History
The history of Zeller Keramik started more than 200 years ago in the small town of Zell am Harmersbach. When Josef Anton Burger started the fayence business he could not imagine that this place should become the cradle of ceramics manufacturing in Germany. The company was established officially on October 22, 1794.
In the year 1842 production of porcelain started in the so called “upper factory” and a lot of products were decorated with medals and awards. In 1870/1871 the company suffered a crisis. Due to the war between Germany and France the raw material couldn’t be ordered from Limoges.
In 1907 the “upper factory” was sold by the owner, Carl Schaaf, to the businessman Georg Schmider from Zell. He himself was a member of the management of the local hammer mill, the so called “lower factory”. The company “Georg Schmider, Vereinigte Zeller Keramische Fabriken” was established. Since 1864 fire-proof cookware, flower pots made out of maiolica and architectural ceramics were produced in the “lower factory” – the place of today’s registered office. From 1897 the traditional patterns “Favorite” (Design: Elisabeth Schmidt-Pecht), “Alt Straßburg” und “Hahn und Henne” (rooster and hen, Design: Karl Schöner) were produced.
Due to a lack of carbon production was ceased in the “upper factory” in 1942. However, the production of ceramics in the “lower factory” was developed successively. Unsettled years followed. In 1989 business was taken over by the family-run company Hillebrand from Kerpen (Rhineland). More and more cheap imports from China put pressure on the company with the consequence of several changes of company names.
On January 1, 2006 production was outsourced to “Zeller Keramik Manufaktur GmbH” when entrepreneur Ralf Müller and his fellow partner Martin Trenkle take over the company in serious difficulty. Successively production was reconverted to hand painting.
The first Ceramics Museum in Zell am Harmersbach opens on December 21, 2007.
On Feburary 1, 2008 the company “Zeller Keramik Manufaktur GmbH & Co. KG” has been reorganised.