Augarten Wien
Meet the Maker
Three centuries of Viennese porcelain
Augarten started the way the best stories do, with a stolen recipe. In the early 1700s the formula for true porcelain was guarded like a state secret and valued above gold. A Viennese named du Paquier sent his own spies to Germany to learn it, and by 1718 he held the exclusive right to make it for Austria.
Not much has been outsourced since. Thirty master artists work inside Schloss Augarten, in Vienna's oldest baroque park, each taking a piece from raw mineral to finished object over about three months. Two firings, real shrinkage in the kiln, no shortcuts.
We carry the playful end of it: porcelain lemons and pomegranates, pastry-shaped boxes, champagne bowls, and the Scattered Rose pieces that have been turning up on good tables for generations. Heritage built to be used, not admired behind glass.
A recipe once worth more than gold.
