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Villeroy & Boch
Villeroy & Boch is a large
manufacturer of ceramics
with its company headquarters
located in Mettlach, Germany.
The company began in the tiny Lorraine village
of Audun le Tiche, where an iron master François
Boch set up a pottery company with his three
sons in 1748. In 1766 Boch was licensed to build
a ceramics’ kiln works in nearby Septfontaines,
Luxembourg, where it operated a porcelain factory.
In 1785 Nicolas Villeroy became the sole owner of
the faience manufactory at Wallerfangen. In 1812
Jean-François Boch began construction of kilns in
the nearby town of Mettlach, Saarland. In 1824
Boch commenced transfer printing on porcelain
from engraved copper plates. On 14 April 1836,
the Jean François Boch company merged with that
of its competitor, Nicolas Villeroy, and became
Villeroy & Boch, (V&B, also simply 'VB'). Since 1869,
when Villeroy & Boch opened its first manufacturer
specializing in architectural tiles, the company has
operated in three main areas, autonomously until
1982: tablewares, tiles for flooring and revetments,
and fine plumbing fixtures.
Among its innovations in Mettlach at the end
of the nineteenth century was Phanolith, a kind
of semi-transparent porcelain that combines
the characteristics and benefits of jasperware
and pate-sur-pate. The creator of the Phanolith
was the ceramics artist Jean-Baptiste Stahl who
headed the modelling section of Villeroy & Boch.
Phanolith first gained wide public attention at the
Paris Exposition Universelle (1900).
Villeroy & Boch has continued to base its broadest
market in Germany.
The company's Luxembourg factory was closed
down in 2010. While the company is no longer
run by a family member, under the present Group
Chairman, Frank Goering, there are various family
members currently working in the company.
Since 1990 the company has been listed on the
German stock market, ticker symbol VIB3, but the
voting capital is still in the hands of the family
descendants. The majority of V&B shares is owned
by Eczacibasi Holding.
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