Gerda Koepff

Names

Gerda Koepff

Eberbach 1919–2006 Heidelberg

BiographyGerda Koepff, née Stoess, was born in 1919 into a family of gelatine industrialists in Eberbach near Heidelberg. When her brother Harald Stoess was killed in action during World War II, she learned economics and subsequently, in 1957, started to work in the family company, the "Chemical Works Stoess". The company had been founded in 1888 by Gerda Koepff's grand father, Heinrich Stoess, and was led at the time by her father, Walter Stoess, and her future husband, Heinrich Koepff, who also came from a family of gelatine producers. Gerda Koepff acted as executive director from 1960 until 1975. She married Heinrich Koepff in 1965, the same year when the Koepff and Stoess companies started to merge, to become the "Deutsche Gelatine-Fabriken Stoess GmbH" in 1972. It was changed into a joint-stock company (AG) in 1989 (today it is called Gelita AG and is still family-owned), and Gerda Koepff became chairman of the board, later, until her 80th birthday, vice chairman. Gerda Koepff died in 2006.

Gerda Koepff started her collection of French Art Nouveau glass in the 1960s, first as a means of decorating her home. Encouraged by an art dealer in Munich she became interested to learn more, especially to see the differences in quality. Among her first acquisitions were some works by the Daum company in Nancy. The quality of these works convinced her to continue collecting Daum, at a time, when the products from this manufacturer were still widely deemed inferior to Gallé. Her collection reflects her personal taste and eye for outstanding quality. Her collection was exhibited in Dusseldorf in 1998 and was bequeathed by the collector to the Glasmuseum Hentrich, Museum Kunstpalast, where it is on permanent view.

SterbeortHeidelberg

GeburtsortEberbach

Alternative Numbers: GND120128896

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