Andreas Heege, Andreas Kistler 2026

Gerber-Kohler-Aebi family tree

Johann Friedrich Gerber (1881–1935) was the second son of the potter Adolf Gerber from Langnau (1859–1919), who set up a potter’s workshop in the Tschamerie area of Hasle in 1902. It is not known where Johann Friedrich learnt his craft. His brother was the potter Adolf Gerber (1879-1951) junior, who set up his workshop in Lagnau in 1911, where he, together with the crafts instructor Paul Wyss, successfully revived and redeveloped the “Alt-Langnau” (Old Langnau) style of pottery (Aeschlimann 1928, 18-19). Johann Friedrich Gerber married Rosa Tschanz (1883-1966), whose name suggests that she may have come from one of the Heimberg potting families (cf. Buchs 1988; no genealogical confirmation, however, has yet been established). The couple did not have children.

From 1917, if not earlier, Johann Friedrich Gerber worked as a self-employed potter in Grünen in the municipality of Sumiswald, which is attested to by the fact that he registered three journeymen for the years 1917 and 1922. We have no further information on the location or history of the workshop, although initial signs indicate that it was located at 3 Bernstrasse (with thanks to Dieter Sigrist).

Johann Friedrich Gerber’s products are hardly known. So far, only two plates and a tobacco jar (all in private ownership) have been attributed to his workshop. Both plates have painted marks on the back. One of them, dated 1932, is marked with “F.G. Grünen” and has Trachselwald Castle, an important Bernese bailiff’s seat, on the front.

Based on this signature, we can assume that another plate, which bears the words “Sumiswald F.G.”, was also made at Friedrich Gerber’s workshop. The motif on that particular plate may have been based on a drawing by the crafts instructor Paul Wyss. The inscription on the front reads: “Si möge säge was sie wie u. spotte, s’isch mir einerlei, I’liebe notti hin u. her, mi liebe alte Bärner Bär” [They can say what they want and mock, I don’t care, I love him back and forth, my darling old bear] (old Bern folksong “D’r Bärner-Bär” [The Bernese Bear], music by Oskar Friedrich Schmalz [brother of the ceramicist C.A. Schmalz], lyrics by Gottfried Strasser, 1854–1912; published in “Bi üs im Bärnerland, Heft II”).

A small tobacco jar, also bearing the marks “FG” and “Sumiswald”, is particularly pretty.

Another plate, which can probably also be attributed to the workshop, was found in a private collection in 2021. It is marked “Grünen”.

A few years ago, a number of plates were acquired directly from the old workshop; they are now in private ownership (with many thanks to Werner Gut, Triengen, for the information).

Translation Sandy Haemmerle