Press release -
The Originals of Our Time: the "Sixty & Twelve" anniversary collection
Please note the embargo time until 5.4.2021
60 years ago, Rosenthal stirred up the porcelain industry - with avant-garde designs by artists, designers and architects. Now the German porcelain manufacturer is celebrating the studio-line with a limited anniversary collection and translates 60 iconic vases with twelve contemporary colours into the here and now.
The reinvention of porcelain
Rosenthal stands like no other porcelain manufacturer for the combination of form, function, craftsmanship and technical know-how. This corporate strategy is thanks to Philip Rosenthal, the son of the company founder. With his farsighted feeling for the market, he invented the New Look of porcelain, from which the studio-line collections have been created since 1961. Long before design was on everyone's lips, Rosenthal worked together with contemporary designers and supported young talents. The Upper Franconian porcelain factory becomes an international company that works across disciplines - at that time a radical break with traditional porcelain design.
The studio-line has produced timeless designs that are design icons of the 20th century, such as art objects by Andy Warhol, Victor Vasarely and Otto Piene. And the Service TAC by Walter Gropius (1969), Suomi by Timo Sarpaneva (1976), Moon by Jasper Morrison (1997) and Landscape by Patricia Urquiola (2008) - still part of the Rosenthal range today as design highlights. More than 150 artists, designers and architects have designed for studio-line since the early 1960s, including Tapio Wirkkala, Ettore Sottsass, Marcel Wanders and Konstantin Grcic. Rosenthal's love of experimentation is also demonstrated by the current collection with objects by Sebastian Herkner and BIG. Especially beautiful: porcelain from Rosenthal is made in Germany. It is manufactured in Selb and Speichersdorf under the most modern and sustainable conditions. In production, Rosenthal uses recycling management wherever possible. This includes dissipating the heat from the kiln to heat water, using recycled water in production and reprocessing porcelain paste for new products.
In colour: the anniversary collection
To mark the 60th anniversary of studio-line, Rosenthal is launching 60 selected vases in twelve different colours that reflect future trends and at the same time represent a journey through Rosenthal's design history. The limited edition alternates between restrained shades of grey, pastel green and blue as well as intense berry tones with sonorous names such as Sea Salt, Tangerine, Mint and Abyss. Included in the illustrious birthday series are Rosenthal classics such as Plissée by Martin Freyer (1968), Pollo by Tapio Wirkkala (1970), Conio by Michele De Lucchi (1994), Fast by Cédric Ragot (2006) and Fondale by Office for Product Design (2017). The shapes are as varied as the colours: they range from pure, architectural volumes to sumptuous, floral objects. The restrained tones of the palette correspond with the strictly geometric vase shapes, while the intense colours blend with the poetically playful objects. The vases are made of through-dyed porcelain mass.
What appears easy at first glance is technically demanding, even for Rosenthal. The porcelain mass produced according to the company's own recipe changes according to the addition of the coloured bodies, which in turn has an effect on the stability of the bodies before and after firing. To achieve the shape of the coloured vase as in the white original, each of the 60 vases had to be newly created. The sophistication of the Rosenthal studio line vases therefore lies in the expertise and manufacturing art of the Rosenthal craftsmen, who like alchemists create artistic objects from porcelain according to a secret recipe.
All good things come in threes: Anniversary vase by Sebastian Herkner
One of the stars of the international design scene has created a new vase for Rosenthal this year: Sebastian Herkner. His current designs Collana and Falda (both from 2014) are now joined by another extravagant object: Hop. It stands out for its asymmetrically layered rings, which remind one of Michelin men or sculptures by Tony Cragg, as the art-affine designer says. Hop is available in three versions: as a vase in two different sizes and as a bowl. The vase is available in white or green porcelain with an internal golden titanization or as a collector's item in the anniversary edition "60 years studio line" in cameo color.
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Rosenthal may have one of the longest traditions of Germany‘s companies, but is also one of the most modern. Just as we did when we were originally founded over 140 years ago, Rosenthal develops products equally for discerning end customers and for exacting professional clients from the restaurant and hotel trade. Our products stand out with exceptional form, function, quality and craftsmanship and represent a cultural asset “made in Germany”, never ceasing to combine innovation and creativity. With its award-winning porcelain design, trendy lifestyle collections and modern, elegant classics, the Rosenthal brand raises the bar time and again for aesthetics and individuality.
Established figures from the worlds of architecture, design and art, but also the hottest newcomers and talents design avant-garde dinner table collections, foster a joy of giving and create sophisticated furnishings. The collections are manufactured in the Rosenthal porcelain factory in Selb and the “Thomas am Kulm” porcelain factory in Speichersdorf, which offer some of the porcelain industry‘s most advanced production facilities anywhere in the world and deliver sustainable manufacturing with careful use of resources thanks to the forward- looking investments that have been made.
New interior collections and accessories enrich the Rosenthal world by adding designer objects that go far beyond the limits of a conventional table setting and round off the huge product variety.
