Haber & Brandner

Haber & Brandner — formally Georg Haber & Joh. L. L. Brandner GmbH — is a German restoration company headquartered in Regensburg and Berlin. It was created in 1987 through the merger of two long-established Regensburg businesses: the Johann L. L. Brandner AG, a silver- and metalware factory, and the Werkstätten für Kirchliche Kunst Georg Haber, a workshop for church art. The merged firm continues the church-equipment tradition of both houses while having developed, in parallel, into an internationally recognized workshop for metal restoration. The company's roots reach back to 1860, when Johannes Brandner registered a metal turning and wood-turning business in Regensburg. Under his son Johann Ludwig Leonhard Brandner, who took over in 1889, the small craft operation grew into what was probably the largest church-equipment factory in Central Europe, with extensive workshops on the Danube and more than 130 employees in its pre-World War I heyday. The Haber side began in 1905, when Georg Friedrich I. Haber founded a metal-spinning business after training with the Regensburg church-equipment maker Deplaz; it remained deliberately artisanal and family-run. Today Haber & Brandner employs around 40 people. Its core activities are the conservation, restoration and scientific examination of artworks and objects made of metal, ranging from medieval church equipment and monumental monuments to technical cultural heritage. A clear focus is the restoration of architectural metal objects in heritage conservation. The team combines graduate conservators, metal restorers, art historians and experienced craftspeople, and the workshops participate regularly in research projects to stay current with restoration technologies. The firm works in bronze, iron, zinc, tin, lead, copper, brass, electroplated metal, silver and gold. Its service spectrum covers monuments, architectural sculpture and ornament, tower tips and metal roofs, grilles and portals, fountain sculpture, garden sculpture, cemetery culture and sarcophagi, electroforming, technical cultural heritage, church art and sacred vessels, copies and reconstructions, lighting and candelabra, gilding work, and the maintenance and care of monuments. Alongside restoration, Haber & Brandner remains one of the leading manufacturers of church equipment in Germany.

