surprise of the day goes to the one-dollar croissant i bought at the mini-mart in Balaton that, upon biting into, i discovered had a free hotdog inside of it. this costly mistake on the part of the baker was my delicious treat. congratulations, hotdog croissant, i wasn't at all expecting you.
a visit was had to the Herend factory
those round disc windows on the outside were made from the Herend porcelain, renowned for its translucency
while i dont really care for the super luxurious ware and sculpture they are known for producing, the Herend story is actually a pretty interesting one. started in the 1820's, Herend is unique for Hungary in that it is the only porcelain producing factory that is still in Hungarian hands, 75 percent worker owned and the other 25 owned by the state. the work they produce is distributed internationally and very expensive. part of the reason for this high price is because of the tremendous quality of their clay, which remains a secret, and their high level of quality control. also, an incredible amount of time goes into the production of every piece, with different workers fulfilling different tasks throughout the process (plaster making, slip casting, firing, decoration, etc;). all the workers study for three years at the Herend school in training for work in the factory. upon graduation they are asked to sign on for a three-year contract within the factory. some artists move on after these three years to pursue their own work while others stay, the work being highly skilled and well-paying. all the workers are also clad in white and adhere to contractual agreements to not release any of the secrets of Herend's production. im pretty sure the workers may also live on sight.
serious business.
in an age of mass production, Herend is mostly a valuable commodity because it is still painstakingly crafted, the decoration (china painting) being the most impressive, i think.
but, you might want to look at those on your own because most of the pictures i took are of things i thought were funny from the museum.
this stuff is handpainted on, no decals or laserprinting or anything like that here
this guy is made of clay
there was also some interesting contemporary works lying around. this stuff in unglazed, as in just bare clay. the whiteness if just the richness and purity of the material.
totally planning on ripping off this pattern
these things were totally strange, in a different section of the museum part of this mock outdoor scene of ceramic creatures
and this guy
on our way out, we stopped at a small church in Herend that has a window made of the Herend clay
the differences in light is due to the thickness of the porcelain. there is no glaze or color in this piece.
for a change of pace, heres some mid-blog beauty shots of OJ
these were taken on a ferryboat across a small portion of Lake Balaton, the largest lake in central Europe.
i walked around for a bit on my own and took some pictures of the town we stopped in
i swam in this!
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