formerly called j. pauly & sohn type privately held company industry furniture luxury goods genre family business founded 1838 1838 founder josef pauly headquarters vienna austria area served global locations products high end mattress beds bedding accessories website http www.paulybeds.com pauly beds or j. pauly & sohn is one of the oldest bedding companies in the world and the only one that supplied beds to the austrian hungarian empire during several generations . 1 josef pauly established a company in vienna kingdom of austria in 1838 when he received the license to make beds and mattresses by emperor ferdinand i of austria . the name of the company was j. pauly & sohn . in 1878 pauly became a k.u.k. purveyor to the imperial and royal court of the austrian hungarian empire . namely to the court of emperor franz joseph i and his wife empress elisabeth of austria known as sissi . 2 a k.u.k purveyor imperial and royal purveyor sometimes written as k & k purveyor was in the austro hungarial dual monarchy a trader of products or services who had a special permit by imperial privilege to deliver its goods or services to the yards of the court in vienna . this privilege allowed the suppliers to advertise publicly and exempted them from tax . the company received the title only if it was a leader in its industry in quality . the title k.u.k. purveyor was therefore a seal of approval of highest class the highest honor that a business could get back then . 3 4 history edit advertising of pauly beds from 1891 pauly sohn royal bedding 1906 handcrafting beds and mattresses is a traditional industry in austria . in the 18th century there were ten masters in this profession . during the ruling time of king leopold i the permission to work in this profession was done through privileges and a strict control over the union . the same masters also handcrafted suitcases and saddles because many expensive materials used in the production were the same horsetail hair wool cotton and leather . already at that time the austrian industry specially the bed and mattresses of vienna enjoyed a significant reputation hence exported to greece turkey and several countries in the middle east . on the 19th century there was an increase on client s demands for more luxurious products in this sector hence the reason why during the universal exhibition of 1873 in vienna the entrepreneurs of this industry specially the local ones had the possibility to present their products to a selected and international audience . it was during that exhibition when josef pauly was awarded the first golden cross for industrial merit . the second one was awarded at the universal exhibition in barcelona 1888 . 5 that same year the company celebrated its 50 year anniversary and josef pauly appeared in a publication from vienna honoring distinguished business magnates formally industrialists . 6 by 1891 the company had received ten awards including the medal of amission in brussels in 1876 . 7 according to a 1903 publication j. pauly & sohn was considered one of the oldest and most respected companies in the bedding industry as at the time of publication it had been 31 years since pauly had obtained the honorary title of k. & k purveyor of the empire and was successfully delivering beds and furniture internationally . 8 j. pauly & sohn handcrafted the first down duvets in austria . they made beds and relax areas for all home interiors and exteriors bedrooms mirror living rooms green houses and patios . they offered complete furnishing children beds baby cribs travel beds and a large variety of bed linen headboards and products for sleep . in their mattresses and furniture they used materials such as horsetail hair a material diffusing humidity used at that time in saddles and carriages seats cotton wool springs and silk . josef pauly was succeeded by his son also named josef pauly . by 1900 the pauly family had been handcrafting beds for four generations . nevertheless the first world war the fall of the monarchy in 1918 the great depression and eventually the second world war created constant challenges for the company . the last family owner was dorothea henning before the company was acquired by an investor group . references edit the names and dates of k.u.k purveyors from 1899 are in the official handbook of the supreme court and his k. & k. apostolic majesty . printed and published by the k.k. court and state printing house 1899 vienna . pauly s name is on page 353 as shown in picture k.u.k purveyors from 1899 in the official handbook of the supreme court and his k.k. apostolic majesty . in german handbuch des allerh chsten hofes und des hofstaates seiner k. und k. apostolischen majest t f r 1899 wien . druk und verlag der k.k. hof und staatsdruckerei . claudia haase alexandra kropf . where the customer is still emperor . economic journal june 15 1996 called on 2 february of 2009 . claudia haase & alexandra kroft where the customer is still emperor wirtshaftsblatt newspaper austria june 15th 1996 http wirtschaftsblatt.at archiv wirtschaft 981414 print.do austrian national library historical newspapers 1903 supplement to the vienna newspaper aug 8th 1903 http anno.onb.ac.at cgi content anno plus apm 0 & aid wzj & datum 19030005 & seite 00000112 austrian national library historical newspapers 1988 gallery of outstanding industrialist . the anniversary edition.trade posing in word and picture der humorist free supplement to illustrated magazine vienna nr . 18 year 8 july 12 1888 p. 4 http anno.onb.ac.at cgi content anno aid hu1 & datum 18880712 & query % 22josef pauly % 22 % 221888 % 22 & provider p02 & ref anno search a pauly beds drawing of an advertising from 1891 as shown in picture published in the austrian kaiser 1703 1903 jubileums anniversary edition . alfred von lindheim . druck und verlag k. k. hof und staatsdruckerei viena august 8 1903 p. 108 supplement to the vienna newspaper . saturday august 8th 1903 external links edit official website retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title pauly beds & oldid 729250170 categories 1838 introductionsluxury brandsaustrian brandsbedsmattresses1838 establishments in the austrian empirecompanies established in 1838sleeppurveyors to the imperial and royal courthidden categories pages using infobox company with unsupported parameters navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version languages fran aisitaliano edit links this page was last modified on 10 july 2016 at 23 19 . text is available under 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