The history of Haber & Brandner is the story of two Regensburg metalworking families whose paths converged in 1987. The Brandner line began in 1860, when Johannes Brandner, a skilled craftsman and inventor, registered a metal turning and wood-turning business in Regensburg. The real expansion came with his son, Johann Ludwig Leonhard Brandner, who took over the workshop in 1889. In a success story almost emblematic of the German Gründerzeit, he transformed the small craft operation into what was probably the largest church-equipment factory in Central Europe. Through 1909, extensive workshops and production facilities were built directly on the Danube. In the boom years before World War I, Brandner employed more than 130 people, making the factory an important economic factor in the city. Brandner competed against established Regensburg silversmiths and metalworkers such as Joseph Goetz, Anton F. X. Fröhlich and Johann J. Deplaz, who dominated the market with handcrafted church equipment. Brandner countered with a modern production and distribution concept: church equipment that had previously been made largely by hand was produced with machine assistance and modern manufacturing methods in larger quantities. Sales were organized through product catalogues and resellers far beyond Germany, as far as America, and Brandner also produced for the needs of the Evangelical Lutheran Church. The workshops were planned as a full-stage operation from the start, with silversmiths, metalworkers, chasers, casters and mould makers, metal spinners, plumbers, art blacksmiths and locksmiths, and toolmakers all under one roof. In the best years more than 130 employees worked there, with comparatively few unskilled workers. Johann L. L. Brandner died in 1924. By testament he transferred the management of the silver and metalware factory to his nephew Hans Schneider, and the following year the business was converted into a joint-stock company (Aktiengesellschaft). Schneider led the firm successfully through the crisis-ridden decades until 1952. From 1920 to 1942 the leading metal sculptor and designer in the workshops was Franz Weichmann, who had trained as a chaser and engraver at Brandner and then attended the state arts-and-crafts school in Aachen. From 1952 until 1976, Adolf Engl, an academically trained goldsmith and metal artist, managed the business. The years after Engl were marked by economic problems caused by declining demand for church equipment and increasingly aggressive low-cost competition from southern Europe. By the mid-1980s the Brandner AG was in economic difficulty, was sold, and the former workshops at Oberer Wöhrd were replaced by the Hotel Sorat. The Brandner workforce found new jobs at Haber. The Haber line began in 1905, when Georg Friedrich I. Haber founded a metal-spinning business after training with the Regensburg church-equipment maker Deplaz. A few years later the company established itself as a metal-spinning and turning business, manufacturing and trading church equipment, at what is now the commercial building at Schwanenplatz 1 (formerly Kalmünzergasse 7) in Regensburg. Despite the word "Fabrikation" (manufacturing) in its name, the Haber workshop, unlike Brandner, remained strongly artisanal and never aimed at mass production; the family business kept clear structures and a correspondingly modest number of employees. In 1935 Georg Friedrich II. Haber took over the business, which he led as a master metalworker and chaser until his death in 1965. His son Georg Maximilian Haber, a master metalworker and metal spinner, continued the family firm in the traditional artisanal spirit. Together with his workshop manager Max Weiß, a master silversmith and designer, he met the dominant competitor Brandner with his own modern designs. In 1982 his son Georg Josef Haber joined the company, and in 1985 he became managing director at Brandner. In 1987 they jointly founded the new operation Haber & Brandner. Since his father's death, Georg J. Haber has led the Haber & Brandner workshops in the fourth generation. Since 1987 the company has operated as Georg Haber & Johann L. L. Brandner GmbH under the management of Georg J. Haber. It remains one of the leading church-equipment manufacturers, but has also developed in parallel into a Europe-wide workshop for metal restoration. According to its own presentation, the firm, with around 40 employees, has become an internationally recognized restoration workshop. Its central activities are the conservation, restoration and scientific examination of artworks and objects made of metal, from medieval church equipment through monumental monuments to technical cultural heritage, with a clear emphasis on architectural metal objects in heritage conservation. Graduate conservators, metal restorers, art historians and experienced craftspeople work together, and regular participation in research projects keeps the workshops at the current state of restoration technology.

• 1987

  Haber & Brandner is founded through the merger of the two firms; the company operates as Georg Haber & Johann L. L. Brandner GmbH.

• 1985

  Georg Josef Haber becomes managing director at Brandner.

• 1982

  Georg Josef Haber joins the family company.

• 1976

  Adolf Engl's management of Brandner ends.

• 1952

  Adolf Engl begins managing Brandner; Hans Schneider's leadership ends.

• 1935

  Georg Friedrich II. Haber takes over the Haber business.

• 1925

  The Brandner silver and metalware factory is converted into a joint-stock company.

• 1924

  Johann L. L. Brandner dies; management passes to his nephew Hans Schneider.

• 1909

  Extensive Brandner workshops and production facilities are completed on the Danube.

• 1905

  Georg Friedrich I. Haber founds a metal-spinning business in Regensburg.

• 1889

  Johann Ludwig Leonhard Brandner takes over the workshop and begins its expansion.

• 1860

  Johannes Brandner registers a metal turning and wood-turning business in Regensburg.

Internationally recognized specialist workshop for metal restoration and one of Germany's leading church-equipment manufacturers, combining artisanal tradition with research-driven restoration technology.

• Metal restoration and conservation

  Conservation, restoration and examination of artworks and objects made of metal.

• Church equipment and sacred vessels

  Manufacturing and restoration of church equipment, continuing the tradition of both founding firms.

• Architectural metal restoration

  Restoration of architectural metal objects in heritage conservation, including monuments, tower tips, metal roofs, grilles and portals.

• Gilding work

  Gilding services for metal objects and artworks.

• Copies and reconstructions

  Production of copies and reconstructions of metal objects.

1. 1Haber & Brandner GmbH – Metallrestaurierunghaber-brandner.de
2. 2Haber & Brandner – Wikipedia (German)de.wikipedia.org
3. 3Haber & Brandner – Wikidatawikidata.org