The Herend Porcelain Manufactory ( Hungarian: ''Herendi Porcelánmanufaktúra Zrt.'') is a Hungarian manufacturing company, specializing in luxury hand-painted and gilded

porcelain Porcelain (), also called china, is a ceramic material made by heating Industrial mineral, raw materials, generally including kaolinite, in a kiln to temperatures between . The greater strength and translucence of porcelain, relative to oth ...

. Founded in 1826, it is based in the town of Herend near the city of

Veszprém Veszprém (; , , , ) is one of the oldest urban areas in Hungary, and a city with county rights. It lies approximately north of the Lake Balaton. It is the administrative center of the county of the same name. Etymology The city's name derives ...

. In the mid-19th century, it was purveyor to the

Habsburg dynasty The House of Habsburg (; ), also known as the House of Austria, was one of the most powerful dynasties in the history of Europe and Western civilization. They were best known for their inbreeding and for ruling vast realms throughout Europe d ...

and aristocratic customers throughout Europe. Many of its classic patterns are still in production. After the fall of communism in Hungary, the factory was privatised and is now 75% owned by its management and workers. The factory exports to over 60 countries of the world, with its main markets being Italy, Germany, Russia, Japan and the United States.

History

The factory at Herend was founded in 1826 by Vince Stingl as an earthenware pottery manufacturing factory; Stingl also carried out research experiments on porcelain making. Stingl ran out of funds and subsequently went bankrupt; his creditor Mór Fischer took control of the factory in 1839. Fischer, an ambitious man with new ideas, started manufacturing artistic porcelain in the same year. At that time it was almost impossible to replace broken pieces and supply old, classical porcelain dinner-sets from the Far East and from Europe; so by 1849 Fischer's was selling his wares to the Hungarian aristocracy.

Lajos Kossuth Lajos Kossuth de Udvard et Kossuthfalva (; ; ; ; 19 September 1802 – 20 March 1894) was a Hungarian nobleman, lawyer, journalist, politician, statesman and governor-president of the Kingdom of Hungary during the Hungarian Revolution of 1848, r ...

, the famous Hungarian president once said due to the achieved successes about the Herend Porcelain Manufacture: Herend displayed its designs at the First Hungarian Applied Art Exhibition; the Vienna Exhibition in 1845; the

Great Exhibition The Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of All Nations, also known as the Great Exhibition or the Crystal Palace Exhibition (in reference to the temporary structure in which it was held), was an international exhibition that took ...

in London, 1851; the

Exhibition of the Industry of All Nations An exhibition, in the most general sense, is an organized presentation and display of a selection of items. In practice, exhibitions usually occur within a cultural or educational setting such as a museum, art gallery, park, library, exhibit ...

in New York, 1853; and the Exposition Universelle in Paris, 1855. The styles became popular, and orders were received on behalf of several royal courts:

Queen Victoria Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until Death and state funeral of Queen Victoria, her death in January 1901. Her reign of 63 year ...

Franz Joseph I of Austria Franz Joseph I or Francis Joseph I ( ; ; 18 August 1830 – 21 November 1916) was Emperor of Austria, King of Hungary, and the ruler of the Grand title of the emperor of Austria, other states of the Habsburg monarchy from 1848 until his death ...

and

Maximilian I of Mexico Maximilian I (; ; 6 July 1832 – 19 June 1867) was an Austrian Empire, Austrian archduke who became Emperor of Mexico, emperor of the Second Mexican Empire from 10 April 1864 until his execution by the Restored Republic (Mexico), Mexican Republ ...

Some well-known patterns were named for the first customers: (

Esterházy The House of Esterházy, also spelled Eszterházy (), is a Hungarian nobility, Hungarian noble family with origins in the Middle Ages. From the 17th century, the Esterházys were the greatest landowner magnates of the Kingdom of Hungary, durin ...

Batthyány The House of Batthyány () is an ancient and distinguished Hungarian noble magnate family. The Head of the family bears the title Prince (Fürst) of Batthyány-Strattmann, while other members of this family bear the title Count/Countess ( Graf ...

Rothschild Rothschild () is a name derived from the German ''zum rothen Schild'' (with the old spelling "th"), meaning "to the red shield", in reference to the houses where these family members lived or had lived. At the time, houses were designated by signs ...

