constructed by Prof. Clemens Holzmeister, is equipped with 1,200 seats.

Further orders in the year 1935 are the cinema Hatschek in Vöcklabruck, which is equipped with 400 seats, Rawag in Vienna with 600 seats and the theatre in Bad Hall. The equipping of cinemas remains an important line of business.

1938 - 1945: Wiesner and Hager in the Third Reich

The years from 1938 to 1945 turn out to be decisive for the development of the company. On the one hand, the company faces major difficulties, the struggle for survival during the Nazi regime, as well as numerous human tragedies, particularly during the Second World War. In total 104 workers had to leave for military service, 35 of whom never return.

On the other hand, it is a period marked by investments and expansion for Wiesner and Hager, as well as for many other Austrian companies. As Wiesner and Hager are able to keep this capital alive during the post-war years, it is justified to claim that the basis for the enormous growth in the following decades is created during the Third Reich. The difficulty of this undertaking is described below.

During the first few months after the ‘Anschluss’ the economic integration of Austria into the Third Reich ,as established by a four-year plan, leads - apart from numerous other measures - also to a close examination of many Austrian companies with regard to their profitability. Particularly those branches of industry which are important for armament or the carrying out of projects of the four-year plan are in the centre of attention.

An adviser from Germany happens to turn up at the company of Wiesner and Hager. He inspects the company and in his function as a ‘specialist’ he describes what measures need to be taken in order to make the company more productive and to withstand the pressure of the German industry. In an appeal that follows the German example he declares in front of the assembled company ‘If in a year’s time your are not able to produce 1,000 chairs a day, you can close down this dump’.

Management and staff are devastated. At the time 250 units are made a day. An increase to 1,000 units would mean to quadruple production.

The different economic situation marked by many public orders makes it necessary, but also financially possible, to get modern machines. However, many underestimate the delivery problems which arise in consequence: the delivery time of the German engineering industry often amounts to years!

Wiesner and Hager immediately proceed to action. Within a short period of time the relevant measures for the modernization of the production facility are taken. At the beginning of May 1938 Ing. Huber travels to Germany and with the help of newspaper advertisements he buys used machines. In order to create space for these machines, a new machine hall and an assembly hall are built.

In the summer of 1938 Ing. Huber is again in Berlin and again he successfully relies on newspaper advertisements. This time he buys the interior of an old boiler house: a 350 hp steam-driven engine. This power engine shall provide steam, power and heat to the company. With this investment Wiesner and Hager become independent of any external energy supply. This fact ensures the survival during the following years!

Production for the private economy is slowly ceasing. Instead of garden furniture and ‘pub chairs’ the company produces chairs and stools for offices, homes and barracks. The orders are placed by the military procurement office in Linz, the volume has risen to several thousand pieces per series. Material lists and drawings are enclosed in the order forms.

In 1938 Wiesner and Hager make another investment. They buy the first lorry for the transport of wood. Only a year later it is requisitioned by the Wehrmacht.

2nd September 1939 marks the beginning of the Second World War. Wiesner and Hager become a military supplier. In the following years they not only produce chairs and stools, but also deckchairs for field hospitals and ‘sledge boats’, so-called Bootsakia. The Wehrmacht needs the Bootsakia for the Norway campaign in order to transport war material and the wounded on snow.

The material needed for orders is to a large extent secured by coupons. The procurement of auxiliary material and fuel is much more complicated. Spare parts for the installations and the machines are also difficult to get hold of. Only with a lot of talent for improvisation and by getting around the official channels it is possible to secure the supply over the years.

In 1941 a fire brigade is set up in the company as a reaction to the increasing danger of a bombing by the Allies. As initiator and commanding officer Ing. Karl Huber is the driving force behind it. The equipment is organized by Rudolf Wiesner on the black market for lack of ration coupons.

In the same year Laurenz Reinthaler becomes partner of Wiesner and Hager, holding a share of 20 per cent on the basis of an oral agreement. His nomination as a partner is the reward for his commitment and the renunciation of an adequate remuneration for many years.

