• History of Porcelain
• Porcelain
• Decoration
• Project & Development
• Laws and Food Contact

However, the history of porcelain production has nothing in common with the usual Chinese production. China's recent past has been miser of enlightened time, but during his long history this great empire has been the cradle of some of the most important inventions in history, like the compass, the gunpowder,  the paper, the printing and obviously the porcelain.

Even if some rudimentary kinds of ceramic were already used in China since few centuries after Christ, it is only at the end of the first millenium that appeared the porcelain as we know it today, obtain by the fusion of kaolin and feldspar, with its peculiar characteristics of brillance, whiteness and endurance which make it so special.

Until that time, only gold and silver were considered suitable to decorate houses and tables of royal families all other the world; but if you look at the quality and glory of some of these products, it is easy to understand why in a short period of time, Chinese porcelain gained big popularity and diffusion first among Chinese Emperors, and afterwards among the royalties of all Europe.

During the Ming and Qind Dynasty, the Chinese porcelain lived his brightest moment, becoming among the royal families a real status symbol; this was so true, that the word "China" was used all other Europe as synonymous of "porcelain".

The first porcelain products arrived in Europe as gifts or donations to royal and noble families during official visit by Chinese ambassadors, but very soon the increasing popularity of the porcelain, and the inability to produce similar products in Europe, established a solid export toward Europe. The most important royal and noble families all placed large orders to adorn their palaces. But notwithstanding the fact that any single pieces was marked with the effigy of the royal families, the decorations were still based on oriental style and culture. The faces and people drawn in the decorations all had oriental features, due to the inability of the Chinese decorator to reproduce European features and landscape.

Since the XVI century the research for the formula of the porcelain become a big obsession for many royal families in Europe, but notwithstanding all the efforts, Europe would wait until the year 1709, almost 8 centuries after the first Chinese discover, when a German alchemist, generously financed by August of Sassonia, establish the first porcelain production in Europe founding the Meissen Factory.

Starting from this first small step, the diffusion and spread of the porcelain in Europe would continue headlong and fast, so much that less than 50 years later, significant production sites spread among all major European countries.

Non the less, the popularity of the Chinese porcelain in Europe, was so big and well-establish that for some decades the new German, French and English factories continued to produce, or re-produce, copies of the Chinese shapes and decorations. It's only after the year 1750, that in German and French spread the idea to make products with original design, aligned with the European style. For this reason, some of the most famous painters and carvers of the period, predecessors of the modern "designer", were involved in the development of the new products.

After the communist season under Mao reign, a first and slow re-discover of the private entrepreneurship started after year 1980, and it is from year that start our story. In this pictures you can see the building of our factories, in the year of his foundation in 1983.

Our first contact with China dated back to year 1990. We must admit that 7 years later, the general condition and facilities were not that different from this picture, and the proof is that during our first visit in Canton Fair lasted 10 days, we were unable to find one single product suitable to be distribute in Europe. Non the less, what was immediately clear, was the unbelievable willingness and curiosity which characterize all these small Chinese new Entrepreneur, differently from our previous European and Thailand partners.

Our path in the coffee business started in the early ninetees. We must honestly admit, as some of our customers can testify, that some of our first experiences were not satisfying, not only due to the deficiency of the quality of the product, but eventually also due to our lack of experience and know-how in the world of coffee.

Our know-how in the porcelain business was tied to the daily use household item, and it took us at least 2 years and some mistakes to acquire the specific knowledge and the needs of the coffee business, like endurance, decal perfection, size and quality stability.

Moreover, despite the strong will and motivation of all new Chinese entrepreneurs, only after few experiences we understood that to achieve our goal to produce an excellent product, it was compulsory to select one, and one only, excellent producer. After cooperating and testing more than 40 different factories during the years, we have gone trough a long and difficult process to select the sole one that proof during the years to share our same vision and ambition, and who fully gained our complete and unreserved trust.

A factory exclusively oriented to the production of bathroom acessories and canister, has been almost entirely converted to the production of porcelain cups for coffee roasters, reaching today a production capability of 20 million pieces per year, with 5 million distributed in Italy.

One more time we would like to thanks the most temerarious and confident among our customers, whom despite the first imperfect productions, have sustained us, reconfirming their trust and allowing our company to learn all the necessary know-how, acquiring the excellent quality level that we have always pursued and that today it is recognize by most of our customers.