Hermann Harkort

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Hermann Harkort (born May 15, 1881 in Wehringhausen ; † February 12, 1970 ) was an entrepreneur , engineer and ceramics researcher, founder of the Velten-Vordamm stoneware factory and chairman of the German Ceramic Society .

Life

Harkort, offspring of the Harkort entrepreneurial family , was the only son and one of four children of the factory owner Hermann Harkort (1854–1930) and his wife Clara, née Elbers (1859–1918), after studying at the technical universities in Hanover and Berlin , he joined them graduated from the Department of Metallurgy at the Technical University of Aachen in 1907. In 1908, Harkort took over the Vordamm stoneware factory, which had belonged to the family since 1901, and expanded it between 1913 and 1914 to include the wall panel factory in Velten, which was designed according to a new production concept . This is how the Velten-Vordamm stoneware factories, based in Velten, came into being.

The company had already been included in the German Werkbund in 1911 and was able to present its ceramic products at the Werkbund's exhibitions from the start. In 1917 operations came to a standstill.

In the spirit of the Werkbund, Harkort aimed for a close connection between craft and industry. In 1919 he switched to the production of ceramic vessels. With the help of his wife Luise Harkort (1886–1966), who was born in New York , the USA became the main export country.

To realize his ideas, Harkort placed the artistic direction of the earthenware and faience production in the hands of Charlotte Hartmann . After her marriage, she was replaced by Else Dörr in 1924 and from 1927 until the bankruptcy in 1931 by Hedwig Bollhagen .

After Harkort made contact with the Bauhaus early on and published his article Art and Technology - a new unit about it in 1923 , he enabled Theodor Bogler to design kitchen sets and then in 1925 to hand over the management of the model workshop in Velten to him. He was followed by Werner Burri , who also came from the ceramic workshop on the Dornburg , in order to use the possibilities of the large ceramic company for formal experiments.

From 1925 to 1929 Harkort was chairman of the German Ceramic Society eV (DKG) founded in 1919 and celebrated the founding anniversary with the commemorative publication he published for the 10th anniversary of the founding of the German Ceramic Society .

The global economic crisis that began in 1929 and the import ban in the USA led to the bankruptcy and dismissal of the workforce in 1931 .

As an engineer, Harkort specialized in the economic organization of business processes. The factory in Velten, built according to his ideas since 1913, used a particularly favorable location between the siding and the waterway for operations. In addition, Harkort pursued the qualified combination of craftsmanship and industry in a fusion of decor and form. In this context, Harkort's working time measurements belonged together with Hedwig Bollhagen.

Advised by Harkort and other friends, Hedwig Bollhagen was able to resume the earthenware and faience production developed in accordance with the German Werkbund with the establishment of the HB workshops for ceramics in 1934.

Harkort himself took over the management of a chemical apparatus manufacturing company in the 1930s and emerged as the author of ceramic textbooks.

Fonts

  • Contribution to the study of the iron-tungsten system . Dissertation at Aachen University of Technology, 1908.
  • Determination of the strength of earthenware masses and the relationship between the strength figures obtained and the composition and other properties of these masses . Coburg 1919.
  • Ten years of earthenware . In: 10 Years of German Ceramics 1919-1929. Festschrift for the 10th anniversary of the founding day of the German Ceramic Society . Berlin 1929, pp. 37-49.
  • with Hedwig Bollhagen : Working time measurements in paintings in ceramic companies . In: Reports of the German Ceramic Society , 12, 1931, pp. 363-375.
  • Ceramic internship . Coburg 1958 (revised by: Eduard Berdel: Simple chemical internship ).
  • Internship for porcelain and ceramic electrical insulating materials . Coburg 1963.

See also

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Tiles and pottery , 1923, issue from September 15, 1923.
  2. ^ Hermann Harkort: The position of the earthenware among the ceramic products . In: Festschrift 1926 . Pp. 82-86, here p. 84; Hermann Harkort: Ten years of earthenware . In: 10 Years of German Ceramics 1919-1929. Festschrift for the 10th anniversary of the founding day of the German Ceramic Society . Berlin 1929, pp. 37-49.
personal data
SURNAME Harkort, Hermann
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German entrepreneur
DATE OF BIRTH May 15, 1881
PLACE OF BIRTH Wehringhausen
DATE OF DEATH February 12, 1970