Duravit AG, founded in 1817 and headquartered in Hornberg,

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

, is primarily a manufacturer of porcelain bathroom fittings. In recent years, the company has diversified its scope to include other products.

History

Founded as a small

earthenware Earthenware is glazed or unglazed Vitrification#Ceramics, nonvitreous pottery that has normally been fired below . Basic earthenware, often called terracotta, absorbs liquids such as water. However, earthenware can be made impervious to liquids ...

factory by Georg Friedrich Horn in 1817 in the

Black Forest The Black Forest ( ) is a large forested mountain range in the States of Germany, state of Baden-Württemberg in southwest Germany, bounded by the Rhine Valley to the west and south and close to the borders with France and Switzerland. It is th ...

, Duravit did not begin to produce sanitary fixtures until the early 20th century such as sinks, bidets, and toilets. In the 1980s, the product line was expanded to offer bathroom accessories. The 1980s and 1990s were also characterized by various corporate acquisitions, including "Ceramique de Bischwiller in 1991, "MISR TECH" in 1999, and a partial stake in Laufen. This period also saw the further growth of product lines, including the introduction of bathroom furniture. In 1994, Duravit opened a new, modern plant for the production of sanitary ceramics. Duravit's expansion continued in the first decade of the 21st Century with the establishment of subsidiaries in Turkey, India and China. The Duravit Design Center in Hornberg, designed by Philippe Starck, was also completed during this time. The brand is currently available in over 130 countries. With a joint venture agreement, the company began expanding its activities in China in 2003 and has been trading there since then as Duravit ''Chongqing Sanitaryware Co. Ltd.'' Two years later, the newly built production and administration building in Youxi Town (Jiangjin) near Chongqing was officially inaugurated. Today, the former joint venture company is a 100 percent subsidiary and trades as ''Duravit Sanitaryware Co. Ltd.'' In 2008, Duravit took over 51% of the Tunisian ceramics manufacturer ''Manufacture Tunisienne des Céramiques'' (MTC). In 2010, Duravit opened a new production site in Tarapur, India. The starting signal for ''Duravit Sanitaryware Technology Co. Ltd'', a new engineering and assembly plant in Shanghai, fell in 2011.

Factory sites

There are production facilities at several locations in Germany and abroad: Hornberg, Schenkenzell and Meißen in Germany, and in Bischwiller (France), Cairo (Egypt), Chongqing (China), Bizerte (Tunisia) and Tarapur (India).Information from Duravit website, retrieved October 2014
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References

{{reflist Companies based in Baden-Württemberg German brands Bathrooms