Biermans was a
Belgian printing company, located in
Turnhout
Turnhout () is a Belgium, Belgian Municipalities in Belgium, municipality and city located in the Flemish Region, Flemish Provinces of Belgium, province of Antwerp (province), Antwerp. The municipality comprises only the city of Turnhout proper. ...
,
Belgium
Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...
. It was one of several companies located in the printing ''valley'' of Turnhout.
History
The company was founded by
Leonard Biermans after he had been working for three years for the
Brepols
Brepols is a Belgian publishing house. Once, it was one of the largest printing companies in the world and one of the main employers in Turnhout (Belgium). Besides its printing business, Brepols is also active as a publisher. Formerly well known ...
factory. In 1875, he started his own company to produce
playing card
A playing card is a piece of specially prepared card stock, heavy paper, thin cardboard, plastic-coated paper, cotton-paper blend, or thin plastic that is marked with distinguishing motifs. Often the front (face) and back of each card has a f ...
s and colored
paper
Paper is a thin sheet material produced by mechanically or chemically processing cellulose fibres derived from wood, Textile, rags, poaceae, grasses, Feces#Other uses, herbivore dung, or other vegetable sources in water. Once the water is dra ...
, close to the railway in Turnhout, with ten employees. He married with Marie-Thérèze Poupaert, daughter of Carolus F. Poupaert, who was director of the
Van Genechten company.
When one of the banks, where Biermans had lent money to fund his company, went bankrupt Fr. Van Dooren and Georges Dupret provided him capital to continue his business and saved his company, AT. When Leonard Biermans died in 1897, his company was incorporated to a N.V., and Georges Dupret became the President of the company, whereas the Management Board of the company was led by Henri Van den Bosch. At that moment the company had already about 330 employees. In 1899, the Biermans factory was connected to the new electricity power supply, five years before the Brepols factory. When
France
France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...
levied high import taxes on Belgian paper products, Biermans started a new paper mill in
Lille
Lille (, ; ; ; ; ) is a city in the northern part of France, within French Flanders. Positioned along the Deûle river, near France's border with Belgium, it is the capital of the Hauts-de-France Regions of France, region, the Prefectures in F ...
(France) to circumvent these import taxes. In order to start the new factory, 40 families moved from Turnhout to France and settled near Lille.
In 1930, the son of Georges Dupret, Marcel Dupret, took over the management of the company, and decided to start with the production of industrial bags and to expand the printing business and cardboard production. In 1934 the demand for playing cards on the Asian market increased, and a new factory was established in
Calcutta
Kolkata, also known as Calcutta (List of renamed places in India#West Bengal, its official name until 2001), is the capital and largest city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of West Bengal. It lies on the eastern ba ...
(
India
India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...
), which would continue its business until the independence of India. In 1960, the company Copa was founded, which became a strong competitor on market for special paper. When the market for special paper decreased, several paper manufacturers from the Turnhout region, Copa, Mesmaekers, Biermans and Van Genechten, founded Turpa. In 1970 Biermans, together with Brepols and Van Genechten, founded
Carta Mundi
Cartamundi Group is a company based in Turnhout, Belgium, that manufactures, produces, and sells board games, card games, collectible card games, packages, and playing cards through its manufacturing and sales subsidiaries. The name of the compa ...
as a
joint venture
A joint venture (JV) is a business entity created by two or more parties, generally characterized by shared ownership, shared returns and risks, and shared governance. Companies typically pursue joint ventures for one of four reasons: to acce ...
. In 1971, Biermans was acquired by
Van Genechten, to create ''Van Genechten Biermans'' (VGB).
See also
*
Flemish Innovation Center for Graphic Communication
Sources
* De Turnhoutse Kempen, haar economische en sociale betekenis, Vlaams Economisch Verbond, pp. 88–90
Biermans(Dutch)
External links
Van Genechten-Biermans(Van Genechten Packaging)
Companies based in Antwerp Province
Playing card manufacturers