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1838

One company, six generations.

These were amazing entrepreneurs. Power people who can recognise, invest in and grasp opportunities. Starting with Johann Baptist Hau, the company's founder. Was it a coincidence that he became interested in Rudolf Erismann's factory in 1838? Where operations "had not been turned into reality for various reasons".

Perhaps: Because his daughter, Natalie Pauline, was interested in her father's former apprentice, Franz Joseph Müller. To help with the practicalities of love's young dream, Hau bought an interest in the wallpaper company. And so Erismann & Cie.  was founded in Breisach am Rhein in 1838.

1839

The Rhine Gate

Originally the magnificent entrance gate to the French town of Breisach; built in 1678 by the great fortress builder Jacques Tarade on the basis of plans drawn up by Louis XIV's star architect, Marshal Vauban.

In fact,  Erismann & Cie. produced wallpapers here from 1838 to 1858, until space became too tight. Today, the Rhine Gates houses the Local History Museum.

1840

"WE FOLLOW THE MARKET."

And how? By horsepower: in 1840/41, Franz Joseph Müller travelled throughout the German Customs Union area with wallpaper samples from Erismann & Cie. – in a horse-drawn carriage.

A "pit stop" where commercial travellers and young businessmen such as Franz Joseph Müller could take a break now and again.

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