Dad, grandpa and son behind the loom: Alfred, Erwin and Johannes Licht from the Simssee hand weaving mill. © Marcus Schlaf
At the Licht family in Stephanskirchen, the old weaving craft is still practiced. Here, grandpa, father and son stand together at the loom and make modern carpets with historical technology. Visit to a workshop where every day is Father's Day.
St. Stephen's Churches – One push of a button and the monster awakens. "Be careful, it's getting loud now," warns Alfred Licht and presses the switch on the 120-year-old loom. He didn't exaggerate, it rattles and crashes menacingly as the wooden boat with the sheep's wool shoots across the threads stretched into the machine. And already the wool carpet that grows out of the historic loom is one centimeter longer. Ancient craftsmanship, practiced in the workshop of Alfred Licht, one of only a few master weavers left in Bavaria.
In the Simssee hand weaving mill in Stephanskirchen near Rosenheim they are still available, classic patchwork or wool carpets made by hand. And in the workshop, three generations of the Licht family stand loom after loom. Grandpa Erwin, the founder of the company, is 84 years old. Dad Alfred, head of the company, is 56 years old. And son Johannes, 25, who recently decided to continue the family tradition. The old looms not only hold the carpets together, but also create a close family bond. "With us," says Grandpa Erwin with a gentle smile, "it's actually Father's Day every day."
Grandpa Erwin and his feeling for the old iron
The first impression when you look into the workshop: wool. Everywhere. Rolled up as if on forks full of oversized spaghetti, the balls are ready for the carpets. Hundreds of rolls of thread hang on the walls, the strings of which disappear like a spider's web in the looms. They, in turn, spit out the carpets centimeter by centimeter, about one square meter per hour. The Licht family sells the result in their small shop right next to the workshop. Simssee patchwork carpet 60 by 120 centimetres for 63.35 euros. Sheep's wool carpet Watzmann 27 felted, 70 by 140 centimetres for 171.50 euros. One square metre of fabric for the cosy living room – and against cold feet.
Grandpa Erwin, the eternal tinkerer, shuffles through the workshop and can tell a story about each loom with great patience. Here he has installed an old sewer pipe, there a gear wheel from a discarded manure spreader and actually everywhere a pile of scrap metal from the scrap yard. The five looms are all between 60 and 120 years old. But they run. And if not, then Grandpa Erwin makes them legs.
He, the war refugee, born in Chernivtsi in today's Ukraine, later fled from Katowice in Poland to Germany and stranded in Rosenheim in 1945, founded the company more than 40 years ago. Actually, he wanted to become a mechanic. But after the war there was no time for wishes. He found a job as a weaver for five marks a month plus food and lodging. During the day he worked, in the evening he caught up on the secondary school leaving certificate via telecollege. He passed the master craftsman's examination, became self-employed, procured discarded looms from abandoned factories. And rebuilt it according to his ideas. In the end, he somehow became a mechanic.
The family motto of the Lichts: Weave and let weave
He sold the carpets of tattered shirts and torn silk stockings – today this is called upcycling, back then it was pure pragmatism – in a small garage. "But actually, he couldn't sell at all," says his son Alfred, who was already scurrying around the workshop at the time. While his father worked on the machines, his son Alfred took more and more care of sales. He advertised the goods at markets and later at the Heim und Handwerk in Munich – "Our stand was bigger than the sales garage at home," he recalls. And ten years ago, the first online shop. The Lichts rolled out the carpet for customers in the wide world of the Internet.
Today, Alfred Licht no longer gets to see many of his customers. You order the sheep's wool carpet made to measure on the net, the photos are taken by son Johannes. "But it's the personal contact that makes us who we are," says the 56-year-old. That's why he calls the customer before each delivery. Care instructions, advice, perhaps a preliminary sample by mail to run his finger over the wool. "That's what sets us apart from the crowd," says the company boss. "Our unique selling point: high quality. And personality." Thus, the carpet weavers of Stephanskirchen have found their niche in an industry that is largely dominated by cheap factories from the other side of the world.
And with son Johannes, the circle closes. Because Papa Alfred, the man for sales, complemented himself so well with tinkerer Erwin, the business was up and running. And Johannes, a trained industrial mechanic, follows in his grandfather's footsteps and works on the machines with a lot of love. "I'm happy to let him do it," says his grandfather. "He has more strength." And the grandson adds: "That's the beauty of us: no one keeps the other small." Weaving and letting weave is the motto of the Light.
And although the three generations see each other every day in the workshop, the family peace has not suffered. "On the contrary," says father Alfred. "I think we've moved even closer together." The whole family even goes on holiday together. To Croatia. The only condition is that there must be a pool so that Grandpa Erwin can swim his laps early in the morning. However, dad Alfred and son Johannes sometimes had to put their foot down: "Grandpa, now we won't talk about work for a week." Because the tinkerer still has a lot of ideas. Alfred Licht says of his father: "It's rattling in my head – even at almost 85." As with his beloved machines.
