Noritake

Noritake porcelain (1920s)

Noritake porcelain (2009)

Noritake factory in Nagoya

Noritake Co., Limited (株式会社ノリタケカンパニーリミテド, Kabushiki-gaisha Noritake Kanpanī Rimitedo^?) (TYO: 5331) is a porcelain maker headquartered in Nagoya, Aichi Prefecture, Japan.

History

Noritake Co., Limited, commonly known as "Noritake," grew out of a trading company established in Tokyo and in New York City by the Morimura Brothers in 1876.^[1] In 1904, key members of this trading company created the Nippon Toki Kaisha, Ltd. ("the Company that makes Japan's Finest China"), in Japan.^[1] Noritake's wares were mostly aimed at the European Market. This forerunner of the modern Noritake Company was founded in the village of Noritake, a small suburb near Nagoya, Japan. After various mergers the company now comes under the umbrella of the Nippon Toki Kaisha, Ltd. Most of the company’s early wares carried one of the various “Nippon” back stamps to indicate its country of origin when exported to Western markets.^[1] Today, many collectors agree that the best examples of “Nippon-era” (1891–1921) hand painted porcelain carry a back stamp used by "Noritake" during the Nippon era.^{[citation needed]}

Although consumers and collectors alike have called these wares, "Noritake" (and/or simply, "Nippon") since the late 1920s, the Japanese parent company did not officially change its name to the Noritake Co., Limited until 1981. Evidently, since Noritake is the name of a place, the company was initially prohibited from registering the name as a trade name.^[1]

Noritake also invented the vacuum fluorescent display in 1967.^[2]

The Noritake Garden in Nagoya features the production of its ceramics.

References

1. ^ ^{a b c d} Page, Bob, Dale Frederiksen & Dean Six, Replacements, Ltd. Noritake, Jewel of the Orient. 2001
2. ^ http://www.noritake.co.jp/eng/about/history.html 19.03.2010

Literature

• Neff Alden, Aimee, Collector Books. Collector's Encyclopedia of Early Noritake. 1995
• Morikawa, Takahir, Maria Shobo Co., Ltd. Masterpieces of Early Noritake. 2003
• Spain, David H., Schiffer Publishing, Ltd. Noritake Collectibles A to Z.. 1995.
• Collecting Noritake A to Z, Art Deco & More, 1999
• Noritake Fancyware A to Z, 2002
• Art Deco Noritake & More, 2004
• Van Patten, Joan, Collector Books. The Collector’s Encyclopedia of Nippon Porcelain, Second Series, 1982.
• The Collector’s Encyclopedia of Noritake, 1984 (2000).
• Van Patten’s ABC’s of Collecting Nippon Porcelain, 2005.

External links

Media related to Noritake at Wikimedia Commons

• Noritake Co., Limited
• Noritake history and backstamps
• Noritake Collectors Guild of Australia and New Zealand
• Noritake Tableware
• The Noritake Collectors' Society