The History of Haviland & Company

The history of Haviland & Company is a very interesting story.
David Haviland set sail for Limoges, France, in 1842 looking for the perfect porcelain dinnerware. Not finding some company that would create just what he was looking for, he started his own company. Porcelain had been made in the city of Limoges since the 1750s but had always sent their china into Paris for decorating. David had a fight on his hands when he decided to have the whiteware and the decorating studios placed under one roof. In the first years he had another company make the whiteware and then he decorated the pieces. He then shipped the items to New York to the store that he and his brothers owned. During the Civil War years his operation did not do very well as he was not able to ship product to the states very easily and in 1865 closed the doors. He then decided it would be a perfect opportunity to reopen under just his own name. Prior to that his brothers had been partners.

David had two sons: Charles Edward and Theodore. Charles Edward was 2 years old when his family moved to Limoges. Theodore was born in Limoges. In 1865, Charles was old enough to take control of the company when David retired. Charles was very creative and had many new ideas for production of fine china. He was very interested in Japanese art and design. As the trade doors to Japan opened in the 1870s everything in home decoration turned to Japanese art. Whereas dinnerware was fairly plain with just gold or color borders or handpainted flowers in the center of the plates, Charles hired impressionistic painters to create patterns in flowing designs and flowers. These patterns were very popular in America.

Theodore was sent to the United States to market the china. Haviland opened a store in New York City and he spent his time selling the dinnerware to jewelry stores, hardware and china stores. As a marketing tool, if a customer bought a certain number of sets for his store, Haviland would put the company name on the back of the plates. There are many sets out there today with store names such as Gump, Bailey Banks & Biddle, etc. With the opening of the railroads across the nation, Theodore was able to sell his wares from New York to California. With the gold strike in California, there were lots of very wealthy people who wanted the finest money could buy. New York was the hub of the wealthiest people in the world at that time. They all wanted fine china for their tables and dining was the main entertainment. (I will write about the Age of Elegance and fine dining in another blog later).

Between 1890s & 1910s, Haviland & Company shipped over 20,000 barrels of china a year to the United States. Haviland was sold in shops and in catalogs. They made very elaborate and expensive patterns for the very rich and also very plain patterns for the middle class. This meant that even the farmer in Missouri could purchase through the catalogs a fine quality of china. A Sears catalog from 1904 sold a couple of sets of Haviland, 100 pieces in a barrel, for $19.95. This may seem cheap but the lowest price in the catalog was $3.95 for a set of the same size in another less expensive brand. Haviland was still the most expensive china in the catalog.

In 1893, Theodore Haviland grew tired of working for his brother and opened his own firm in Limoges. (More on that at another time) Charles Edward died in 1921 and Georges, his eldest son, too over the running of the company. There were two major fires in the warehouses and archives which destroyed quite a bit of information regarding patterns. With the Great Depression looming, Haviland was not able to sustain and closed its doors in 1931. In 1941, Theodore Haviland bought back the rights to the Haviland name and became Haviland & Company once more. In 1972 the Haviland family sold the company to a conglomerate. Haviland china is still being made in Limoges, France today and can be found in high end china shops around the states.

If you would like to read more about Haviland, please read "Haviland China-Age of Elegance" and "Evolution of Haviland China Design" by Nora Travis. Both are published and available through Schiffer Publishing or through Nora Travis at Travishrs@aol.com.

Look for various articles on Terra Cotta pottery, Sandoz and the various Haviland families in coming blogs.