Pillivuyt

From Switzerland to France

Jean Louis Richard Pillivuyt was born in 1774 in Yverdon-les-Bains, in the canton of Vaud, Switzerland. His parents were Christine Niderest and Louis Ferdinand Pillivuyt. He moved to Paris in 1796 to establish a bank, in rue Saint-Marc.

A year later, he married Rose Anne Louise Berthout van Berchem on 19 May, in Gressy, France. Anne Louise was the widow of Antoine Louis Henri de Polier, a Swiss officer, engineer and explorer, who was assassinated in Avignon in 1795, during the terror years that followed the French revolution.

She died in 1804. Two years later, Jean Louis Richard espoused Louise Salomé Lisette Hermann (1784-1866).

In 1818, the family (Jean Louis, Louise and two sons) moved to the Cher department, in the city of Foëcy. There, Benjamin Klein, a Swiss citizen, had established a porcelain manufacture in 1799, in the annex building of the castle. Jean-Louis Richard bought the company and associate to its capital Dominique André, a Parisian banker and his son Louis André.

The manufacture started to grow in the 1820s. Jean Louis Richard Pillivuyt was given the French citizenship in 1825 by Charles X of France. In 1830, Jean Louis Richard Pillivuyt retired, naming his eldest son from his first wedding, Charles-Louis-Maximilien, as his successor. On his side, Louis André brought in his son-in-law, Frédéric Monnier, to succeed him. The new company was rebranded Louis André, Charles Pillivuyt et Compagnie. At the beginning, the ceramic pieces were produced without colors: designs and decoration were performed in Paris. In 1845, these craftsmen relocated to Foëcy.

In 1833, the Pillivuyt family rented the buildings of the nearby Noirlac Abbey, where the owner, a British citizen, had established a porcelain manufactory. The family eventually took over the abbey factory in 1848, integrating it into its other operations in 1854. The workshop at Noirlac operated from 1822 to 1866, and required many adaptative reconstructions of the edifice:

• an intermediate floor was installed in the church;
• porcelain kilns were installed against the northern wall of the side aisle;
• cloister attics were raised and enlarged;
• two wide openings were cut into the cloister's south gallery, which eventually caused the vaults to collapse;
• openings in the cloister gallery were walled up. The cloister itself was raised to build large attics for drying and storing porcelain.

Photographs taken by Jean-Eugène Durand (1845–1926) in 1877, display the scale of the damage in the abbey.

In 1847, Louis André, Charles Pillivuyt et Compagnie opened the first Pillivuyt boutique in Paris, at 46 Rue de Paradis.

The same year, the firm employed more than 300 people in Foëcy.

Despite the success, the two young directors (Pillivuyt and Monnier) did not get on well together and both went their own way:

• Charles-Louis Pillivuyt purchased a plot of land in Mehun-sur-Yèvre in 1853, to have a new manufacture built;
• Frédéric Monnier kept the plant at Foëcy.

Facing financial difficulties, Monnier hired Albert Pillivuyt, Charles son, as the company director. In 1855, Frédéric Monnier retired and the Foëcy's manufactory was renamed Albert Pillivuyt et Cie or APILCO. In the early 20th century (1909), Albert’s son, Robert, joined the firm and remained there until its final closure. The brand will be bought by Fernand Deshoulières in 1933, keeping till today the ceramics activity at Foëcy.

Mehun-sur-Yèvre

On 1 October 1854, Charles opened his manufacture in Mehun-sur-Yèvre, a small medieval town near Foëcy. The place was chosen for its proximity to the Berry Canal, the railway network, the forests (production required 10 kilograms (22 lb) to 20 kilograms (44 lb) of wood to bake 1 kilogram (2.2 lb) of ceramic) and the abundant resources of kaolinite in the close area. In 1860, in addition to this plant, one of the largest factories in France (covering 17 hectares (42 acres)), equipped with 6 furnaces and steam engines), Pillivuyt operated two other manufactures in the region, employing a total of 1200.

The success of the endeavour allowed the firm to take over a neighbouring porcelain factory in Nevers, Neppel fils et Bonnot, in 1866.

Pillivuyt established a distinctive studio within the factory, the Spéciale, where the most talented craftsmen (such as Eugène Halot or Alphonse Lamarre) could create unique designed porcelain pieces. Thanks to the Spéciale atelier, Pillivuyt won gold medals at a succession of exhibitions: 1855 Paris Exhibition, 1862 London Exhibition, 1867 Universal Exposition, 1878 and 1889 Paris Exhibitions.

Charles Pillivuyt passed away in 1872. He was succeeded by his son, Louis, then only 24 years old, who led the manufactory for 40 years. During his tenure, production was mainly focused on popular, cheap items. The operations were put on hold during WWI, but took off again after the Great Depression years. In 1924, the company employed 800 people, in 1939 only 250.

At the end of WWII, Charles II Pillivuyt was personally ruined by keeping the workshops open throughout the conflict. He was forced to sell the firm which had only 28 employees left.

The new owner, Alfred Simon, was an ancient customer. He succeeded to bring the factory back to life thanks to substantial personal investments and the set up of two giant tunnel kilns.

In the early 1960s, the severe international competition (from Germany or Japan) resulted in the German company, Langenthal Porcelain Factory, to acquire a majority stake in Pillivuyt. The move helped modernising the facility and investing in the future by training new workers and introducing new working methods. In 1988, the firm changed ownership as the Swiss group Laufen entered the capital.

Eventually, the SAS Pillivuyt was reborn in January 2002: among the investors is Bertrand Pillivuyt, Charles II's grandson. Since this relaunch, the company has experienced a period of solid growth, exporting 80% of its production across European and Scandinavian markets, in the United States, in Asia and the Middle East.

The manufacture is one of the last porcelain producer in France to elaborate its own paste. In 2018, Pillivuyt celebrated its 200th anniversary: for the occasion, an exhibition was organized in the Porcelain Museum in Mehun-sur-Yèvre.

Pillivuyt remains, along with companies from Limoges (Bernardaud, Haviland & Co.) or from Drôme (Revol Porcelaine), one of the last French porcelain manufacturers of critical size.

Fragmentary family tree

Robert Pillivuyt, one of the last descendants, has been a General Delegate of the National Federation of Ceramics and Glassware (French: Délégué général de la Fédération Nationale de la Céramique et de la Verrerie), today's Fédération des industries céramiques de France (FICF).