Experimental Fine Ceramic Factory Jiesia

Design research

by Rokas Dovydėnas

 

The beginning of the Jiesia porcelain factory can be traced back to interwar Kaunas, when in 1935  ceramics workshop was established at the Zabler brick and ceramics factory. After the war, this business was nationalized and from 1961 the factory was called Building Materials Production Plant Jiesia. Since 1967 it was given the name Experimental Fine Ceramics Factory Jiesia. in 1974 a porcelain production bar was established in the factory, since 1981 mass production of bone china began. in 1993 the company was privatized and named AB Jiesia. In 2003 the first bankruptcy case was filed against the company. Currently, in 2022, UAB Kauno Jiesia is operating in Kaunas, producing serial production of bone china.

 

Undoubtedly, Jiesia had a close relationship with the Department of Glass and Porcelain of the State Art Institute of the LSSR, Kaunas Faculty. Artists who created service and sculpture prototypes for Jiesia have been trained in this Department since the 1960s, while factory workers – executors – were trained in the Stepas Žukas technical college.  The first workshop for local artists was organized in Jiesia in 1983, later, from 1991 international symposia began. Artists from Lithuania and various foreign countries weree invited to the symposia. From the very beginning, this symposium became a flagship for the realization of artistic ideas in Lithuania, where ceramists experimented with the fragile material of bone china.

 

The presented study of Jiesia’s design includes several components – study materials of LSSR State Art Institute- diploma theses, Jiesia’s mass production and works created during the Idea symposiums, using factory forms.

 

Porcelain

The material consisting of kaolin and potash, which burns at a high temperature of 1280 – 1340°C, was discovered in China during the reign of the Tang Dynasty (618-907). At that time, no words were found to describe porcelain, and it was called false jade in China. It must be admitted that the first porcelain items were not white and translucent, as is common in Europe today. Made in China for the local market and for export, porcelain found its way to European homes much later, during the reign of the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644). When blue and white porcelain began to be imported into Europe directly, in millions of pieces every year. in 1707 In Dresden, at the court of Grand Duke August II the Strong, Johann Friedrich Böttger and Ehrenfried Walter von Tschirnhaus rediscovered the composition of porcelain. Around 1800 In England, Josiah Spode II creates bone china by adding burnt bones to porcelain. If traditional, also called hard, porcelain is white, suitable for casting, ringing or shaping by hand, then bone china porcelain is an extremely translucent, strong material that is easiest to shape by casting.

 

The history of locally produced porcelain in Lithuania is quite short. The first ceramist to describe the technology of porcelain, Jonas Mikėnas, did so in the book Technology  of Fine Ceramics in 1967. After seven years, porcelain starts to be produced in Kaunas. Porcelain factories with long-standing traditions were operating in the Soviet Union: in Riga, Leningrad, Dulev, Baranivka, Kiev and elsewhere. New porcelain factories were also established, such as: Sysert porcelain factory in Russia, opened in 1960; in Poltava, Ukraine in 1964; Bronis, Russia, Vozrozdenia factory in 1966; In Belarus, in Dobrus, a porcelain factory was opened in 1978. Therefore, the opening of Kaunas Jiesia was one of the components of the Soviet planned economy.

 

The material composition of Kaunas porcelain was different from the traditional bone china recipe discovered in England, consisting of 25% kaolin, 25% Cornish stone and 50% bone ash. The composition was supplemented with local and imported materials, it consisted of: 15% Anykščiai quartz sand, 8% feldspar, 45% bone ash, 10% Vasilovski clay, 22% kaolin. Both clay and kaolin were transported from Ukraine. The recipe was created at the Leningrad M. Lomonosov Porcelain Factory, where bone china technology has been experimented since 1960. In the first years of working with porcelain, in 1975 in Kaunas, they worked exclusively with porcelain created in Leningrad. In the Soviet Union, Jiesia was the second factory to produce bone china. There is no doubt that local ceramic technologists contributed to the fact that the properties of the material did not change over time. Many of the materials needed for the production of ceramics at that time – metal oxides, overglaze paints, glazes – were brought from various places, including the Dulev – Likin paint factory, located near Moscow. Artists, technologists, craftsmen and ordinary workers worked in the place.

 

Place.

In Kaunas, the porcelain factory was located behind the VI Kaunas fortress fort, Chemijos street 29. Around, in the industrial suburb, various factories were built, through the windows of Jiesia you can see the closest neighbor – Kaunas Juvenile Detention Center – the penitentiary. Even today, on one of the buildings of the former factory, you can see the blue Jiesia trademark. The factory produced clay and stone mass products, and in a separate workshop in Vilijampole, clay was prepared for the Kaunas and Vilnius Art Production Plants. The buildings were interconnected by underground tunnels and passages.

 

In the factory, the production of any product, even an ashtray, began in the artist’s workshop, where a prototype of the future replicated product was created. According to it, plaster models were made, later plaster molds from which the article is being cast. It should be noted that bone china material, unlike clay or stone masses, must take on less inflated, more densely divided forms. This is the specificity of the material, because during firing, porcelain can curve undesirably. Knowledge of the technical capabilities of a material is created only through direct experimentation with the material.

 

The works can be roughly divided into factory production, which was produced by workers, and small unit works, which were created by artists themselves beginning from forming to the final decoration. Often on this type of work, next to the factory stamp, you can also see the golden signature of the author. Many talented authors worked in the factory, including: Irena Petravičienė, Aldona Višinskienė, Gražina Stungurienė, Gražina Vanagienė, Vitalis Grigas, Artūras Počiuipa, Valerija Liaugaudienė, Erika Vaivadaitė, Vytautas Verkelis, Ramutės Juršienė, Lilija Olšauskienė, Živilė Bardzilauskaitė – Bergins and many others.