, Apponyi). In 1865 Francis Joseph I gave a noble title to Fischer, in appreciation of his work in porcelain art. From 1872 Mór Fischer Farkasházy, Purveyor to the Royal Court, was entitled to use the shapes and patterns of the Manufactory of Vienna, which had closed down. In 1874 Fischer gave the management of the manufactory to his sons. These men changed the focus of the company away from artistic creation, and sales began to decline. The factory had several owners, and went almost bankrupt. At the end of the century, the grandson of the founder, Jenő Farkasházy, became the owner of the factory. Farkasházy was a trained ceramist, who had gained experience in foreign factories and began to create new designs and revive traditional patterns. He also introduced novelties in 1900

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

and 1901

Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland ...

. Between the two world wars, limited reproduction of traditional products, from the age of Fischer, was continued. Hungarian figures were also manufactured, replicas of the work of Hungarian sculptors. In 1948 the company was nationalised. In 1993 it was privatised, and in 2015 75% is owned by the management and workers.

Products

Herend products are made from hard-paste

using a mixture of

kaolin Kaolinite ( ; also called kaolin) is a clay mineral, with the chemical composition Al2 Si2 O5( OH)4. It is a layered silicate mineral, with one tetrahedral sheet of silica () linked through oxygen atoms to one octahedral sheet of alumina (). ...

feldspar Feldspar ( ; sometimes spelled felspar) is a group of rock-forming aluminium tectosilicate minerals, also containing other cations such as sodium, calcium, potassium, or barium. The most common members of the feldspar group are the ''plagiocl ...

and

quartz Quartz is a hard, crystalline mineral composed of silica (silicon dioxide). The Atom, atoms are linked in a continuous framework of SiO4 silicon–oxygen Tetrahedral molecular geometry, tetrahedra, with each oxygen being shared between two tet ...

. Herend porcelain has won 24 grand and gold prizes in world exhibitions between 1851 and 1937. One of the best known Herend patterns was presented at the London World Exhibition in 1851, the Chinese-style butterflies and flowery branches painted in joyful, lively colours. The British queen, Victoria, ordered a dinner set with its gold medal-winning pattern for

Windsor Castle Windsor Castle is a List of British royal residences, royal residence at Windsor, Berkshire, Windsor in the English county of Berkshire, about west of central London. It is strongly associated with the Kingdom of England, English and succee ...

, and so the pattern is named "Viktória". The Herend Porcelain Manufactory was a supplier to the

, and the

aristocracy Aristocracy (; ) is a form of government that places power in the hands of a small, privileged ruling class, the aristocracy (class), aristocrats. Across Europe, the aristocracy exercised immense Economy, economic, Politics, political, and soc ...

in Hungary and abroad. The company has occasionally produced the trophies given out to the winners of the

Formula One Formula One (F1) is the highest class of worldwide racing for open-wheel single-seater formula Auto racing, racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The FIA Formula One World Championship has been one ...

Hungarian Grand Prix. One such trophy, the first-place trophy won by

Max Verstappen Max Emilian Verstappen (; born 30 September 1997) is a Dutch and Belgian racing driver who competes under the Dutch flag in Formula One for Red Bull Racing. Verstappen has won four Formula One World Drivers' Championship titles, which he w ...

in 2023, was damaged when

Lando Norris Lando Norris (; born 13 November 1999) is a British racing driver who competes in Formula One for McLaren. Norris was runner-up in the Formula One World Drivers' Championship in with McLaren, and has won Formula One Grands Prix, Grands Prix ...

(who finished second) accidentally slammed a bottle of Ferrari Trento sparkling wine onto the rostrum during the podium celebration, knocking it off in the process.

Critics

As of 2022, Herend has continued its operations in Russia, maintaining its business activities without significant changes despite the ongoing war in Ukraine. The company has faced criticism for not making public any changes to its operations in Russia amid international pressure for businesses to cease activities in the country.Herend's Operations in Russia - Leave Russia
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Museum

The company operates the Porcelain Museum of Herend at its site. The museum opened to visitors in 1964 and was chosen as the museum of the year 2002 in Hungary. The museum presents the history of and the technology used by the Herend factory, and working displays take visitors through the production proces.

References

External links