In 1909, after the death of his father, Gerhard Kohn joined the parents' parent company, the wood import and wood processing company Pundt & Kohn in
Geestemünde, as general manager, in which he also became a partner in 1912, together with his brother Hans, who took over the management of the company after his father's death (1909). From 1912 to 1924 he was also a member of the Bremerhaven Chamber of Industry and Commerce (
IHK) , 1929 In 1909 Gerhard Kohn founded the
Meller Möbelfabrik GmbH (MMM) in
Melle, near Osnabrück, which he managed until his death (1962). He recognized early on that in the vicinity of the so-called "furniture basin" (
Herford,
Detmold,
East Westphalia-Lippe), i.e. in a structurally weak region between
Wiehen Hills and
Teutoburg Forest, particularly good conditions existed for the development of a furniture industry: Rich
beech and
oak forests supplied the raw materials, high unemployment and low wages ensured low unit costs, the large land requirement of the space-intensive furniture production could be covered here inexpensively. In addition, the connection to the railway network to the rapidly developing furniture sales markets in the nearby
Ruhr area, and later also in the
Rhineland and
Saarland, meant favorable development conditions for furniture production. After all, there were special terms and conditions during the two world wars, e.g. with the fabrication of ammunition boxes and aircraft parts produced under the restrictive laws of the military administration. Also, in
World War II, the production of the MMM was switched to wartime tasks. After the end of the war, British troops under Field Marshal
Bernard Montgomery occupied the region and confiscated Kohnert's villa "Haus Sonneck" on Meller Berg (1945–1955). Montgomery set up his temporary headquarters in neighboring Gut Ostenwalde (Melle-Oldendorf). Kohnert then initially lived in the company's office building, before in the early 1950s he built three new residential buildings on the factory premises as company apartments in Teichbruchstraße, today Bismarckstr. No. 13-17 (since 1967 under monument protection as an ensemble), for himself and his manager and authorized signatory. Under the direction of Gerhard Kohnert, the MMM gained a national reputation after the war. It was known as a manufacturer of dignified and innovative living room and office furniture, e.g. of licensed furniture in the
Bauhaus style for the Bremen workshops. However, the progressive industrialization and internationalization of the furniture industry in the 1960s to 1970s also led to a concentration on ever larger and more modern companies in this region and to the abandonment of those who could not keep up with this process. == Oeuvre ==