Imagebroschüre_en_2023

Between Romanticism
and industrialization
»My name is well known to lovers of Saxon textile tradition. Together with my brother-in-law Fritz
te Kock, I founded one of the most renowned carpet factories in Oelsnitz in the Vogtland region:
Koch & te Kock – today known as Halbmond Teppichwerke. This laid the foundation for the
development of the entire carpet industry in the region, which still benefits from this today. The
company is now one of the largest employers in the Vogtland region.
By the way, my innate passion for textiles and talent for weaving comes from my father, a master
weaver with a long family tradition. As a young man, I acquired my commercial expertise in a
number of textile shops and offices and eventually became an office assistant at the Leopold Schoeller
carpet factory in Dueren. I soon became the director of the technical department and traveled
extensively in the US and England. It was on one of these trips that I discovered the Axminster
technique and brought it back to Germany. The idea was to create carpets that looked like real
oriental carpets: ›magic‹ carpets from Oelsnitz for the whole world. This was the vision that led me
to found my own company not far from Voigtsberg Castle, eventually becoming the most successful
carpet manufacturer in Europe.
›What porcelain is to Meissen, carpets are to Oelsnitz,‹ said Juergen Fortak, the town chronicler.
So it comes as no surprise that carpet production continues to shape Oelsnitz to this day.«
Carl Wilhelm Koch (1855 – 1925)
»THE CARPET
PRINCE«
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