Van Genechten Packaging is a

Belgian Belgian may refer to: * Something of, or related to, Belgium * Belgians, people from Belgium or of Belgian descent * Languages of Belgium, languages spoken in Belgium, such as Dutch, French, and German *Ancient Belgian language, an extinct languag ...

printing company, located in

Turnhout Turnhout () is a Belgian municipality and city located in the Flemish province of Antwerp. The municipality comprises only the city of Turnhout proper. In 2021, Turnhout had a total population of 45,874. The total area is . The agglomeration, ho ...

. It is one of the companies of the printing ''valley'' located around Turnhout,

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History

One of the originators of the company, J.E. Glénisson was born in Keeken,

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, in 1808. His father married the sister of the wife of

Philippus Jacobus Brepols Philippus Jacobus Brepols (1778 – 1845) was a Belgian publisher and founder of the Brepols printing family-business in Turnhout, Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in ...

. J.E. Glénisson studied in

Saint-Omer Saint-Omer (; vls, Sint-Omaars) is a commune and sub-prefecture of the Pas-de-Calais department in France. It is west-northwest of Lille on the railway to Calais, and is located in the Artois province. The town is named after Saint Audoma ...

(

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) and came to work afterwards in the

Brepols Brepols is a Belgian publishing house. Once, it was one of the largest printing companies in the world and one of the main employers in Turnhout (Belgium). Besides its printing business, Brepols is also active as a publisher. Formerly well known ...

factory of his uncle in

. In 1830, he was promoted to first clerk. He married with C.A. Peeters. When in 1833 P.J. Brepols introduced his son-in-law into the company, Glénisson saw his chances to reach the top of the company evaporate, and started together with Antoine Van Genechten their own printing business in the ''Hofstraat'' in Turnhout. They specialized themselves in the same products as Brepols, which of course lead to fierce competition. In 1837, they moved their company to the ''Warandestraat''. On 2 January 1839 they founded their own magazine, the ''L’abeille de la Campine''. This French-speaking magazine was not a success and after three years, as from January 1842, they changed it into a Flemish magazine ''De Kempische Bie'', which lasted until 30 December 1843. In 1841 Glénisson and Van Genechten had about 80 employees, and in 1847 they had about 155 employees. In 1855, the company Glénisson & Van Genechten was dissolved and Glénisson & Van Genechten established their own company. Glénisson remained in the factory in the Warandestraat and Van Genechten set up a new building in ''Den Dijk'', now Merodelei, in Turnhout: ''Etabl. Antoine Van Genechten''. The new company continued to produce the same products as its competitors. On 15 December 1868 the company got a license for pressing Chinese playing cards and in 1869, the factory was expanded. The printing of comics (''kinderprenten'') was discontinued in 1870 and the printing blocks were sold to Beersmans-Pleek. On 14 July 1874, Antoine Van Genechten died and the company was continued by his oldest son-in-law, Jean De Somer. The company business expanded greatly, which was rewarded with honors at expositions in Belgium and abroad. In 1909, the company was incorporated into a ''N.V.''. In 1912, Jan-Antoon De Somer succeeded his father and his brother, Paul De Somer, joined the Management Board of the company. In the meantime the company had started with the printing on packaging, and also specialised in printing of playing cards with publicity. In 1970 Van Genechten, together with Brepols and Biermans, founded Carta Mundi as a

joint venture A joint venture (JV) is a business entity created by two or more parties, generally characterized by shared ownership, shared returns and economic risk, risks, and shared governance. Companies typically pursue joint ventures for one of four rea ...

. In 1971, Van Genechten acquired Biermans, to create ''Van Genechten Biermans'' (VGB).

Sources

Glénisson & Van Genechten
(Dutch)

(Dutch)

External links

Van Genechten Packaging
Companies based in Antwerp Province Playing card manufacturers