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The porcelain manufacturing process is rather complex. For example, up to 80 process steps are required to make a cup. The Imperial Porcelain Manufactory preserved the essence of the classic porcelain technology developed by D. I. Vinogradov as early as the 18th century. Porcelain mix is made of fine kaolin (white clay), quartz, feldspar and other alumina silicates and includes up to 40 various additives.
Hollow ware is made using manual or machine forming techniques. Liquid porcelain mix (slip) is poured into a plaster mould which consists of two or more sections. As plaster absorbs moisture, a solid ceramic body is formed in the mould. When this is thick enough, the excess slip is removed. Still fragile ware is taken out of the mould to be further dressed and dried out. Flat articles are made of more dehydrated mix using semi-automatic moulders. Porcelain hardens at high temperatures: the 24-hours’ bisque firing process (at up to 900°С) is followed by glazed firing (at up to 1380–1430°С) for two and more days. It should be kept in mind that fired porcelain shrinks about a seventh.
Animal sculptures are made of soft paste fired at up to 1280°С. The formulation is almost the same although the content of feldspar is higher. The Imperial Porcelain Manufactory developed the egg-shell bone porcelain technology 35 years ago and was the first in Russia to release the commercial batch of articles of increased whiteness, fineness and transparency. The porcelain mix was improved to include calcium phosphate, cattle bone ashes. Therefore, it is called bone porcelain. For this achievement, the Imperial Porcelain team was awarded the USSR State Prize in the field of science and engineering in 1980.
The Imperial Porcelain Manufactory products are decorated with hand or machine-made overglaze and underglaze painting, or a combination of these. Underglaze paints are applied to the raw ceramic body. They are more durable as protected with glaze but are limited in colour palette. The most popular option is dark blue cobalt. Overglaze paint fired at lower temperatures (720–860°С) benefits from a wider diversity of colours. Many ceramic paints discolour in the course of firing, thus expanding porcelain painting opportunities.
The products are decorated with decal, a transfer picture printed with ceramic paints on the gummed paper and covered with special varnish. When the decorated product is fired, the film burns out and the paint sticks to the glaze, leaving the picture. This decoration technique coupled with manual finishing drawing scales up the output significantly.
The Imperial Porcelain Manufactory is world-famous for its sophisticated hand-made painting. A wide range of articles is decorated with natural gold and engraved pictures. The majority of tableware, vases and almost all animal sculptures are underglazed. Owing to one of our most popular combinations - deep underglaze cobalt coupled with bright overglaze colour and gold, the eye-catching products of the IPM look especially spectacular.
The Imperial Porcelain Manufactory managed to preserve such unique technologies as cobalt covering and underglaze landscape painting that date back to the end of 19th century.A new casting and moulding shop with high-technology equipment is expected to be launched in the short run. The IPM successfully applies advanced 3D modelling technology to accelerate mould development process and, as a result, offer you an increasing number of new products.
The Imperial Porcelain Manufactory offers about 4 000 products varying in shape and patterns: tea, coffee and dinner sets, individual tableware, gifts and souvenirs, genre and animal sculptures, decorative dishes, plates, etc. They are made of hard-paste, soft-paste and bone porcelain. Our products are decorated with hand or machine-made overglaze and underglaze painting, or a combination of these, with paints based on rare and precious metals. As an option, you can order customized replicas of museum displays of the 18th – 20th centuries or corporate dishware marked with your logotype or monogram.
Porcelain sets covered with our proprietary pattern, Cobalt Net (S.E. Yakovleva, A.A. Yatskevich), which won the golden medal at the Brussels World’s Fair, have been extremely popular for decades. Russian and foreign customers also admire products designed by A.V. Vorobyevsky and I. I. Riznich, People’s Artists of Russia, N.P. Slavina, member of the Academy of Arts, I. S. Olevskaya, award winner of the Academy of Arts and the International Quadrennial in Erfurt, N.L. Petrova, T.V. Afanasyeva, G.D. Shulyak, S. A. Sokolova, M. A. Sorokina, Yu. Ya. Zhgirova, etc.
The Imperial Porcelain Manufactory makes a wide range of products varying from home dinner sets and souvenirs to festive tableware at the presidential level, diplomatic gifts to the foreign heads of states, and major competition and festival prizes. For example, we supplied all tableware for gala receptions held during the celebration of the 300th anniversary of Saint Petersburg.
The Lomonosov Porcelain Manufactory products (the trademark was registered in 1936) are exported to such developed countries as Canada, France, Germany, Japan, Norway, Sweden, UK, USA, etc. Accounting for 15% of total sales, the USA has been our key export market for years, followed by Germany and the UK. A positive promotion trend is also observed in Canada, France, Italy and Japan.
Following the external audit, we got ISO 9001:2008 certificate (internationally recognized), GOST R ISO 9001-2008 certificate and IQNet certificate.
Today the Imperial Porcelain Manufactory controls a group of companies, including such Limoge plants in France as Apilco-Yves Deshoulieres and Porcelaine de Sologne, which opens up wide co-operation opportunities. Thus, celebrating its 260th anniversary, the oldest Russian porcelain manufactory enters into the new stage of its development.
The Imperial Porcelain Manufactory successfully gained quality management system certification in accordance with international standards in 2011.
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