MachineMachine /stream

Petrus Regout (a name associated with worker exploitation even today) started a modern earthenware production factory in Maastricht, the capital of the far South-Eastern Dutch province of Limburg, in 1836.

Sphinx and Société Céramique merged in 1958 but the resulting company ceased operations in 1969. The images above come from in-house pottery decoration books used by each of the original companies both as design models for the artisans and also as reference guides for clients. This enormous collection consists of 17,500 (!) designs covering the gamut from logos and monograms, to geometric and abstract motifs, myriad flower and animal designs, borrowed Chinese symbols, architectural sketches and a large range of type faces (among many, many other themes).