When iron caster François Boch began making ceramic crockery in 1748 in the Lorraine village of Audun-le-Tiche, no one suspected that the enterprise would one day attain worldwide fame. Half a century later, his son Jean-François Boch acquired an old monastery in Mettlach on the Saar River, which was an outstanding location for the transport of goods and raw materials and is still to this day company headquarters. The product history of V illeroy & Boch – which today encompasses
not only tableware, tiles and bathroom furnishings, but also an incredibly wide-ranging universe of cutlery, glasses, gift articles and kitchen sinks – reflects the major artistic currents of the times. During the reform years around 1900, well-known artists worked for V illeroy & Boch, including Peter Behrens (k p.15) and Joseph Maria Olbrich (k p.13). A basin and pitcher by Henry van de Velde represented the tempered version of Jugendstil then prevailing in Germany. While a simple service designed around 1930 stands for the trend toward “Neue Sachlichkeit” (New Objectivity), the Kugelgeschirr ( Sphere Service, by Hele von Boch) from the early 1970s became an icon of the Pop era. The 1970s also saw the company take a crucial step in the area of bath collections. Designer Luigi Colani was asked to create a completely new style for the bathroom, turning the one-time
“water closet” into a comfortable and integral part of the home – a process that still continues today. Later on, studios such as Frogdesign and Conran & Partners also created bath collections for the company. The partnership with Reiner Moll, who is today probably the most important designer working for V illeroy & Boch, began in the late 1980s at a motorway rest stop between Stuttgart and Ulm, where he met the executive director of product development. Moll’s design for a washstand that could be cut to the desired length, called Virage, laid the groundwork for a relationship that would last even beyond changes in management. Numerous products followed, such as Bellevue, one of the most successful bath collections, and the Arcora series of kitchen sinks. Designs oriented toward specific target groups, innovative technology and high-grade materials: this is the strategy that has allowed the ceramic company set in a bend of the Saar River to attain its standing as one of the leading brands in the industry, in particular in bathrooms and tableware. A current contribution to modern dining culture is the service New Wave, whose wilfully curved forms are guaranteed to capture attention.