Vallauris Vallauris is a seaside commune in the South East of France, near Cannes. It's name means the golden valley or valley of gold, so named by the Romans because of it's pinkish red clay. Although pottery has been made here since the Roman era it was after a deadly epidemic in Genoa in the 16th century when Italian families settled here that pottery activity by individual artisans really began. During the 17th century, pottery was a major economic force in Vallauris, marking the beginning of a tradition that persists today. In the 1800s the railway helped potters organise commercially, large factories grew and pottery was exported by rail and sea. Kitchenware became Vallauris' speciality. Terracotta pottery enamelled with a...
The story of the majolica of Fives-Lille starts with Antione Gustave De Bruyn, a fourth generation potter who left Belgium in 1864 and moved to Fives-Lille, a community in the northern part of France.
Originating in Switzerland in the late 18th century absinthe is traditionally prepared with white grape spirit (eau de vie) and the herbs wormwood, anise and fennel.
Manufacturing of tiles here dates back to 1386, over the centuries it was alternately tile and then pottery, with ceramics for fine tableware appearing at Longchamp under the leadership of Claude Phal-Matiron around 1832.
