Archive for August, 2008
The History of Lladró
by Rick on Aug.12, 2008, under Featured, Gifts
The History of Porcelain & Lladro:
The pottery that we know as porcelain was first transformed by the Chinese approximately one thousand years ago. This pottery or porcelain then took hundreds of years to evolve to where itis today. As the process of washing and purifying the clay, adding different materials that permitted the firing at a very high temperature. (Approximately 1400 degrees centigrade.)
The word porcelain came from the term Porcellana, used by Marco Polo to describe the white ceramic figures, he discovered during his historical travel to the Orient. Porcelain was introduced to Europe in the 1500’s.
In the 1700’s the secret of the clay mixture used by the Chinese, was discovered by Johann Bottger and the Dresden Meissen Porcelain became known. Porcelain came to be viewed by the European Royalty, as a highly prized luxury product.
In 1953, from a small farming community near the city of Valencia, Spain came three brothers, Juan, Jose & Vicente Lladro. They attended Valencia School of Arts & Craft, While the family depended on farming for livelihood, the brothers followed their dreams and born abilities of the fine arts. Juan and Jose studied drawing, while Vicente studied sculpting. They built a kiln in their backyard , and began experimenting with the new firing and finishing techniques.
Their first Lladro retail shop, opened in Valencia in 1955, in 1958 they moved from their small workshop at their family home, to a larger factory workshop in a nearby town called Tabernas . A major growth period for Lladro occured in the 1960’s where the Tabernas workshop was enlarged 7 times.
In the 1970’s, their workshop was as large as the city, now called the City of Porcelain. Lladro now employs over 2000 people and maintains retail shops in Europe, New York, Williamsburg, VA, Miami, Beverly Hills, Hong Kong, Sidney to name a few., markets its creations in over 100 countries.