 

Unlike other ceramic technologies, bone china is first fired at a higher temperature – about 1280°C. Later, a piece is glazed with a colorless glaze and fired at a lower temperature of 1160° C. It should be noted that the fired porcelain and the glaze for it are white in color. In the factory, the glaze powder is mixed with water and sprayed on the work with a pulverizer. In order to facilitate the work of the glazers, blue, burning off paint and glue were mixed into the glaze. Therefore, the objects entered the glaze firing cycle with a bright bluish color.

 

Porcelain was fired in conventional, muffle and tunnel, gas-fired kilns, these kilns operated 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, the product placed in them was heated, fired and left the kiln after cooling, which lasted, depending on the firing cycle, about 16 – 24 hours After two firings, the shiny products traveled to the decoration workshops, optionally painting the works with overglaze paint, covering them with decals or gilding exclusive details. The gold used in the factory was applied to the products with a brush. It can be said that it is melted gold, which is an extremely volatile and toxic substance, when working with it, you need to be especially responsible for personal safety – decorate only in well-ventilated rooms, wear respirators when working. Similar to gold, it is decorated with lustres, which create a shimmering surface of the product, as well as with overglaze paints of various shades.

 

Finally, all works had to be marked with Jiesia’s brand, sanded if necessary, then packed and transported to stores. The fact that unbranded Soviet-era bone china works can be found on the secondary market attests to the fact that there was a system of factory production and trade that bypassed the official trade chain.

 

State Art Institute

After the establishment of a porcelain laboratory in Jiesia, new specialists began to be trained to work with a different material. These are artists who created works in the factory that were sold in the Soviet Union and exported abroad. Preparation for work – learning to create porcelain artworks began at the Department of Applied Arts of the State Art Institute of Lithuania SSR in Kaunas. In 1975-1984 the Department of Applied Arts was headed by Gražina Stungurienė, it was a time of changes and assimilation of new technologies.  In 1976 new  design and technology of porcelain was introduced in Kaunas Faculty  of State Art Institute. The education at that time lasted five years. During all the studies, students got to know Lithuanian clay. Students often did internships at Kaunas Art Production Plant, as well as in Jiesia, where stoneware and porcelain were produced. A common final work of students was a porcelain set. The artists Irena Petravičienė and Aldona Višinskienė, who graduated from the State Institute of Fine Arts with a specialty in ceramics, did an additional internship at the Leningrad M. Lomonosov Porcelain Factory and created the first standards for Lithuanian porcelain products. In 1978 the first coffee sets Klasika and Modernas were created. It can be said that after the start of mass production of tableware, a tradition of unique tableware design was born. Next to the first, the sets worth mentioning are Artūros Počiuipa’s Ufo, 1989, and Lina Kaubrienė Academy, 1994.

 

Symposia

The 90s and 00s brought changes to the artistic life. In the exhibition halls, unique dishes and decorative panels were replaced by so-called exhibition ceramics. These works were distinguished by the fact that they were created exclusively for exhibition spaces, they were not intended for public interiors, as it was usual in the past. During that period, most of the most prominent Lithuanian ceramists, who later participated in porcelain symposia, started creating: Živilė Bardzilauskaitė-Bergins, Nora Blaževičiūtė, Rytas Jakimavičiaus, Audrius Janušonis, Aldona Keturakienė, Dalia Laučkaitės-Jakimavičienė, Remigijus Sederevičius and others.

 

The first Republican ceramic seminar in Kaunas was organized in 1983. The seminar took place at the fine ceramics factory Jiesia and the Kaunas Art Production Plant. It was attended by 46 participants, ceramic artists who worked in these factories. Later, at the Jiesia factory, in 1991 the 2nd international symposium Idea was held. This event was organized by Irena Petravičienė, Nora Blaževičiūtė, Gintė Pinkutė and Aldona Keturakienė. In the factory, artists found ideal conditions for creativity, they were given the opportunity to use the entire technical base, with the help of technologists and craftsmen. The work with the material lasted for a month. There were also public presentations of artists and discussions.

In 2001 The organized symposium Shining Objects became the last one held in the premises of the factory. Symposia varied in the number of participants. The largest international event took place in 1994, when the theme of the symposium Coffee Pot was interpreted in Jiesia by 23 artists from 8 countries: Czech Republic, Italy, USA, Latvia, Poland, Lithuania, Russia, Germany. In 2000 the symposium remained local, without the participation of guests from abroad. in 2002 the international name of the symposium was supported only by guests from Latvia – ceramist Andris Vezis with his daughter Ieva Veze.

 

Over a long period of time, twenty symposiums on bone china were held, and more than one hundred world-renowned ceramicists and other artists from more than eighteen countries participated in them. Bone China Symposiums are a unique phenomenon among other ceramic events in Lithuania and could be compared with the Panevėžys International Ceramic Symposiums, which began to be held in 1989. The final exhibitions, presenting the results of creation, were held in the Mykolas Žilinskas art gallery, the Ceramics Museum and the Painting Gallery in Kaunas. Some of the works created at the symposium are added to the collections of the National M. K. Čiurlionis Art Museum. It can be noticed that with the change of time and artistic trends, as well as organizers of the symposium, similar goals are being pursued here – to reveal the artist’s idea through the fragile material, to discover new possibilities when working with, it seems, already common bone china, and to present global trends in ceramics. It can be noted that  these events successfully integrate Lithuanian ceramists into the international art context, allow artists from foreign countries to implement unconventional creative ideas and promotes Kaunas, the city of porcelain.

 

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