Rozenburg
Founded by Wilhelm Wolff Freiherr von Gudenberg, Rozenburg's original aim was to produce copies of early Delft pottery. However, the founder soon allied himself with T.A.C. Colenbrander, who designed exotic vases, garnitures, and dishes with complex designs based mostly of his inventive visions of natural forms. At the end of Colenbrander's era (shortly before 1900), art director Jurriaan Kok launched a line of extremely delicate forms that stretched eggshell porcelain to its the absolutes limits. The new designs were an instant success and the factory enjoyed some very profitable years.
In the 1890s, Rozenburg's leaders were inspired by the British Arts and Crafts style. Production was primarily for the construction industry. The factory also produced tile tableaux for the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam and. Vases, mantel clocks, dishes and jugs were decorated with rural idylls populated by waterfowl and frogs, sunflowers and poppies. The scenes were devised by master painters and their apprentices. Inspiration and expertise were derived from field trips, the Hague art academy, and volumes of illustrations from all over the world.
After years of experimentation, director Jurriaan Kok (1861-1919) suddenly launched an eggshell porcelain that was so delicate that it was almost unusable. Teapot lids resembled flakes of foam and handles rose up out of translucent pots like splashes in a pond. Ethereal, stylized scenes with exotic birds and fragile flora spun fantasies upon the surfaces. At the World Exhibition in Paris (1900) the new designs were successful. But a change in tastes and other factors led to further changes. From 1904 Rozenburg shifted its focus to the production of building materials. The factory launched glazed stoneware, a weatherproof material whose smooth properties for many years inspired the artist Jan Toorop, a good friend of Jurriaan Kok.
