Porsgrund is a porcelain

Porcelain

Porcelain is a ceramic material made by heating raw materials, generally including clay in the form of kaolin, in a kiln to temperatures between and...

 flatware company in Porsgrunn

Porsgrunn

is a town and municipality in Telemark county, Norway. It is part of the traditional region of Grenland. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Porsgrunn....

, in Telemark

Telemark

is a county in Norway, bordering Vestfold, Buskerud, Hordaland, Rogaland and Aust-Agder. The county administration is in Skien. Until 1919 the county was known as Bratsberg amt.-Location:...

 county, Norway

Norway

Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...

.

History

The company's production plant is a popular tourist attraction. The company was founded by Johan Jeremiassen

Johan Jeremiassen

Johan Jeremiassen was a Norwegian ship-owner, consul and politician. He established the Porsgrund Porselænsfabrik .-Personal life:...

 in 1885 and has produced designs by Norwegian artists such as Ferdinand Finne

Ferdinand Finne

Ferdinand Finne was a Norwegian painter, theatre worker and writer. He was costume designer at Nationaltheatret from 1935 to 1938. He is represented in the National Gallery of Norway with several art works. He wrote on art in various newspapers and magazines, and published a number of books. He...

, Theodor Kittelsen

Theodor Kittelsen

Theodor Severin Kittelsen was a Norwegian artist. He is one of the most popular artists in Norway. Kittelsen became famous for his nature paintings, as well as for his illustrations of fairy tales and legends, especially of trolls.-Biography:Kittelsen was born in the coastal town of Kragerø in...

, Frans Widerberg and Odd Nerdrum

Odd Nerdrum

Odd Nerdrum , is a Norwegian figurative painter. Themes and style in Nerdrum's work reference anecdote and narrative, while primary influences by the painters Rembrandt and Caravaggio place his work in direct conflict with the abstraction and conceptual art considered acceptable in much of his...

.

Since 1996 the factory has been owned by the Atle Brynestad company CG Holding AS. In contrast to its prosperous history, Porsgrund has since experienced a financial decline. After years of uncertain future, adjustments have been made to increase cost efficiency

Cost Efficiency

Cost efficiency , in the context of parallel computer algorithms, refers to a measure of how effectively parallel computing can be used to solve a particular problem...

, by considerable restructuring to the production and sales processes.

Other sources

• Bøe, Alf (1967) Porsgrunds porselænsfabrik : bedrift og produksjon gjennom åtti år, 1885-1965 (Oslo: Porsgrunds Porselænsfabrik)