Wallerfangen stoneware factory
The Wallerfanger stoneware factory was founded in 1791 by Nicolas Villeroy . The final closure took place in 1931 under factory director Walter Fiehn , the bankruptcy was partly due to the effects of the global economic crisis .
history
The origins of the factory go back to 1785, when Jean Thibault founded one of the first Faienceries in Frauenberg .
Both Villeroy and Thibault had previously made considerable fortunes with the saltworks trade in Lorraine .
The company was able to expand very successfully both through a clever infrastructure policy, such as connection to the rail network and the use of hard coal as an energy source, as well as through recruiting international, especially English specialists.
1836 was made to connect to the in Mettlach / Saar already successfully existing ceramic factory of Jean-Francois Boch , this was the beginning of the subsequent global company Villeroy and Boch .
At the zenith of its production in 1891, in the year of the company's 100th anniversary, the factory employed almost 1000 people and consisted of almost 50 different buildings, so the company in Wallerfangen and the surrounding area was the main employer for a long time, the region only got competition through the emerging industrialization, especially through the mining and steel industry, mainly from the neighboring Dillinger Hütte .
Products from Catfish
In the Wallerfanger factory mainly earthenware was produced , in a few years also porcelain (so-called bone china ). The company specialized in stenciled decorative prints, such as copperplate printing . The product range ranged from normal household utensils (dinner, coffee, tea sets, sanitary items, etc.) to simple decorative objects (vases, wall plates) to figurative models and sometimes elaborate art objects with crystal glazes .
One of the most productive designers in Wallerfangen was the engraver, illustrator and caricaturist Philipp Müller (1811-1893).
The Wallerfangen Historical Museum houses a diverse collection of documents from the Wallerfang stoneware factory .
gallery
Wallerfangen stoneware factory around 1925. Postcard. (Archive VfH Wallerfangen)
Nicolas Villeroy. Company founder
V&B Loyalty Medal (obverse). Silver, for an employee's 25th anniversary.
V&B medal (lapel)
"Merkurstempel" from Villeroy & Boch Wallerfangen
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Individual evidence
- ^ Liebertz, Theodor .: Wallerfangen and his story . 1953, OCLC 313232578 .
- ^ Adler, Beatrix .: Wallerfanger earthenware: history and products of the Villeroy Vaudrevange manufactory (1791–1836) and the earthenware factory Villeroy & Boch Wallerfangen (1836–1931) . Verlag "Die Mitte", 1995, ISBN 3-921236-72-X ( worldcat.org [accessed January 13, 2020]).