Product Information - Royal Tichelaar

Tichelaar Makkum

Koninklijke Tichelaar Makkum (Royal Tichelaar Makkum, est. 1572) is the oldest company in the Netherlands and has worldwide recognition in the field of ceramics. Over the centuries the company has accumulated a priceless reservoir of knowledge and skill. The proven durable properties of ceramic and its timeless beauty adds cultural value to Tichelaar’s products making them more relevant than ever. The relevant map in Caspar Robles’ 1572 atlas shows a ‘briccaria’ or brick factory on the site where the Royal Tichelaar factory is now. This provides the earliest proof of a long company history. In 1640 the company became a family firm and remains so until today. The company has down the centuries displayed an exceptional awareness of its valuable tradition and now, in the twelfth generation under the leadership of Jan Tichelaar.

The Process

The Frisian yellow clay, a large proportion of which is still excavated locally, and the glazes, are still the two most important raw materials the company uses. The clay is fired and coated with an in-house manufactured tin glaze. They painted the earthenware with various finely ground oxides on the tin glaze. Then they were baked a second time in which the colours appear. The special character of Royal Tichelaar is produced by the self-made, mysterious tin-glaze which gives this pottery its gloss and brilliance.

Unlike the Delft pottery, where they switched to using white baking clay in the mid eighteenth century, Royal Tichelaar has never deviated from this ancient technique. This is also the great difference between the pottery of Royal Delft and the pottery of Royal Tichelaar.

Because the painting is done on the glaze, the pictures “flow” somewhat into the glaze during the baking-process. In Delft they paint under the glaze layer, causing the pictures to be slightly more pronounced and sharper. The logo embedded in the glaze on the bottom consists of a shield with the word Makkum and underneath it two T’s crossed the brothers Tichelaar. Along with the signature of the painter, this is the hallmark of the only factory of Makkum pottery from the 17th century: Royal Tichelaar.

In february of 2013 Tichelaar Makkum changed from producing traditional pottery to design.

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