Due to lack of fuel during the last years of the war, the Wehrmacht needs more and more so-called field wagons as replacement for other means of transport. As a consequence Wiesner and Hager get the order for the production of those ‘horse wagons of particularly heavy finish’. The horse carts are produced until the end of the war in 1945.

On 15th January 1944 Sebastian Hager, one of the founders of Wiesner and Hager, dies. His wife Kreszenz takes his position as a partner in the company. She has already worked in the company for many years in the area of customer accounts.

The building business of Wiesner and Hager suffers from hard times during the Third Reich. After the Anschluss in 1938 Austria sees a real building boom, especially because of public large-scale projects. But the building trade, that is the numerous small and medium-sized companies, cannot profit from this fact as they are not able to realize projects of that size. On the contrary, halfway through the year 1938 the building trade suffers from a severe lack of orders as opposed to the building industry. Some of the small and medium-sized companies are not even working at the same capacity as the year before.

Towards the end of the year 1938, there is an increasing integration of the building trade into large-scale projects due to the formation of joint ventures. However, the companies are not sufficiently equipped with adequate machines for building projects of a large scale and the problem cannot be solved as a result of the above-mentioned difficulties of procurement.

With the increasing shortage of building material and workforce, the situation of the small and medium-sized companies is getting worse in 1939. Particularly serious is the lack of workforce and with the outbreak of the war this turns into an insurmountable problem for the entire Austrian building economy.

The building business of Wiesner and Hager cannot escape the above-mentioned basic conditions, such as lack of workforce and material. In 1938 and 1939 they are busy with the extension of their own plant, but in the following years the building business is limited to occasional repair work. With the outbreak of war they lose a large part of the building workers to the Wehrmacht.

During the last days of the war it is ensured that Wiesner and Hager can take up business quickly after the end of the war. Taking great risks, important material, such as varnish, glue and screws are walled up in the cellar. Only a few months later, the same material makes it possible to take up production again!

The post-war years 1945 – 1960: years of growth

The business of Wiesner and Hager is closed for a few months at the end of the war. For a few days the plant even serves as a prison camp before the prisoners are transported to a newly erected camp near Altheim.

At the beginning of the year 1946, Wiesner and Hager take up production again. They have about 150 employees, a large part of which has already worked for the company during the Second World War. They use the material that they have been hiding.

However, stocks are very limited and they immediately start to look for suitable suppliers. But the search is very difficult as there are only a few companies that have already started their production and are able to supply goods. One of them is the leather factory ‘Wurm’ in Neumarkt im Hausruck, which supplies glue made out of animal skin.

Not only is the procurement of auxiliary material difficult, but also of the raw material wood. An efficient forestry industry does not exist in the period after the Second World War. Therefore the staff has to travel to the valleys of the rivers Steyr, Traun and Enns and cut the trees themselves before they bring the wood to Altheim.

In the face of great adversity the production reaches the significant volume of 129,000 units in the year 1946 (mainly chairs, only a small part of it are tables). In the following years the output can be significantly increased. In 1950 they exceed the limit of 200,000 units and 5 years later 400,000 units (including 4,000 tables) are produced.

The most important task during the first years after the war is to increase the production capacity. There is no lack of orders. On the contrary, it is hardly possible to meet the enormous demand.

Due to the events before and during the Second World War, the demand for seating furniture in the public and private sector is considerable. Wiesner and Hager is one of the few Austrian companies that are able to satisfy the demands of the market. The political and economic conditions predominant after 1945 are of benefit to Wiesner and Hager.

1. The movement of goods and money transactions between Austria and foreign countries is subject to tight regulations in order to protect the Austrian national economy, which is characterized by post-war reconstruction: all movements of goods and transactions are being controlled and are channelled by means of barter transactions.
2. Altheim is in the American-occupied zone. The American army takes an inventory of the company and signs saying ‘property of US army’ are fixed on the machines, but no consequences arise for Wiesner and Hager. Therefore they do not dread further investments into the business.
3. The competitors are mainly small and large joiner’s workshops and other types of workshops, which are growing in size during the fifties and are investing into adequate plants and also start a series production. However, their capacity is small compared to the one of Wiesner and Hager. At the beginning of the 1950s Wiesner and Hager cover 40 per cent of the Austrian market for chairs and thus are market leader!

