Bernardaud

Few porcelain houses can follow a single family through more than a century and a half of work. The Bernardaud story is one of steady hands and bold decisions: an apprentice who rose through the workshop, sons and grandsons who modernized the kilns without giving up the old skills, and a house that has kept its production in the Limousin while inviting the artists of each era to try their ideas in porcelain.

From Apprentice to Partner

The factory opened in 1863, when two Limoges industrialists set up a workshop to meet the growing demand for porcelain dinner services. They fired their kilns with coal and sent their wares to market on the newly built railroad. Among the apprentices, a young man named Léonard Bernardaud stood out. About twenty years later he was made head of sales, and the founders took him on as a partner.

In 1900 the company took the name L. Bernardaud & Cie. Léonard expanded production and looked for new customers abroad, above all in the United States, and in 1911 the firm opened an office in New York. His sons Jacques and Michel carried the house through the Depression and the Second World War. Jacques, a painter himself, built friendships with the artists of his day, and the company showed its Art Deco pieces at the Paris exhibitions of 1925, 1931 and 1937. In 1949 the brothers installed the first tunnel kiln in France, a kiln that could run around the clock.

A Modern House With Old Skills

Pierre Bernardaud took over the management in 1962 and steered the company into the modern age. He asked the industrial designer Raymond Loewy to create the house's first contemporary dinner service, the start of a long habit of working with designers. In 1979 he opened a white porcelain plant at Oradour-sur-Glane, and in 1986 the historic Ancienne Manufacture Royale joined the group. His son Michel, who had joined in 1979, has led Bernardaud since 1994, modernizing the workshops while keeping rare techniques such as incrustation alive for special orders.

The porcelain is fired at 1,400°C (about 2,550°F), and Bernardaud is one of the few porcelain factories with its own printing shop. Lines and bands are still applied by hand with a brush, and the house is known for a gold polish that is neither too matte nor too shiny.

The company has been a member of the Comité Colbert since 1964 and holds the French state's Living Heritage Company label. In 2003 the family created the Fondation Bernardaud, and the Limoges factory is open to visitors for guided tours year-round.

The Signature Patterns

Aux Oiseaux is a signature of the house. Inspired by the cabinets of curiosities of the 16th and 17th centuries, it shows birds in autumn colors perched on stylized trees picked out in raised gold, with a delicacy that recalls Japanese prints. Ecume takes the opposite approach: its beauty comes from hollow engraving and careful glazing rather than painted color, and it now appears in gold, platinum, pearl and several soft tones.

For formal dining, patterns such as Louvre and Constance bring classic gold-trimmed elegance in the French tradition. Alongside them sit the artist collections that have made Bernardaud a meeting place for art and the table. Sarkis drew on the Japanese art of repairing ceramics with lacquer and gold for Kintsugi. The architect Kazuyo Sejima created Jardin de Table, a series of porcelain boxes that each follow the changing seasons through a single flower in bloom. Joan Miró's À Toute Épreuve, Marc Chagall's flowers and stained glass, and Jeff Koons's playful forms complete a roster of artists few porcelain houses can claim.

Setting and Caring for the Table

Bernardaud pieces are designed to be mixed. A plain white or engraved service makes a calm base for a richly decorated salad plate or a colored dessert course, and white cups and serving pieces sit comfortably beside almost any pattern. For softer light at the table, Votivelights in unglazed bisque porcelain carry engraved motifs that come alive when a candle glows inside them.

Bernardaud's own care advice is simple. Its porcelain can handle the heat of a conventional oven, though sudden changes in temperature, such as moving a dish straight from the refrigerator into a hot oven, should be avoided. Dinnerware patterns are microwave-safe except those decorated with gold, silver or platinum. In the dishwasher, choose a low-temperature program and don't exceed the recommended amount of detergent.

On gold and platinum, use only the soft side of a sponge, and if a rarely used set dulls over time, a soft cloth with a few drops of silver cleaner brings back the shine. When storing plates with decorated centers, place a soft cloth between each one.

Bernardaud china is sold by the piece, so a service can be built one place setting at a time and added to over the years. Start from a pattern on Bernardaud dinnerware to see every piece made in it, compare Bernardaud plates across patterns, or look at serveware and vases for the rest of the table. Bernardaud porcelain is made in France, in the Limousin region around Limoges.