Hello and welcome to this week’s edition of The Bell!
Last week, we learned about the differences between ceramics, porcelain, and other terms I once used interchangeably. Today, I want to go deeper on one porcelain manufacturer that I’m particularly fond of: Herend.
Herend is a Hungarian luxury porcelain manufacturer specializing in hand-painted and gilded designs. It was founded in 1826 and is based in the town of Herend.
In the mid-19th century, it provided fine china to the Habsburg dynasty and other European aristocrats, and now the factory exports to over 60 countries of the world, with its main markets being Italy, Germany, Russia, Japan and the United States.
After the fall of communism in Hungary, the factory was privatized in 1993 and is now 75% owned by its management and workers.
Now is when I diverge from the Wikipedia article because I have a deeply personal connection to Herend.
When I was affianced to my lovely husband and building my bridal registry, my mom encouraged me to choose a fine china pattern. At first, I’ll be honest, I didn’t see the point.
Here were my primary concerns: I would be one of the only people I knew in my generation with formal china, so would friends coming to my house feel they had to act stiff at an overly-fancy table? And would the requirement of hand washing be a barrier to my ever using the dishes?
Undaunted, on a trip to New York, my mom encouraged me to just look. So I agreed and we went to a luxury homeware and tabletop store that displayed pretty much every china pattern imaginable from every manufacturer imaginable.
I knew I loved Royal Copenhagen, so as I warmed up to the idea of fine china, I first honed in on that—or something similarly blue and white.
I wear a lot of blue and white, my bed linens are blue and white, I’m always drawn to blue and white. My mom counseled me to think about the pattern in all four seasons of the year, on all holiday tables, and to choose something timeless that I’d never tire of. For me, blue and white china ticked all those boxes and would have been the safe choice.
But then I saw a totally different pattern: ‘Livia’ by Herend. It shared a similarity with Royal Copenhagen only in that both are floral. The dominant colors in Livia are peach and green with gilded details. Initially it struck me as so pretty, but I couldn’t imagine choosing anything without any blue—and with so much peach! Peach is one of the colors I definitely can’t wear as a pale-skinned dark brunette.
So I walked around the store, considering other patterns, snapping photos, and texting them to my then-fiancé.
I’m glad I did that exercise, because I found myself drawn again and again to Herend sets in various patterns, over and above Royal Copenhagen. The minimalistic ‘Princess Victoria’ pattern in particular showed off how beautiful the porcelain is on its own, even with very little decoration. And I started to really love and appreciate that.
The plates and teacups have an elegant fluted edge. The teacup handle is shaped like an asymmetrical leaf, ending in a soft point. The sides of the plates have a subtle basketweave texture that melts into a less-textured wave as it transitions to the flat center. The pieces are thin and lightweight, but feel incredibly sturdy. The white porcelain alone just glows. The gold leaf makes them feel incredibly special.
As I looked at Herend, then Royal Copenhagen, then back again, I better began to understand the very Danish-ness of the RC designs: they’re simple, clean, and elegant. They’re also quite functional: most RC china today is dishwasher and microwave-safe.
I also began to understand that I wanted something a little more elaborate—and that I was willing to go to the trouble to give it a little special handling if that’s what was required.
And I also began to understand something my mom knew well after 40+ years of homemaking: often, special handling is part of the point and part of the fun.
While all these realizations were clicking into place, my phone pinged with a text from my fiancé. “Like this,” he wrote, in reply to a picture of the Herend ‘Livia’ pattern.
His two-word reply removed the mental block I had around ‘Livia’—that it wasn’t the typical color combo I would go for. He and I chatted about it later on a WhatsApp call, and he expanded on his comically abrupt text, sharing that he could see us using the china set often. We both agreed that the pattern was kind of modern, compared to some other, more formal and staid china patterns. And we could picture it on the table equally at Easter, Thanksgiving, and Christmas, as well as dinners at home year-round.
So, the decision was made: ‘Livia’ was my pattern! And thus Herend of Hungary came into my life.
Many of Herend’s original china patterns are still in production. As I came to learn later on, ‘Livia’ is one of the less-popular patterns and the pieces are made to order. This is another pro in my book; I like having a china pattern that I’m unlikely to ever see at someone else’s house—but if I do, we’ll have an instant bond.
Back to Wikipedia to share a bit about the traditional production method:
After cleaning, decorating and drying, the porcelain is first fired at 830 degrees Celsius. The fired pieces are then immersed in a glaze and fired again, this time at 1410 degrees Celsius. This results in white, translucent porcelain. At this stage it is ready for painting by hand and then, depending on whether it has been painted with colours or with gold, it is finished off with one or two more firings.
The factory continues to manufacture porcelain according to the above traditional method, in order to produce a consistent quality. And I want to pause here to emphasize the hand-painting:
Every single one of their pieces is hand-painted by an unbelievably skilled artisan who must produce intricately detailed and also highly consistent designs.
I mean, just scroll through this page for a moment and imagine painting these dishes by hand.
I love knowing that this is an employee-owned company because the employees are quite literally building this company with their (very steady) hands and they deserve to reap the rewards.
For the intricacy and artistry required, I actually find the prices quite reasonable. I wasn’t able to find out how long a Herend dinner plate takes to paint, but I imagine many concentrated hours.
But at the same time, the prices are still out of reach for many people. If my dear family and friends hadn’t given me my Herend pieces as wedding gifts, trust me, I’d take a lot longer to build up the collection.
So here’s a tip if you’ve fallen in love with Herend and would like to collect some pieces of your own: once you’ve settled on your pattern, set a notification on an online estate auction site like LiveAuctioneers or Lyon & Turnbull and wait for a set to come up at auction.
You might have to wait a long time, but your patience will be rewarded: huge dinner services come up for auction at an absolute steal. I mean, this 67-piece set in ‘Market Garden’ (my other favorite pattern) sold for around $2,700. That’s a lot of money, but it comes out to around $40 per piece of hand-painted china. A dinner plate usually retails for $240. I’m crying on the inside that this set wasn’t sold to me.
And this set of 94 pieces in ‘Green Grape and Vine,’ an adorable and super unique, out of production pattern, sold for around $1,120. Even though some pieces are missing, I would love to own this one, too.
There are some incredible deals to be had at estate auctions, is all I’m saying. On fine china and otherwise.
My husband and I use our ‘Livia’ set more than I ever imagined we would, and I don’t feel precious about it because it’s genuinely so sturdy. Hopefully my guests that eat on those dishes feel relaxed, too. And I do hand wash it, but I hand wash lots of things, so it doesn’t make that much of a difference.
The moral of the story? My mom was right, and yours is too if she’s encouraging you to get the fine china.
Let me know… was Herend on your radar before? What do you think now? How about Royal Copenhagen (which I still adore)? Would you ever buy estate china?
xx Jane
Jane, Beautifully Written!