In order to meet the increasing demand, more and more people are employed. In 1950 Wiesner and Hager have more than 300 employees and 5 years later, in December 1955, they have more than 600 employees, two thirds of which are men and one third women.

In 1955 70 new people get employed. According to the number of employed people, Wiesner and Hager are listed on place 19 on the list of the largest industrial companies in Upper Austria.

As during the Second World War, the equipping of cinemas, theatres and other large-scale objects with seats becomes again an important line of business. In 1948 various properties are equipped amounting to a total of 8,000 chairs. In 1949 this number has risen to 10,000. Well-known projects during these two years are

• the theatre in Graz (619 seats)
• the municipal theatre in Wiener Neustadt (739 seats)
• the exhibition centre of Vienna (1,580 seats)
• the art’s house in Vienna (‘Kunsthaus Wien’) (447 seats)
• the municipal theatre in Gmunden (184 seats)
• the cinema ‘Kolping’ in Graz (1,400 seats)

The assembly team, which installs the seats on the spot, has to face all kinds of difficulties during the post-war years. The accommodation and catering for the so-called ‘cinema-fitters’ turns out to be extremely difficult during this time, which is characterized by a ‘Markerlwirtschaft’, which means by an economy based on ration coupons and houses destroyed by bombs. Furthermore, the hotels and inns are overcrowded with refugees and homeless people. For lack of accommodation it sometimes happens that the assembly team has to stay overnight in the property they are equipping and they use the packaging as temporary beds.

The experience gained before and during the Second World War, as well as the excellent reputation of Wiesner and Hager for equipping large-scale objects leads to the fact that during the following decades people sit on seats produced by Wiesner and Hager in numerous well-known buildings. In 1955 alone, the state opera, the ‘Burgtheater’, the opera in Graz and the municipal theatre in Bregenz are equipped with seats. With these prestigious projects Wiesner and Hager can strengthen their position as undisputed leader in Austria.

The equipping of large objects like opera houses or theatres is good publicity and has increased the reputation of Wiesner and Hager. Their main business, however, is to supply the furniture trade. During the Second World War the private sector was hardly supplied with furniture. Moreover, many houses and apartments, including their furnishing, have been destroyed during the last years of the war. Therefore there is huge demand for new seating furniture and tables during the reconstruction phase.

The structure of the furniture retail trade at that time cannot be compared to the one existing nowadays. These are numerous small and medium-sized companies, which are active regionally. The furniture retail trade only really develops at the beginning of the 1950s (with the exception of the company ‘Leiner’ in St.Pölten, specialized in home textiles and which started the retail furniture trade as early as 1948).
The process of concentration in the furniture retail trade only begins years later and it has led to the structure we have nowadays with a few large companies dominating the market.

The furniture trade has become by far the most important market for Wiesner and Hager. In the mid-fifties about 80 per cent of the total production is intended for this line of business.

Apart from the prestigious equipping of buildings and the supplying of the furniture trade, which generates good sales, another area of business – following the tradition of the 1920s and 1930s – has grown. This is the equipping of hotels, restaurants and inns.

Tourism in Austria does not have much potential until the withdrawal of the occupying troops in 1955. As of 1956 an enormous expansion begins, which transforms tourism into one of the most important economic factors of the country and with this the catering trade has become an important area of business for Wiesner and Hager.

From 1952 to 1956 Wiesner and Hager show their export qualities, continuing the success of the years 1928 to 1930. In August 1952 Wiesner and Hager get their first order of 8,500 chairs amounting to a retail price of more than $ 23,000. Wiesner and Hager got the order with the help of the company Haerpfer, a trading company for imports and exports based in Innsbruck. The chairs are purchased by the Empire State Chair Co. in New York, a manufacturer of chairs, tables and furniture for hotels, restaurants and public buildings.

