The history of Lladro Porcelain begins in the small farming town of Almacera in Spain in the mid 1950s. The tiny town is located on the eastern Mediterranean coast near the city of Valencia. Though brothers Juan, Jose, and Vicente Lladro were born within a farming family, the young men were more interested in furthering their artistic talents than following in the footsteps of their family.
Fortunately, their mother was artistic as well. Consequently, she supported their creative and artistic dreams by sending them to the prestigious Valencia School of Arts and Crafts. Vicente, the youngest, studied sculpture while the two older brothers focused on painting and drawing.
Not long after beginning their studies in Valencia, the Lladro brothers built a kiln of traditional Moorish
design on the backyard patio of their home. With much practice, the brothers began to feel their creations were of a high enough quality that others would purchase them. In 1955, the first retail shop to sell Lladro Porcelain was opened by the Lladro brothers in 1955.
With Lladro Porcelain, the brothers created a new process that pioneered the firing of its figurines. Instead of the traditional three layer firing process seen in the porcelain industry up until that time, the brothers of Lladro Porcelain were able to simplify the firing procedure to only one layer. By doing this, Lladro Porcelain then created its trademark style of incorporating tones of pastel colors under a crystalline finish. Lladro Porcelain also created its own secret family recipe for the paste that eventually became its exquisite hand made porcelain figurines.
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By 1958, the Lladro brothers realized their homemade kiln was not large enough to meet their needs, nor did it reach the required temperatures in order to meet the public demand for their Lladro Porcelain figurines. Obtaining a loan from a friend, the brothers purchased a large warehouse in the nearby town of Tavernes Blanques. From then on, the popularity of Lladro Porcelain grew exponentially.
Sometime in the late 1950s, Lladro Porcelain began using a mark on all its figurines and other porcelain work. This mark was a combination of the words Porcelanas Lladro as well as a stamp of the Victory of Samotracia. The Victory of Samotracia is the winged Roman goddess of Victory.
During the 1960s, Lladro Porcelain saw such enormous growth that the porcelain factory needed to be increased seven times more. Indeed, by 1969, Lladro Porcelain's warehouses and porcelain factory had all but taken over the entire city of Tabernas. Today, the Lladro Porcelain complex is called the City of Porcelain. It is situated outside of Valencia, Spain.
It was also during the 1960s that Lladro Porcelain began to sell its fine porcelain figurines to eager buyers located in the North American countries of Canada and the United States. It was during this time period, too, that Lladro Porcelain also began including the word Spain as part of their marking of their products. In addition, the late 1960s saw Lladro Porcelain begin to hire disabled workers to staff its factories and warehouses.
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