Company founder Josef Lobmeyr, born in 1792, learned the glazier trade from his uncle in Griesskirchen and, after completing his apprenticeship, began working in a Viennese glassware shop in 1813. As the story goes, Josef took some saved and some borrowed money and became an entrepreneur in 1823, setting up his own shop in the “Zur Kaiserin von Österreich” building on Weihburggasse. He dealt in glassware he sourced from Bohemian glassworks.

In 1824, Josef was granted Viennese citizenship. He was not only an industrious man, he also had a good understanding of his customers’ wishes, and he soon successfully booked his first orders from the imperial court. In 1835, he supplied the court’s first full table service, of which more than 4,000 pieces are still preserved in what was once the Vienna Court Silver and Tableware Chamber. The demand for glass shapes according to Josef’s own designs grew, thus paving the way to becoming a publisher of glass, a path which his sons Josef and Ludwig would later continue to follow.

The building where it all began is now home to the “Kaiserin Elisabeth” Hotel, where the ground-floor vaulted ceilings of the first Lobmeyr store are still preserved and visible.