The creation of our annual rings 190 years of Weitzer Parkett: From little acorns grow mighty oaks
Since 1831, we have been completely focused on one thing: wood. Constant growth, sustainable management and a sense of community are part of the very fabric of Weitzer Parkett and are deeply rooted in what we do and have been doing for seven generations.
Dive into our long and rich history and discover the story of how Weitzer Parkett reached its 190th anniversary and continues to create perfect surfaces for your parquet floors to this day.
Our premises on the banks of the Weizbach, just below the entrance to the Weizklamm gorge, were first mentioned in documents from 1665. However, the first written documents chronicling roundwood purchases date back to 1831. We have been handling and processing wood at the site ever since. This was initially done using a "Venetian saw" and a woodturning shop run by the grandparents of the current owners, Wilfried Weitzer, Ludmilla and Franz Weitzer, and eight employees.
At that time, they mainly manufactured household items for day-to-day use, such as wooden spoons, egg cups, game pieces and age-old "Pummerlzähler" for keeping score in the card game Schnapsen. Remember them?
Overseen by the next generation of the family, Willibald and Franz Weitzer, the company began producing wooden items on an industrial scale in 1950. They started manufacturing yarn and textile spools for looms for their industrial customers, and soon began exporting them around the world. But it wasn't exactly smooth sailing from the start — they were turned down again and again, and the business was struggling to get off the ground. So Willibald Weitzer boldly decided to send 5000 spools to customers free of charge, telling them "If you aren't satisfied, just use the spools as firewood!". The recipients were impressed with the quality — and the company began its road to success. Even back then, the Weitzer family was certain about one thing: Others may give up, but we're just getting started! To this day, our innovations continue to reinvent classic parquet and staircase designs.
Looking at the production overview from that time, it's clear that the company was consistently striving to add more products to its range and gradually build up a core group of products. Our company has often demonstrated a pioneering spirit, but to one thing we have always remained true: Our deep-seated belief in the value of WOOD!
In addition to the spools, we also began producing plank flooring and ship flooring. Later, we transitioned from solid parquet to two- and three-layer products. We also began to manufacture stairs and steps to supplement our range of parquet products. Extensive expertise in drying wood allowed the company to begin offering drying services to its customers.
Back then there were 40 parquet manufacturers in Austria — today there are just 5!
Weitzer Parkett consistently prevailed over its competitors by virtue of the quality products it manufactured and the significant advantage of running the entire production process. Even back then, we did not compromise on precision and we were well on our way to becoming the surface-quality perfectionists we are today.
"We were the only ones offering strip parquet with a finished surface at that time."
Exactly 40 years ago this year, the first district heating pipe was installed at the federal school complex in Weiz. In 1981, the fact that a public building was being supplied with energy by a private company caused quite a stir. This shows Weitzer's determination to be decisive and take the initiative!
Constructing our own power plant and thermal power station in 2005 - Weitzer Energie GmbH—provided the perfect opportunity make good use of the large quantities of waste wood being produced. Today, we use it to supply our factory in Weiz with electricity and large parts of the town of Weiz with district heating, because in our efforts to conserve resources, we find it important to act in a careful and considered manner.
We don't just take diversity into account in all of our decisions, we also always keep PEOPLE in mind - as shown when we started building a subsidiary in Vienna in 1999, during the construction of our World of Parquet flagship store in 2009, or when we developed our showroom partner concept that was so unique in the industry at the time.
This vision has paid off and our
A family tree with strong roots is at the heart of the Weitzer business!
From high-tech to wood-tech
Our new business division, Weitzer Wood Solutions GmbH, also takes this approach into account."As project partners to industrial clients, we are proving that, even today, wood is just as suitable a material as metal or plastic for load-bearing components in automotive, railway and mechanical engineering applications."
Our goal is to transform this robust and natural raw material into the intelligent lightweight construction material of the future. At Weitzer Wood Solutions, we don't think in terms of inflexible designs — instead we develop custom solutions that can compete with comparable materials in terms of weight, dynamics and cost efficiency, opening up completely new areas of application for the transport industry.
Nature constantly inspires us to create innovative technical solutions using wood.
"In the last three years alone, we have invested ten million euro in our headquarters to ensure our production facility is equipped with state-of-the-art technology and to safeguard both the site and jobs in Weiz. By investing in our other site at Turopolje in Croatia, our company has secured the procurement of our raw materials."
After all, it wouldn't be Weitzer if we didn't keep reinventing ourselves! Staying true to our tradition of product diversity, prepare to be dazzled by a forward-thinking innovation during our anniversary year - Weitzer Wärme Parkett, underfloor heating and parquet all in one. It's our way of making your life just that little bit easier.
Our innovative spirit has always inspired us to push the boundaries of using wood as a material. On every step of our pioneering journey, from the first spool in the woodturning shop to side impact protection, we have both valued the knowledge of the previous generation and kept the future firmly in our sights. We live and breathe innovation and—figuratively speaking—lay the world at the feet of our customers and partners around the globe: We've been providing solutions you can rely on for more than 190 years.