The other day, someone said to me “Well, as a manufacturer you still do it all yourselves, by hand and all, without machines. Hardly anyone has any idea of the effort involved.” Oh dear, where do I start, I thought. Uh yes and no, I meant. But of course I was pleased about the interest in itself. It’s completely clear that you have no idea if you’re not involved in the matter and experience every day what an insane amount of work each piece is – so it’s all the nicer that more and more people are interested in how it’s actually all done. The fact that the company that is just around the corner, where your boyfriend, girlfriend or brother works, is known far beyond Europe’s borders and has prominent customers all over the world – people often don’t know all this. Yet so many craft businesses in the neighborhood have so many great products and incredible know-how that it’s worth taking a closer look and, above all, buying something THERE. and not buy a 60-piece service from the furniture store chain… which was imported from Asia by our friends – who, incidentally, are themselves big fans of Thuringian porcelain and satisfied customers. Exactly, because of the quality made in Germany! And this new trend word SUSTAINABILITYthat every large company is now trying to use – this has always been the standard for many smaller companies and also for our manufactory. Years ago, it would never have occurred to us to advertise our products as “regional” or “sustainable”. But it’s great that it’s being appreciated more in society again and that people are thinking about whether it’s really necessary to buy a fruit bowl on the internet that was shipped here from Indonesia. It may look pretty, but if you could make the “ecological footprint” visible here, 20 more people would be glued to the street in outrage.
To come back to the opening sentence: No, we don’t do everything completely by hand, we turn plates with machines but also by hand for special designs, cast vases or produce plates with modern die-casting machines. Decorations are applied by hand – whether with a brush, sponge or spray gun. At our company, every single product passes through several hands; there are many work steps between the raw mass and the finished decorated product, but of course we also use the latest technologies and machines.
“Just take a look,” I said, “…you have to see it at least once to understand the whole process. And you’ll pause for a moment at least the next few times you eat from your plate or over your morning coffee …😊”.
I can only warmly recommend it to you all: on 1. and April 2, 2023 is once again Thuringian Porcelain Day in Germany, and you can join us on Saturday, April 1. You can also take part in guided tours on Saturday, April 1, without prior registration; special sale and factory outlet open on Saturday from 9 am to 4 pm and Sunday from 10 am to 4 pm.
Here on our Fräulein Reichenbach blog, we are now looking beyond the horizon. Here you will regularly find news from our production as well as from restaurants and chefs, with or without stars, who create really great things with us.
