Johann Rudolf Wetter
(1705-1767)
Johann Rudolf Wetter (also known as Jean-Rodolphe Wetter; 8 November 1705, Herisau – 21 June 1777, Orange) was a Protestant Swiss textile merchant, indiennes manufacturer, and industrial pioneer in France.
Life and family
Wetter was the son of Lorenz Wetter, a textile merchant and Landammann, and Barbara Ziegler, and the brother of Adrian Wetter. In 1719 he began his training at the firm Wetter, Binder & Cie in Marseille, a branch of his father's textile trading house. He later became a partner and took over its direction in 1734. In 1732 he married Jeanne Fiquet, daughter of Jean Fiquet of Montpellier. The couple had two children.
Commercial activities in Marseille
Wetter expanded his product range to include dyes, spirits, and corals. His experiments with diving suits for coral fishing revealed an inclination for technical innovation. In the 1740s he turned to the manufacture of indiennes (printed cotton fabrics). Marseille was the only place in France where this activity was permitted despite the royal prohibition of 1686, though products could only be sold within the city itself and abroad.
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This entry incorporates text from “Johann Rudolf Wetter” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.