Gebr. Laumans Ziegelwerke

Gebr. Laumans Ziegelwerke is a German manufacturer of fired clay roof tiles headquartered in Brüggen-Bracht in the Kreis Viersen district of North Rhine-Westphalia. The company traces its origins to the Laumans family's tile-making activities in Tegelen in the Dutch province of Limburg, where Jacob Laumans began producing roof tiles in 1835. His son Quirinus and brother Caspar took over the business in 1864 and gave it the name Gebr. Laumans. In 1896 Stephan Laumans, together with his brothers Caspar and Jacques, established the first steam-powered roof tile factory in Bracht, and this date is used by the company today as the founding year of its German operations. The Bracht factory became the nucleus of the present-day business. The company produces around 11 million roof tiles per year with a workforce of about 85 employees, according to its German Wikipedia entry. Its product range includes flat and profiled clay roof tiles as well as wall bricks, clinker and facing bricks. The official website presents the brand as a premium roof tile maker, offering models such as LAUMANS IDEAL VARIABEL, LAUMANS TIEFA XL TOP, LAUMANS RHEINLAND VARIABEL and LAUMANS MULDEN VARIABEL, alongside the HØJSLEV HOHLPFANNE and HØJSLEV SKANDINAVIA lines. The company markets its products under the slogan "Premium Dachziegel seit 1896" (Premium roof tiles since 1896) and emphasizes natural clay tiles in many shapes and colours for individual roof design. Laumans operates in several European markets. Its website is available in German, English, French, Dutch and Polish, and the company serves customers in Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, France and Poland. It offers services such as sample tile shipping, a freight calculator, technical data, wind suction certificates and support for both builders and professionals. The brand is now part of the Danish Randers Tegl group, a major European clay roof tile manufacturer, and the official website refers to "Randers Tegl Laumans Premium Dachziegel" made from Tegelen clay. The company's history is closely tied to the cross-border clay industry of the Dutch-German border region. After the German Empire introduced protective tariffs on roof tiles in 1885, Dutch producers such as the Laumans family established factories on the German side of the border to avoid import duties. The Bracht factory, founded in 1896, was followed by the acquisition of the A. Baehren works in Brüggen in 1926. In 1927 the family business was divided between the two branches of the family, with Stephan Laumans taking the Bracht and Brüggen operations under the name Gebr. Laumans. The company has remained active in Brüggen-Bracht and continues to produce premium clay roof tiles and bricks.

