Emaux de Briare
| Industry | mosaics |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1837 |
| Headquarters | Briare, France (relocated from Paris) |
|
Key people
|
Jean-Félix Bapterosses |
| Products | buttons, beads, mosaics |
| Website | [1] |
Emaux de Briare is a French company specializing today in mosaics. Whilst the manufactory in Briare originally started with earthenware pottery, the factory founded in Paris by Jean-Félix Bapterosses (1813–1885) initially began manufacturing porcelain buttons in 1845. They merged in 1851, at which date its international development started: 1851 in The Great Exhibition, UK and as early as 1853 in the United States.
The company began as Bapterosses & Cie of Paris, France, which was established to manufacture and sell porcelain buttons made according to a method quite similar to the one patented by Richard Prosser in 1840, but following the invention of a device that could mold 500 buttons at a time vs. only one at the competing English factory,Mintons (which had acquired the rights to the original patent) thanks to a new formulation of the paste in which milk was added to the slip to improve plasticity. Jean-Félix Bapterosses was hence named Officer of the French Legion of Honor in 1878. His bust, sculpted by Henri Chapu and founded by Ferdinand Barbedienne is now exhibited in the museum of enamel & mosaics in Briare.
Today émaux de Briare sells its mosaics across the world for small and large projects alike, one of the latest ones being the walkways for the new Miami Marlins stadium, designed by Venezuelan artist Carlos Cruz-Diez. It currently operates from its US headquarters in Bayshore NY for the North American market.
Bapterosses & Cie was bent on efficiency and multiplied inventions to boost productivity. For instance in 1858 (US letters of patent N°19,120), they invented buttons with shanks. Mr Bapterosses was also a precocious marketing man in the sense that he immediately advertised his products under the FB brand and associated it with the numerous medals & awards he had received the world over.
With the growing colonial thrust a new market appeared notably in Africa for fancy beads. The models made included faceted beads, mother-of-pearl beads and chevron beads. They were also used for trading with Native Americans in the second half of the 19th century, as well as for the fashion conscious ladies of the time.
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Wikipedia