FOBA AG is a Swiss company that makes

photographic studio A photographic studio is often a business owned and represented by one or more photographers, possibly accompanied by assistants and pupils, who create and sell their own and sometimes others’ photographs. History Since the early years of th ...

equipment.

History

In 1939, just after

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

started in Europe, imports of

photography Photography is the visual arts, art, application, and practice of creating images by recording light, either electronically by means of an image sensor, or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film. It is empl ...

products such as lights and dry presses from

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

were reduced to a trickle. Walter Friedrich, a precisions engineer, together with his wife, began to manufacture commodities for professional photographers in their rented home's small basement. He called his startup ''Fotogeräte- und Elektroapparate-Bau'' ("Manufacturing of photographic and electrical equipment"), or ''FOBA''. To save on shipping costs and to keep up the personal contact with his customers, Friedrich at first delivered products personally by

bicycle A bicycle, also called a pedal cycle, bike, push-bike or cycle, is a human-powered transport, human-powered or motorized bicycle, motor-assisted, bicycle pedal, pedal-driven, single-track vehicle, with two bicycle wheel, wheels attached to a ...

. The company also supplied cooking plates with integrated

heating coil A heat exchanger is a system used to transfer heat between a source and a working fluid. Heat exchangers are used in both cooling and heating processes. The fluids may be separated by a solid wall to prevent mixing or they may be in direct contac ...

s. This was the first in Switzerland.

References

Photography equipment manufacturers of Switzerland Manufacturing companies established in 1939 1939 establishments in Switzerland Swiss brands {{Switzerland-company-stub