Pforzheim ‘the City of Gold’, a veritable European El Dorado, where it seemed even the streets glittered and gleamed, was home to numerous jewellers, goldsmiths, silversmiths, and jewel traders and cutters.
However, this was not always the case. Established during the medieval era, this town marked the frontier between Baden and Württemberg and was a gateway to the Black Forest. At the confluence of three rivers, Pforzheim, was an ideal location to be gradually developed into a centre of industry in Baden.
The person to put this infrastructure of modernity into place was the Margrave (later the Grand Duke) Friedrich who by 1877 was also responsible for the founding of a school of Arts and Crafts. This very same Grand Duke is to whom we can attribute the boom in the jewellery industry, having converted an old orphanage into a manufactory of watches, fine steel products, and gems & jewellery.
Pforzheim has produced not only iconic jewellery but also iconic jewellers, one such man who grew up just across the street from Grand Duke Friederich’s jewellery manufactory, was Victor Mayer.
Early Life
Mayer was born in December of 1857 to innkeeper parents. His father, Eduard Mayer, ran the inn at Untere Au. This inn, originally named Zum Kreuz, was adjacent to the confluence of rivers Enz and Nagold. It was an unsuspecting haven to Eduard Mayer, who found himself working there after fleeing the Prussians in the year 1849. It was on this journey into Baden that he met Bonaventura Braun, seemingly fleeing the same violence as he. This chance meeting along the road would lead to a fortuitous hitchhiking which led to the large and prosperous family of fourteen children.
The location of Zum Kreuz exposed the Mayer children to all walks of life, with the raftsmen who crossed back and forth across the rivers, travellers who needed to rest up before entering the city centre, and craftsmen hoping to flog their wares and their abilities as soon as they walked through the city walls. These characters were a secondary education to the children who were introduced to different languages, dialects, tall tales, and a seemingly insatiable wanderlust.
By the time Victor Mayer was old enough, he wanted a position in an occupation that would allow him the opportunity to explore and travel. The jewellery industry, which was swiftly gaining its legs in Pforzheim, was the best place to start. While the industry originally struggled to gain traction, by the time Mayer was ready to start his apprenticeship, Pforzheim was on its way to becoming ‘the Golden City’.
There was a combination of elements that made Pforzheim into the force of industry it was. Originally, pieces were reserved for a select minority, the aristocracy, clergy and the few extreme upper class, who would purchase bespoke one-of-a-kind pieces in larger cities already established for their jewellery, cities like Vienna and Paris. The rise in wages though, opened up an entirely new client base, those who could not originally afford to decorate themselves beyond the most modest means could now afford to splash out a bit more. This clientele did not want the aristocrats’ jewels though, they wanted something more affordable, more modern, and more wearable.
With the infrastructure already put in place earlier by the Grand Duke, Pforzheim was poised to fill the niche now opened by this new client base. By 1870 there were already 160 jewellery companies, by contrast, just over thirty years later in 1906, this number had expanded to 1,243. Victor Mayer’s was one of these companies.
