Founded on Christianshavn, Copenhagen in 1863 by August
Schiøtt. The production included only cheap utensils in
faience, copied from English products. Excellent quality, meant for
ordinary people.
From 1869 the factory was situated in Smallegade/Ndr. Fasanvej
on Frederiksberg.
Around 1970 Aluminia began designing their own series of
dinner-, coffee- and tea -service. Aluminia bought and
took over The Royal Porcelain Factory in 1882. The factories kept
on working as two separate factories.
Christian Joakim (CJ), Danish painter, came to
Aluminia's rescue during hard times in 1901, creating a new kind of
faience, expressed in shapes and decorations. Now Aluminia had a
totally unique style of faience, which today has made their
products desireable objects for porcelain collectors.
Strong colours were applied under the glaze, making the fragile
faience more durable. Small Children's Welfare plates were
released in the years 1909 to 1930. Later came the idea of
making Children's Welfare figurines, being
produced in large series of various figurines. CJ also created the
Aluminia Christmas plates. The motifs are drawn in
large-scale without many details.
In 1914 Aluminia was very successful with the dinner- and
coffee-set "Tranquebar", also designed by
Christian Joakim. The name Aluminia disappeared in 1969, but
Aluminia's production was carried on by Royal
Copenhagen. Collectors' wishes for Aluminia articles have
increased considerably during the past few years, and today
products from the old factory are sold at rather high prices, not
common just a few years back.
The Faience factory Aluminia
Founded in Christianshavn, Copenhagen in 1863 by August
Schiøtt (born at Rugaard close to Randers in 1834). The
production only included cheap utensils in
faience, copied from English products. Excellent quality,
meant for normal people- concentrating on dinner-, coffee-
and tea-services as well as mugs and jugs.
The factory moved to Smallegade/Fasanvej on Frederiksberg in
1869.
Around 1970 higher aims were set, and Aluminia started
designing their own series of dinner-, coffee- and tea
-service. The sets were given names that would create nice
associations within the upper middle class, such as
"Lovisa" (named after the crownprincess, married
to Frederik VIII the year before). The service had varying
decorations. One especially, decorated with a wide blue ribbon and
golden ornaments, became very popular.
Surprising to everybody, then and now, Aluminia bought
and took over "The Royal Porcelain Factory" in 1882. The
factories were joined administratively, but in other aspects they
carried on as two separate companies. Towards the end of the 17th
century, Aluminia was starved in favour of The Royal Copenhagen in
all respects.
In 1901 the painter Hans Christian Joakim
Petersen (1870-1943 ) joined the company. By 1911 he
changed his name to Christian Joakim. He attracted attention with
his ceramic experiments at The World Fair in Paris in 1900. At
Aluminia he created a new kind of faience, expressed in shapes and
decorations. Now Aluminia had a totally new unique style of
faience, which made their products desirable objects to porcelain
collectors.
While Christian Joakim was still busily engaged in experimenting
with his new faience, another Danish painter was employed - in 1902
Harald Slott-Møller as artist as well as
art-inspector in the production of artistic objects. The employment
of a new artist and competitor hardly pleased Christian Joakim, but
never the less an unequalled production in the Danish history of
faience flourished. The extent and the peculiarity of the
production was quite unique. Strong colours were applied under the
glaze, making the fragile faience more durable.
After disagreements between Christian Joakim (CJ) and Harald
Slott-Moeller in 1906, Harald Slott-Moeller left the company. CJ
became the sole artistic leader. As assistent CJ hired the sculptor
Rasmus Harboe (1868-1952), who among other things
created the big christmas reliefs (1907-1927) as well as many of
the small Children's Welfare plates. 26 Children's
Welfare plates were released, one each year during the years 1909
to 1930. However, in the years 1915 to 1918 two plates were
released each year. The artists were Christian Joakim, Rasmus
Harboe and Oscar Willerup. Later came the idea of making
Children's Welfare figurines, produced in a large
series of various figurines.
CJ also created the Aluminia Christmas plates.
The easily recognizable plates, primarly in blue and yellow
colours, could without difficulties be recognized as Aluminia's
because of the size of motifs and the colours, typically used on
the christmas plates and the christmas reliefs as well as on most
of the Child Wellfare plates. The motifs were drawn in large-scale
without many details.
Through the years CJ designed several new dinner sets on behalf
of Aluminia, such as "Krone", "White Clover" and more. When the new
Aluminia dinner- and coffee-set "Tranquebar", also
designed by Christian Joakim, was presented in 1914, Aluminia
celebrated another success.
From 1913 Aluminia was also called Copenhagen Faience
factory , but this name was not used in the product
marking until 1921. Christian Joakim, who retired in 1933, was
succeeded by his apprentice Nils Thorsson, who
undertook the responsibility for the entire company. Development
and production flourished during his employment, and therefore the
survival of the company was made possible.
In recent years Aluminia was known for for example the dinner
set "Blaa Kant" (Blue Edge) designed by
Grethe Meyers in 1964. The name Aluminia disappeared in
1969, but production was carried on by Royal Copenhagen.
Collectors´wishes for Aluminia articles have increased
considerably over the last few years, and today products from the
old factory reach very high prices.
Hans Christian Joakim Petersen(CJ) : 1870-1943.
By 1911 he took the name Christian Joakim. Despite the fact that
Christian Joakim had only one arm, he succeeded in completing his
education as a painter. With Aluminia he developed the new type of
faience. By 1906 CJ was sole artistic leader of Aluminia. Several
dinner sets were designed by CJ during these years, such as Krone,
Victoria and White Clover to mention a few. One of his big
successes was the "Tranquebar" dinner- and coffee-set, presented in
1914. Another was his design of the Christmas and Children's
Welfare plates. Following his employment at Aluminia, he became
artistic director of The Royal Porcelain Factory.