CRAFTSMANSHIP
A MASTERPIECE IS CREATED
The production of porcelain is a labor-intensive process that requires a great deal of experience, patience, and skill. Even today, the " KPM Berlin " still produces its wares almost exclusively by hand, using a method that has been passed down for 260 years. Our designs are created using freehand painting, making each piece one of a kind. Before a product receives the brand’s trademark—the cobalt-blue scepter—it must undergo numerous production steps and strict quality controls. For example, 25 people work on a white “ coffee cup ” for a total of 14 days. The cup is produced in 29 steps and inspected by hand ten times.
A MASTERPIECE IS CREATED
The production of porcelain is a labor-intensive process that requires a great deal of experience, patience, and skill. Even today, the " KPM Berlin " still produces its wares almost exclusively by hand, using a method that has been passed down for 260 years. Our designs are created using freehand painting, making each piece one of a kind. Before a product receives the brand’s trademark—the cobalt-blue scepter—it must undergo numerous production steps and strict quality controls. For example, 25 people work on a white “ coffee cup ” for a total of 14 days. The cup is produced in 29 steps and inspected by hand ten times.
The manufacturing process begins with the porcelain mass. This consists of about half kaolin (china clay) and a quarter each of feldspar and quartz. The purity of the raw materials guarantees the desired top quality and the exact recipe is a well-kept secret, the so-called arcanum. Kaolin, feldspar and quartz are first mixed with water and sieved so that all impurities are removed. The water is then pressed out of the liquid raw porcelain mass under great pressure. This creates large squares of kneadable material – the so-called filter cake – which are stored in damp cellars at almost one hundred percent humidity for several weeks.
Based on a freehand drawing, the modeling person creates an initial plaster model on a 1:1 scale. A second model, which is approximately 16 percent larger, is required to compensate for the loss of volume during drying and firing. A multi-part working mold is then built around the model. For complex figures, more than 80 individual parts can be created.
Objects such as pots, figures or other fine molds are usually cast. To do this, the filter cakes have to be liquefied again so that the raw mass meets the precisely defined properties so that it can later be slowly poured into the rotating working molds made of plaster. As plaster attracts water, an increasingly hardening layer forms on the mold walls. As soon as the desired thickness is reached, the remaining, still liquid mass is poured out of the mold. The casting then dries and can be released.
If the porcelain is not to be cast, but shaped and turned as with most Plates and bowls, the porcelain mass must have a firmer consistency. For this purpose, the filter cake is vented and compressed into a cylindrical hump. It takes a lot of fingertip feeling to achieve exactly the required moisture content of the mass. Unlike pottery, the blank is not freely formed on the turntable, but turned into or onto a special rotating product hollow form.
The individual parts produced by casting or turning are assembled (garnished) with a paste-like porcelain mass, the so-called slip. A coffee pot , for example, consists of a body, spout, handle, lid and knob. When garnishing, it is important to work quickly so that the parts do not dry out. Seams are neatly plastered. Finally, the finished product is worked over again with brushes and sponges so that any irregularities disappear.
As long as the blank is still damp, the porcelain can be cut. This work requires a high degree of skill and patience. Around 3,000 cuts have to be made precisely by hand for the openwork edge of the SCHINKELKORB alone.
After a quality control, the remaining water is extracted from the blank during biscuit firing at 980° Celsius. The organic components escape and the product gains a significantly higher strength.
After this, the so-called blue dipping takes place. The porcelain is dipped in a color that later burns off completely during the second firing. This makes even the finest imperfections visible, ones that are undetectable to the naked eye.
With the exception of flat parts such as Plates and bowls, all porcelain items are dipped by hand into a tub filled with glaze. The absorbency of the bisque and the immersion time determine the strength of the glaze layer and its distribution.
If the product design requires unglazed areas, such as biscuit porcelain, these are carefully covered by hand with wax or a special varnish.
During the subsequent glost firing, the glaze bonds firmly and permanently with the porcelain body. At a temperature of approximately 1,420° Celsius, the porcelain condenses and the body shrinks to the size of the original plaster model on a 1:1 scale. In addition, the porcelain acquires its final physical properties: it is slightly translucent and extremely strong. After firing, the undersides of all porcelains are smoothed in the grinding shop.
A special feature of KPM porcelain is the glazed rim, which is added to cups in a further step. For this purpose, the cup is glazed again and fired for about 19 hours.
The designs on the pieces produced by the “ KPM Berlin ” are created using freehand painting. This applies to gold, floral, fruit, animal, and landscape motifs, as well as to all backgrounds. Floral-style designs have helped establish the manufactory’s artistic reputation. Only the theme and arrangement of the motif are predetermined; the artist creates the design herself—ensuring that each piece is unique.
When the pieces from the “ KPM Berlin ” are coated with finely powdered 24-karat gold, it is either polished to a high gloss millimeter by millimeter using an agate stick or given a matte finish with a fiberglass brush. The final firing for this overglaze painting is called a muffle firing.
Since 1803, color-decorated porcelain has been given an additional mark, a stamp in the shape of an orb, which is usually placed next to the scepter. The color of the orb differs depending on the type of decoration: red indicates flower painting, color-painted figures and landscapes. Green is used for all decorations without flowers. blue indicates the use of hot-fire paints. These are fired at a very high temperature, sink into the melting glaze and are even dishwasher-safe. In black, the orb stands for a printed decoration, such as is used for company logos.
In addition to the imperial orb mark on decorated porcelain, there are small handwritten marks from the respective painter, who thus signs the porcelain he or she has decorated.
