Porcelain factory Hertwig & Co.

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View of the Hertwig & Co. factory in Katzhütte, 1920s.

The Hertwig & Co. porcelain factory existed from 1864 to 1990 in Katzhütte, Thuringia . From 1958 it was run as VEB Zierkeramik Katzhütte .

history

In the middle of the 19th century, Christoph Hertwig and his brother-in-law Benjamin Beyermann ran a shop and a porcelain painting shop in Großbreitenbach , for which they wanted to make porcelain themselves. However, your application for a concession to manufacture porcelain there was rejected by the responsible ministry of the Principality of Schwarzburg-Sondershausen . In the principality of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt they were finally successful with one application. In 1864, Hertwig and Beyermann, together with Carl Birkner, bought the site of the disused lower hammer mill in Katzhütte, one of the poorest places in the country, where they set up a porcelain factory and, after various test runs, started the series production of luxury and fantasy items such as figures, boxes and dolls' heads one year later and pipe stubs for their porcelain painting in Großbreitenbach began. From 1877 to 1887 Reinhard Möller worked as a modeller for busts for the manufactory.

Carl Birkner, for whom the technical management of the company had caused difficulties, sold his shares in 1866. Beyermann died of suicide after losing his belongings in a fire. From 1868 Christoph Hertwig was the sole owner of the porcelain factory in Katzhütte. He died on November 15, 1886, after which his sons Carl and Friedrich took over the business. The manufacture now experienced an upswing. The brothers expanded production to include articles of saints and Nanking dolls . The dolls consisted of a cotton body filled with sawdust with arms, legs and heads made of biscuit porcelain. These items were mainly shipped to America, Canada, England and Paris and had names like Agnes, Daisy, Florence, Mabel and others. Around 1890, Hertwig & Co. employed around 300 factory workers and 600 home workers in the villages around Katzhütte, making it one of the largest employers in the upper Schwarzatal . The daily doll production was around 24,000 pieces. The company had set up a health insurance company and a bathing establishment for its workers.

From 1900 the company also produced porcelain figurines in Art Nouveau and later also in Art Deco style . The sculptor Stephan Dakon was one of the designers . In 1911 Hertwig & Co. opened a branch in Meuselbach . In 1907, 1913 and 1930 the number of employees was 500. During the Great Depression , the company cut back porcelain production and switched to fine stoneware in 1936 . The company was modernized and restructured with the introduction of a mechanized production process, after which the number of employees in the company dropped to 400 in 1937. The range now mainly consisted of animal figures, dolls and later also utility porcelain such as milk jugs and plates. At that time the business was run by Ernst and Hans Hertwig, the sons of Karl and Friedrich. The company survived the Second World War unscathed. The product range was initially reduced to decorative and functional ceramics. The great-grandson of the company's founder, Ernst Friedrich Hertwig, managed the company until 1958.

Then the company was nationalized as a state-owned company VEB Zierkeramik Katzhütte and the product range was reduced to decorative ceramics. In the early 1980s, a forgotten archive with old exhibits in sample boxes was rediscovered on the factory premises. In order to procure Western foreign currency, a GDR state company sold most of the boxes to various unknown private buyers at auctions in Berlin and London. After the German reunification , the run-down business was closed in 1990.

literature

  • 75 years of porcelain and fine stoneware factory Hertwig & Co., Katzhütte / Thür: 1864–1939; [Figures, groups, gifts]. Pickenhahn, 1939. 63 pp.
  • Florence Theriault: Hertwig and Co. Archives, 1890–1937. Gold Horse Publishing, 2000, ISBN 0-91282-326-7 , 136 pp.
  • Robert E. Röntgen: Marks on German, Bohemian, and Austrian Porcelain: 1710 to the Present. Schiffer Publishing, 2007, ISBN 0-76432-521-3 , pp. 49, 50, 272.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b c Swantje Köhler: German Post War History through the example of the firm Hertwig & Co. In: dollshousespastandpresent.com
  2. ↑ a b c d e Porzellanfabrik Hertwig & Co. In: gemeinde-katzhuette.de
  3. ↑ Dawn Herlocher: 200 Years of Dolls Identification and Price Guide . Krause Publications, 2005, ISBN 0-89689-167-4 , p. 186.
  4. ^ Mary Hillier: Dolls and doll-makers . Putnam, 1968, p. 178.
  5. ^ Gabriele Goettle, Elisabeth Kmölniger: German traces. Findings from East and West. Eichborn, 1997, p. 8f.
  6. ↑ Eric Knowles : Art Deco. Bloomsbury Publishing, 2014, ISBN 0-74781-521-6 , p. 82.
  7. ^ Judith Miller : Miller's Art Deco. Living with the Art Deco Style. Hachette UK, 2016, ISBN 1-78472-278-2 , pp. 92f.
  8. ↑ Katzhütte . In: porcelainmarksandmore.com