Weimar Porzellan

Weimar Porzellanmanufaktur is a German company that has been manufacturing porcelain in Weimar since 1797.[1]

Timeline

1790 Established by Christian Andreas Speck
1797 First products presented at the Leipzig Trade Fair
1830 Takeover by Gustav Vogt
1836 Sold to Gottfried Sorge, soon followed by bankruptcy
1841 Streitbarth and Köstner co-operation
1847 Sold to Fasolt after period in which factory was closed down
1856 Partnership with Eduard Eichler
1917 Ernst Carstens purchases the factory
1928 Registered trademark "Weimar Porzellan"
1948 Nationalisation and inclusion into the state-owned "Kombinat Feinkeramik Kahla"
1992 Purchase by Herbert Hillebrand Bauverwaltungs-Gesellschaft mbH
1995 Bankruptcy and purchase by the town of Blankenhain, British American Ltd. and Optima Immobilien GmbH
2006 Renewed purchase by Hillebrand
2007 Purchase by Könitz Porzellan GmbH, owned by Turpin Rosenthal[2]

Establishment

Porcelain-making at Weimar was the brainchild of the ceramist Christian Andreas Speck (1748[3] - December 30, 1817), who obtained a brevet from Karl Friedrich Graf von Hatzfeld, dated July 1, 1790, authorizing him to establish a porcelain works at Blankenhain in the former hunting box that Speck had purchased. China clay was shipped in from Tannroda near Bad Berka and the necessary quartz-feldspar sand, giving the porcelain body strength and translucence, was found in the vicinity of Blankenhain. A mill for finely grinding the raw materials was set up at Seeteich. In 1797 Speck was able to show wares for the first time at the Leipzig fair. Speck was able to come to agreements with the various magistrates to insure that porcelain manufacture was unaffected by the political upheavals of Napoleonic Europe; the demand for modest table wares for the middle class remained firm. With the coming of peace, Speck was employing 155 workers in 1816. In 1817, the factory suffered a disastrous fire, from which it was recovering when Speck died on December 30.

Carstens Family period (1917-1948)

In 1917 the factory was taken over by Hamburg businessman Ernst Carstens, who renamed it "E. Carstens KG". To collectors the products of this period are often known Carstens china. In 1928, the trademark was registered as "Weimar Porzellan".[4]

Carstens adopted the artistic style of Art Nouveau and led to a period of success in England, Belgium, Finland, the Netherlands, Spain, Switzerland, America and the Middle East.[4] Eva Zeisel is a famous designer who worked for Carstens in the 1930s.

After the death of Ernst Carstens, his widow and two sons ran the factory until it was confiscated and nationalised by the Soviets in July 1948, the year before the official establishment of East Germany.[4]

Notes

  1. ↑ Weimar Porzellanmanufaktur website, with a brief history of the manufactory on which this article is based.
  2. ↑
  3. ↑ Speck was aged 69 at his death.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 "The art of porcelain making for the 21st century - History". Weimar Porzellan. Retrieved 8 February 2015.

See also

Category Ceramics manufacturers of Germany Carstens

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