During the 1950s Wiesner and Hager lay the foundation for glued laminated timber construction and the production of formwork panels.

1953: beginning of glued laminated timber construction, truss system girders

As of 1953 the truss system girders create a cost advantage for Wiesner and Hager and thus the possibility to successfully make offers even for orders coming from a large distance involving a higher freight. This results in orders for roof constructions in Salzburg, Linz, Steyr and Wels, to name but a few.

1955: Start of the production of formwork panels, developed from glued laminated timber construction.

In 1956 another lucrative line of business opens up for Wiesner and Hager: the production and sales of school furniture. Karl Huber remembers:

‘An old school mate of Dir. Reinthaler who was a teacher but left teaching suggested the production of school furniture. The demand for school chairs and desks was high as there were many new buildings. The company employed the former teacher, who still had a lot of good contacts in the schools, as sales representative.’

For many years the production of school furniture is an important pillar for the company. Until the mid-seventies about 10,000 classrooms in primary schools, secondary schools and vocational schools are equipped with school chairs and desks by Wiesner and Hager. With the increasing specialization of some suppliers, which then offer complete solutions for schools and also, for instance, the equipping of physics labs, Wiesner and Hager are more and more forced out and subsequently give up this line of business.

1956: Wiesner and Hager exceed the magic number of half a million units a year.

In the mid-fifties factors such as quality of customer satisfaction become increasingly important. This is shown by an extract from an article from the Wiesner-Hager news published in 1956:

‘If we want to remain competitive, we have to fulfil a basic condition: flawless products! The customer critically looks at every piece he buys. And ‘service to the customer’ is no empty expression because it only depends on the customer whether our company can offer full employment or not. His satisfaction with our work is your workplace!’

Wiesner and Hager stand for ‘flawless products’ or product quality: a chair produced by Wiesner and Hager is made for eternity.

Good quality and a reasonable price are the characteristics that describe the image of Wiesner and Hager best. This strategy is very successful in the fifties. Changing market conditions, in particular the increasing foreign competition in the cut-price sector, will lead to a change in strategy towards high-quality, aesthetic and more expensive furniture.

Apart from ‘flawless products’, the extract above also points out another economic and above all political aim, which is particularly representative for the sixties and seventies: full employment!
This aim is over and over again pointed out by Wiesner and Hager, for instance at the annual Christmas celebrations, where the decision-makers in the company express in their speeches their hopes to preserve full employment. They convey to the employees a sense of job security, a security which can indeed be guaranteed up until the crisis during the eighties.

In 1957 Wiesner and Hager get the first order to erect a truss system roof construction in the capital. In spite of a distance of about 300 kilometres between Altheim and Vienna-Ottakring and the transport costs involved, Wiesner and Hager can offer a lower price than their competitors in Vienna and obtain the contract for the roofing of fifteen apartment blocks, which have a total area of 2,500 m² (in the horizontal projection!).

1955: development of the glued laminated timber construction
1957: development of the formwork engineering
1966: largest glued laminated timber construction with a span of 100 metres
1988: construction of ‘works II’ for 3-layer-boards
1990: takeover of the 5th generation
1991: division of the company into ‘building’ and ‘furniture’
1995: establishing of research and development
1998: construction of the most modern glued laminated timber production facility of the world
1999: ‘Innovationspreis des FFF’ (prize for innovation of the FFF – gold)
2001: large-scale project: speed skating hall in Erfurt/Germany (EUR 5.1 mio.)
2001: ‘Ingenieurholzbaupreis des Landes Thüringen’ (timber engineering prize of the state of Thüringen)
2002: large-scale project New Exhibition Centre Karlsruhe/Germany (EUR 11.3 mio.)
2002: large-scale project ‘Arena’ in Salzburg/Austria
2003: ‘Schweighofer Förderpreis’ for CELLTEC
2003: further optimisation of production
2003: ‘OÖ Landespreis’ for innovation (prize of the province of Upper Austria)
2003: ‘OÖ Holzbaupreis’ (Upper Austrian prize for timber construction)
2004: process optimisation project OPTI