The history of Gebr. Laumans Ziegelwerke begins in the Dutch town of Tegelen, a centre of the ceramic industry in North Limburg, where extensive clay deposits supported pottery and brickmaking. In 1835 the coppersmith and innkeeper Jacob Laumans (1799–1836) started roof tile production in Tegelen. After his early death in 1836, his widow Maria Josepha Laumans-Janssen continued the business with her second husband Peter Benders under the Laumans name. In 1864 Jacob's son Quirinus (1827–1900) and his brother Caspar took over the business and named it Gebr. Laumans. Under Quirinus the Tegelen works became the first mechanised brickyard in the town. From 1880 the company stopped making hand-moulded tiles and produced only machine interlocking tiles, about 200,000 per year, fired in six Kassel kilns. These tiles had interlocking edges that improved protection against dust, snow and rain and did not require mortar or straw capping, reducing fire risk. Demand was strong from hot industrial operations in the Ruhr such as coking plants, steelworks, foundries, forges and rolling mills, which needed heat-resistant, non-flammable and inexpensive roofing. In 1885 Chancellor Otto von Bismarck introduced a protective tariff on roof tiles to shield German industry from foreign products, making Dutch tiles too expensive. The tariff applied to the finished product, not to clay, so Dutch producers such as Gebr. Teeuwen built factories in Kaldenkirchen on the Prussian side of the border, where they could process Dutch clay and sell tiles within the German customs area. In 1889, through a division of property, the Gebr. Teeuwen works founded in Kaldenkirchen on Steylerstraße passed to Quirin Laumans, while Gebr. Teeuwen built a new factory next door. This gave the Laumans family its first German tile factory. Quirinus Laumans and his wife Maria Petronella, née Teeuwen, had five sons: Paul and Quirin, who studied in Delft and became engineers, and Jacques (Petrus Jacobus Hubertus, 1863–1943), Stephan (Stephan Johann Caspar, 1866–1942) and Caspar (1871–1938), who were to run the family's various businesses, including three roof tile works, a timber trade, a small farm and an inn. Jacques received the timber trade and the roof tile factory in Reuver; Stephan and Caspar took the tile works in Tegelen and Kaldenkirchen. By then tile factories had also been established on the German side in Brüggen, Kaldenkirchen and Elmpt, bringing employment, tax revenue and income from clay sales to a border region shaken by the crisis of home weaving. In 1896 the roof tile boom reached the Bürgermeisterei of Bracht. Stephan Laumans built the first steam-powered roof tile factory in Bracht on Stiegstraße, with his brothers Caspar and Jacques as co-owners. The permit for this first Bracht steam tile works, named Stephan Laumans und Co., was granted on 2 December 1896. The capital was provided by father Quirinus, amounting to 36,000 gold marks. This marked the start of the roof tile industry in Bracht; by the turn of the century six more tile works had been founded there. In 1898 the Tegelen, Kaldenkirchen and Bracht operations of the Laumans family merged under the company name Gebr. Laumans, with brothers Caspar, Stephan and Jacques as partners. After their father's death in 1900, Stephan managed the Bracht works, while Caspar was the leading figure in Kaldenkirchen and Tegelen. Jacques focused on his own steam tile factory in Reuver, which he had operated since 1893/94, and left Gebr. Laumans as a silent partner in 1903. Stephan moved to Bracht in 1897 and in 1906 built Villa Lucia on Stiegstraße for his family. He applied for German citizenship in 1910 and sat on the Bracht municipal council from 1914. In 1926 the A. Baehren company in neighbouring Brüggen went bankrupt. The works were bought by Gebr. Laumans in November 1926 and reopened in January 1927, giving the family business four works in Tegelen, Kaldenkirchen, Bracht and Brüggen. A few months later, in April 1927, the company was divided between the two family branches. Caspar, previously responsible for Tegelen and Kaldenkirchen, took over the Tegelen parent works and the Kaldenkirchen operation with his son Lambert (18 February 1903 – 8 May 1980) under the name C. Laumans. Stephan ran the Bracht works and the newly acquired Brüggen operation under the existing name Gebr. Laumans together with his sons. The company continued as a family business in Brüggen-Bracht and is now part of the Danish Randers Tegl group, a major European clay roof tile manufacturer. The official website presents the brand as "Randers Tegl Laumans Premium Dachziegel" made from Tegelen clay, with the slogan "Premium Dachziegel seit 1896". The company produces around 11 million roof tiles per year with about 85 employees, according to its German Wikipedia entry, and sells in Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, France and Poland.

• 1927

  The Brüggen works reopens in January; in April the company is divided between the two family branches, with Stephan taking Bracht and Brüggen under the name Gebr. Laumans.

• 1926

  Gebr. Laumans buys the bankrupt A. Baehren works in Brüggen in November.

• 1903

  Jacques Laumans leaves Gebr. Laumans as a silent partner to focus on his Reuver factory.

• 1898

  The Tegelen, Kaldenkirchen and Bracht operations merge under the name Gebr. Laumans.

• 1896

  Stephan Laumans and brothers Caspar and Jacques establish the first steam-powered roof tile factory in Bracht; permit granted on 2 December.

• 1889

  The Gebr. Teeuwen works in Kaldenkirchen passes to Quirin Laumans, giving the family its first German tile factory.

• 1880

  Company switches from hand-moulded tiles to machine interlocking tiles, producing about 200,000 per year.

• 1864

  Quirinus and Caspar Laumans take over the family business and name it Gebr. Laumans.

• 1835

  Jacob Laumans begins roof tile production in Tegelen, Netherlands.

Premium manufacturer of natural clay roof tiles and wall bricks, emphasizing quality, tradition since 1896, sustainability and individual roof design.

• LAUMANS IDEAL VARIABEL

• LAUMANS TIEFA XL TOP

• LAUMANS RHEINLAND VARIABEL

• LAUMANS MULDEN VARIABEL

• HØJSLEV HOHLPFANNE

• HØJSLEV SKANDINAVIA

• Wall bricks, clinker and facing bricks

1. 1Premium Dachziegel der Dachziegelwerke Laumanslaumans.de
2. 2Gebr. Laumans Ziegelwerke – Wikipediade.wikipedia.org
3. 3Laumans, Gebr. – Wikidatawikidata.org