Emilie Schleiss-Simandl: Pioneers of ceramic art in Gmunden

The success story of female creative power from 1843 to 1983.

For more than a century, women had a decisive influence on the development of ceramic art in Gmunden. Franziska Wiesinger, married name Schleiss, ran the ceramics workshop from 1843. She supplied markets in Linz, Krems and Vienna and organized the day-to-day running of the workshop, while her husband held political office. With their son Leopold and his wife Josefine, the workshop continued to develop, culminating in the founding of the factory in Traunleiten in 1903, which still exists today. Emilie Schleiss-Simandl, sculptor, ceramicist and graduate of the Vienna School of Arts and Crafts, gave the manufactory an international artistic profile.