Duravit

Duravit AG

Type	Incorporation
Industry	Ceramic Sanitaryware Bathroom Furniture Shower toilet seats Bathtubs + Well-being
Founded	1817
Headquarters	Hornberg, Germany
Key people	Franz Kook (CEO) Werner Griebe Dr. Reinhard K. Volk
Revenue	over 328,2 Mio. Euro (Group, revenue to third parties 2010)
Employees	5.415 (2010)
Website	http://duravit.com

As an international manufacturer of bathroom furnishings, Duravit AG with head office in Hornberg, Germany, has made its mark in the sanitary sector with innovative developments and exciting forms created by international designers like Philippe Starck, Sieger Design, EOOS, Phoenix Design, Frank Huster, Sergei Tchoban and Matteo Thun. Today the company is no longer just the producer of elegant designer products but increasingly a supplier of bathrooms that offer an all-round experience of well-being. With its sanitary ceramics, bathroom furniture and the Bathtub + Wellness business area, Duravit today covers the whole spectrum of bathroom interiors, launching one or two new projects every year.^[1]

History

Duravit plant in Hornberg

The history of DURAVIT in Hornberg in the Black Forest began in 1817, when Georg Friedrich Horn founded a small factory that until 1842 exclusively produced earthenware crockery. This was followed at the beginning of the 20th century with the production of sanitaryware. Since 1960, the DURAVIT brand name has stood for quality made in the Black Forest.

The product range of the Hornberg bathroom specialists was extended in 1980 to include accessories. In 1984, DURAVIT acquired a majority shareholding (60%) in the Alsace-based company Céramique de Bischwiller. In 1988 the private limited company (GmbH) became a public limited company - DURAVIT AG.Roca holds at least 25% through the acquisition of Laufen. In 1991, Céramique de Bischwiller became a fully owned DURAVIT subsidiary. One year later, with the startup of the Schenkenzell production site, DURAVIT added a new focus: the strategic decision to manufacture bathroom furniture, intended to provide the company with a second mainstay of production, would prove to be a winner.

In Meissen, world famous for its tradition-rich porcelain manufacture, DURAVIT established one of the most modern plants for the production of sanitary ceramics. DURAVIT Sanitärporzellan Meißen GmbH went into production in 1994. In 1999, DURAVIT acquired the majority shareholding in the Egyptian company MISR TECH, in the meantime DURAVIT Egypt.
Since 01.01.2001, a further foreign subsidiary, DURAVIT Turkey in Istanbul, has been an officially registered company. With the acquisition of a majority shareholding in the Egyptian acrylic bath manufacturer Saniacrylic in 2002, DURAVIT laid the foundation for developing the new Bathtubs + Wellbeing segment. Development and final assembly of the new DURAVIT brand products takes place in Germany and France.

Within the scope of a joint venture project, DURAVIT started in 2003 to expand its activities in China under the name DURAVIT Chongqing Sanitaryware Co. Ltd. Only two years later, the newly constructed production and administration building based in Youxi-Town (Jiangjin) near Chongqing in Central China was officially inaugurated. Today, the former joint venture company is a fully owned subsidiary operating under the name Duravit Sanitaryware Co. Ltd. In 2008 Duravit took over a 51 per cent share in the Tunisian ceramics manufacturer Manufacture Tunisienne de Céramiques (MTC).
Duravit has been active on the Indian market since 2003 and has laid the foundation stone for a new production site at Tarapur, Gujarat, in 2008. The production site will be inaugurated on the 21st of September 2010.

The construction of a new head office in Hornberg designed by Philippe Starck is one of the highlights in the company’s history.

Factory sites

The Duravit designer brand is exported today to over 100 countries.
There are production facilities at several locations in Germany and abroad: Hornberg, Schenkenzell, Meißen (Germany)
Bischwiller (France), Cairo (Egypt), Istanbul (Turkey), Chongqing (China), Bizerte (Tunisia) and Tarapur (India).

Products

• Washbasins
• Toilets
• Bidets
• Tubs
• Showers
• Bathroom Furniture
• Accessories
• Sauna
• Pools
• Kitchen sinks
• Shower toilet seats

References

1. ^ Zec, Peter; International Council of Societies of Industrial Design (2003). Hall of fame: companies searching for excellence in design : a review of the 20th century. 1. Red Dot. p. 50. ISBN 3929638797. "Since 1960, the Duravit brand has been a guarantee of quality from the Black Forest." 

External links

• Duravit Germany
• Duravit International
• Kitchen sinks
• Living bathrooms
• Darling New
• Onto
• pro.duravit
• SensoWash