Porcelain factory in Sorau
The porcelain factory Sorau was 1888-1945 operation for porcelain dishes in the Prussian district town Sorau, today Żary . The factory produced table services with decorative painting , which were further produced in parts of the GDR after the Second World War .
history
The Sorauer porcelain factory was founded in 1888 by Gustav Otremba on the site of a former nail factory, Am Schießhaut 6, under the name Gustav Otremba Porzellanfabrik Sorau N / L. Four years later, Franz Böhme and in 1901 his son Fritz Böhme took over the company. After a successful takeover, the Sorau plant joined the Association of German Porcelain Factories in 1900 to raise the Porzellanindustrie GmbH . In March 1918 the businessman Gotthard Curtius acquired the plant. It was in the red during the First World War due to a bad order situation.
The frequent change of ownership ended with the takeover in December 1918 by the owner of a ceramic factory in Elmshorn , Christian Carstens. The plant operated under C. & E. Carstens, porcelain factory Sorau N / L . In October 1923, after the death of his father, his son Ernst took over the now up-and-coming porcelain factory with the new name affix, owner Ernst Carstens Erben . The export of table china to America and Europe ensured the owners an expansion of their company. The company headquartered in Elmshorn had u. a. 14 porcelain factories and was the second largest ceramic producer in Germany after Villeroy & Boch . The production facilities were located in Sorau, Reichenbach , Blankenhain and Zeven , among others . The designs came from well-known artists such as Eva Stricker-Zeisel , Siegfried Möller or Arthur Hennig .
The Sorauer porcelain factory employed 300 people before 1925, then 360 in 1925 and finally 400 people in 1930, making it an important employer in the small town. The factory was expanded in a modern way and trained its own porcelain workers, shapers and painters . During the Second World War, technical porcelain also had to be produced. The gold-edged painting of the Sorauer Design was forbidden during the war. During the Nazi era , the plant was converted into a limited partnership in 1943 .
A heavy bombardment of the city by American planes on April 11, 1944 did not hit the porcelain factory. It was not until the attack by the Red Army in February 1945 that the plant was badly damaged. After the war, the factory in Żary, now in Poland, was not rebuilt, instead a building trade school (later an agricultural school) was established. The nationalized parts of the company that remained in Blankenhain and Reichenbach in the GDR continued the tradition of Sorau design for the time being.
Factory site in Sorau
The multi-part factory buildings erected in the 1920s and 1930s by the C. & E. Carstens Group on Schmidtstrasse (ul. Górnośląska), with their large windows, corresponded to contemporary modern architecture. Today they are home to a building materials wholesaler.
Porcelain production
In the 60 years of operation, over 22,000 porcelain items in various shapes and decors have been manufactured. The in-house painting of the table service was made with a gold rim and mostly in small-flowered decors. Sorauer porcelain is now in the city archive and the Brandenburg Textile Museum in Forst and in the Silesian-Lusatian Border Museum in Żary .
Decors
| decor | Sample image | Porcelain brand, painter's brand | Service, remarks |
|---|---|---|---|
| Margret | circa 1930 | ||
| MIMOSA | The mimosa motif was painted in yellow, pink and blue. The decor remained the same, but there were different styles of service, patterns around 1930 | ||
| Utensils | 1940 with alternating large and small five-point pattern in blue, thick porcelain for large kitchens. The painting is similar to the Bunzlau crockery , the brown center in the blue five-point pattern is missing. | ||
| Amsterdam - red | |||
| ARIADNE | |||
| Astoria - Carstens Sorau | art deco | ||
| China Blue Sorau Portland 132 | before 1920 | ||
| INGRID - nettle decor | |||
| Potsdam | |||
| EMERALD | from 1926 | ||
| Sorau-Gold Carstens porcelain |
Distribution methods
The Carstens Manufactory in Sorau initiated a so-called collection service. When purchasing Sorauer porcelain, there were collective brands in the sales branches depending on the purchase value. Upon presentation of a corresponding number of brands, customers received individual collection cups or even entire services. This method promoted sales; it is still used in other industries.
Former Sorau women's group
Porcelain painters and women from Sorau organized advertising and sales events in large coffee groups. Similar to the Tupperware parties since the middle of the 20th century, Sorau women's groups met in which the table and coffee service collections were advertised. The rounds like in the Heidehaus Sorau, initiated here by the porcelain painter Marta Alt and her sister, the forester's wife Emma Gerner (née Alt), were popular. Game specialties and prepared farmed fish were also served with the appropriate Sorau crockery for hunting groups.
literature
- Irena Gatys, Roman Gatys: Encyklopedia śląskiej porcelany , 2 vols., Stróża 2010.
- Irena Gatys, Roman Gatys: Żarska porcelana 1888–1945 Sorauer Porzellan , Żary 2012.
- Volker Zelinsky: The Art Ceramics of the Carstens Group - Examples for the Implementation of Abstract Modernism in Everyday Culture 1919–1939 , Hamburg 2018, ISBN 978-3-00-061224-4
Web link
- Homepage of Carstens ceramics
- Private website about C. & E. Carstens
- Pinterest collection on Sorauer porcelain and its porcelain brands
- Homepage of the Silesian-Lusatian Border Region Museum
Individual evidence
- ↑ Frank Pintschka: C. & E. Carstens. Retrieved May 23, 2020 .
- ↑ On the trail of Sorau porcelain. In: zary.pl. Retrieved May 23, 2020 .