Go back a century to the last artisanal tile factory in Lorraine

Old machines from another time still work despite some tinkering and the need to maintain the cogs with a specific oil.

The factory, 200 years old, appeared in the land register in 1835, but was already established before, in 1820, according to its current manager, Christophe Henselmann, with the appearance of mechanization.

It was modernized for the last time in 1928. Since then, everything seems frozen in time... and in working order, despite the wear of parts, tinkering, and the need to make investments to perpetuate the company .

After collecting the clay, an employee loads it into a wagon, which will then rise to the third floor of the factory via a manually operated ramp.

In the 20th century, it was "the starting point for a modern so-called cascade installation", explains Mr. Henselmann, which, if no longer entirely modern, was never abandoned in the last artisanal tile factory in Lorraine, one of the last in France.

“Ecomuseum”

“It is a tool which has almost disappeared in France, there is only one other ramp remaining, in a tile factory, which has been preserved as a historical monument, otherwise everything has disappeared”, specifies Mr. Henselmann.

Once the raw material has risen to the top floor, it descends, "by gravity" to the ground floor, where the tiles are manufactured, after having been kneaded in a wheel crusher, also activated and monitored manually.

It’s a sort of “ecomuseum”, smiles its manager, who “grew up” there. In 1963, the company was at a standstill... until it was bought two years later by Christophe Henselmann's father and grandfather.

“They got by, they never gave up even though they never won anything.” And without money, it’s impossible to modernize. “The machines remained in their current state.”

The site employs 8 people, compared to more than a hundred after the war, according to company archives.

Christophe Henselmann, who wanted to modernize the factory, became head of the company in 1998, the year when he acquired a small oven more suited to his production, allowing energy savings in this cooking aspect.

Cédric Zaig, 46, who has worked there for a year and a half, "likes" after 20 years of public works in the building, working "the old-fashioned way (...) I didn't even think it existed".

“We could see that it was old, but I worked in earthenware before, so it didn’t disorient me too much,” adds Laurence Trumpf, 59 years old, 13 of whom have been in the house. And with orders, “it’s pride to see our work” on historical monuments like the Dominican library in Colmar.

Mandatory modernization

The order book is “full” over 18 months, smiles the manager, who divides his work between individuals and communities.

With "the heritage lottery or Stéphane Bern's broadcasts", he recently noticed a strong appeal from individuals who want to renovate their homes with tiles similar to the original: "it has nothing to do with industrial tiles" , assures Mr. Henselman, who shows a turnover increasing year after year.

Once passed through the press, a hand finish is carried out by employees to give the tiles their unique decor.

But the current installations are experiencing their last months. With this system, the company could produce 15 tons of tiles per hour. “It’s oversized, compared to the five tonnes per day that we need to produce,” notes Mr. Henselmann.

“Now with the price of electricity, we are forced to invest in smaller machines,” he explains, while with the war in Ukraine, his electricity bill has increased sixfold. Without changing equipment, “at the end of the year, we’re screwed.”

Production is also more eco-friendly than that carried out in industry: the workers collect their raw materials from a quarry, 800 meters away, according to the company.

But the deposit is “very small” with “1 meter, 1,5 meters thick of good quality clay”. Exploited since the establishment of the first tile factory in 1722, it could be exhausted within “15, 20 years”. But other resources will be exploitable in the region, reassures Mr. Henselmann.