Nymphenburg Porcelain / Munich
Well, I'm back from Munich after an unforgettable two days spent with a wonderful group of bloggers celebrating the launch of our publication 'Wohnideen aus dem wahren Leben' (you might want to catch up with this post here). I'm not even close to processing just how incredible an experience it has been and how well our publishers Callwey looked after us all. There'll be more on the book later, but this week I wanted to share some of the beautiful surroundings of Munich with you, starting today with Nymphenburg Porcelain - the first part of our busy tour on Friday. There's a heck load of images to drool over, so you might want to grab a coffee and sit with it a while...
Not your typical industrial looking site (situated next to the Nymphenburg castle) the factory has been producing the finest porcelain since the 1700s, all of which was and still is all made by hand. The machinery used to produce the porcelain paste are powered using only the water from the canal and every single step of the process is carefully managed by trained artists. Did you know, once the porcelain mix has been ground, it takes two years for the paste to mature before it can be used?!
The buildings themselves were nothing short of jaw-droppingly beautiful - full of character, a mix of contemporary meeting vintage, studio spaces filled with light and potted plants in every corner. The room above was only a staff room. I mean! It was safe to say that most of us were already planning to move in...
In the turning shop, the porcelain paste is brought to life with skilled hands on the wheel before being placed upon a mould - after the first firing, the porcelain will shrink slightly, so each piece is made taking that into account. The room was full of racks stacked with just fired, sweet pale white designs, just waiting to move on to the next step of glazing, firing, painting and firing again. I think I loved them the most at this stage, simple, clean and purest white.
In the studios upstairs, a small handful of artists were doing their best to ignore us all gawping at them as they painted on delicate designs. Nymphenburg create and mix all their own paints and the understanding of how each colour works when mixed and fired is intrinsic to each artist - it's no surprise that to fully train here in each discipline takes ten years! I thought to myself how therapeutic it must be to sit and paint like that...although the pressure must feel immense at times...and there would be no coffee for me and my shaky hands...
The Commedia dell'Arte Couture Collection, commissioned to celebrate the 260th anniversary includes hand painted designs by Vivienne Westwood, Prada, Karl Lagerfeld, Missoni and Elie Saab to name but a few. I loved to see the more contemporary designs along side the classics too, a sign that Nymphenburg are always looking to the future despite holding on to their traditional roots.
Thus concludes my little show and tell of Nymphenburg. What did you think of the spaces at the factory-don't they just make you want to move in?!Next up, a Saturday morning styling session at interiors store Room To Dream with the ByLassen 'Stropp'. See you in a bit...