Sarreguemines: Two Centuries of Faience

Two Centuries of Faience

Museum
of Sarreguemines
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Tourist Information
Center of Sarreguemines
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The reputation of Sarreguemines faience is now well established. In two centuries the small family business, which was created during the Revolution, has come a long way. The numerous owners of these gay and colourful pieces are scattered all over the world.
Paul Utzschneider and Paul de Geiger, two born leaders, propelled this small town to the forefront of the faience industry. From the 19th century onwards, Sarreguemines produced and sold all over the world a vast collection of faience vases, flowerpot holders, decorative panels for walls and fireplaces...

The Pioneers...

Production started in 1790 when Nicolas-Henri Jacobi, together with two other courageous men, set up the first factory despite the unfavourable economic climate.

Jacobi then bought an oil mill by the river and transformed it into a stone-grinding mill.

However, much more than his strong determination was needed. The difficulties in obtaining supplies of raw materials, the hostility and suspicion of local inhabitants, competition from English and French manufacturers, and the upheaval caused by the Revolution forced Jacobi to give up...

Paul Utzschneider and the start of expansion

This dynamic young Bavarian took over the factory in 1800 and soon gave it a new life. Napoleon I became one of his best customers and ordered several pieces. This inventive man introduced new decorating techniques.

The business expanded so much that he had to open new workshops and acquire several mills. The protests provoked by the consequences of deforestation induced him to use coal instead of wood, but it was not until 1830 that the first coal-fired kilns were built.

The age of industrialization

In 1836, Utzschneider handed over the management of the factory to his son-in-law, Alexandre de Geiger. The latter erected new buildings which were in harmony with the landscape. The Moulin de la Blies was built in 1841 in this spirit. In 1838, Alexandre de Geiger associated himself with Villeroy & Boch. This agreement contributed to the growth of production.

The industrial revolution was in full swing, and a new architecture emerged with the appearance of saw-tooth roofs and round chimney stacks tall enough to prevent smoke from drifting over neighbouring houses. The new factories built in 1853 and 1860 functioned solely on steam. In the workshops, modernization centred mainly on the energy needed to operate the machines.

Consolidation and the turn of the dentury
In 1871, following the annexation of the Moselle to Germany, Alexandre de Geiger left Sarreguemines and retired in Paris. His son, Paul de Geiger, took over the management. Two new factories were constructed at Digoin and Vitry-le-François.

Paul de Geiger died in 1913,
the year in which Utzschneider & Cie was split into two companies, one responsible for the establishment in Sarreguemines and the other for the French factories.

In 1919,
after the First World War, they were united under the name of Sarreguemines - Digoin - Vitry-le-François and run by the Cazal family.

During the Second World War,
the faience factories were sequestered and their management entrusted to Villeroy & Boch between 1942 and 1945. After stopping production of porcelain and majolica, the company was bought over in 1979 by the Lunéville - Badonviller - Saint Clément group, and then took the name of Sarreguemines - Bâtiment in 1982.

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