Schunck () is the name of former fashion house and department store Firma Schunck in Heerlen, the Netherlands. It is also the name for the collection of buildings the firm has been housed in, one of which is known as the Glaspaleis (Glass Palace), which is now a cultural centre and declared one of the 1000 most important buildings of the 20th century by the Union of International Architects.
The business grew from a small weaver's shop to the major department store in Heerlen and the innovating force in that town when coal mining declined. Over more than a century, it has been run by four consecutive generations of the family Schunck.
In current time, the Glaspaleis is a multidisciplinary cultural centre for contemporary art, architecture, music, dance and library named SCHUNCK*.
Prelude – a family of weavers
In Eupen-Kettenis (or Kettenich) in the German-speaking part of Belgium, records show that a weaver (Tuchmacher) named 'Schunck' was established as early as 1776. His eldest son, Nikolaus Severin Schunck (1799–1865), had six sons (and one daughter), of whom the third oldest, Arnold, would later found the firm in Heerlen. Because business was slow, only the one but youngest, Joseph, would remain in the weaving mill. But he appears to have survived, because to this day there is still a weaving mill in Kettenis run by descendants of Nikolaus.
Wanderings (1858)
After his mother died in 1858, Arnold went to Eupen to learn the trade at P. Fremereij's factory, where he became a 'Meisterweber' (master weaver). The family disputes over whether traditional or mechanised (steam powered) weaving was the way of the future made Arnold decide to use his obligatory travels as a Wanderbursche (travelling apprentice) to decide for himself. From 17 April to 5 November 1860, he travelled (largely on foot) to Silesia (a centre for mechanical weaving), Mannheim, Munich, Nuremberg, Berlin and Hamburg, but this only resulted in a few jobs as a handweaver and he never got to work in a mechanised weaving factory because the owners of these modern factories had little respect for the traditional 'Wanderburschen'. As a result, from then on, he always stuck to handweaving.
He returned to Kettenis to work with his father. His brother Nicola, however, who had also struck out on his own in 1858, had switched to mechanised weaving, working in Aachen at the Delius textile factory (as overseer), which had important international connections. He was persuaded by Russian entrepreneurs to set up a weaving factory in Białystok in Russia (now Poland), a major centre of the textile industry at the crossroads of the important St Petersburg – Berlin and Königsberg – Odessa roads. So he went there in 1863 with Wilhelm, the second oldest son. Later that year, Arnold followed, but only to accompany Nicola's wife, and returned a year later, another useful experience richer.
When father Nikolaus Schunck died in 1865 (of 'dust lungs', a typical weavers affliction), Severin-Joseph, who was to take over the business, wanted to mechanise, but didn't have the financial means to do so. There were assets (house, looms) but little cash. So when in 1986 Wilhelm returned from Russia to get married, the brothers decided to leave Severin-Joseph the inheritance. (Note that the brothers had rights to the entire inheritance because they had been working at the mill for years without pay.) Severin-Joseph no longer needed the handlooms now, so in return the other brothers would receive one of the hand-weaving looms each (quite literally heirlooms) and five years later they would additionally receive 1000 Rheinische Thaler and cloth woven by Severin-Joseph. Luckily, the unification of Germany in 1870 opened new markets, which gave such a boost to the economy that he could easily hold up his end of the bargain.