The Lladro Legend

Lladro figurines have become known around the world and immensely popular. Yet Lladro's background was never quite as regal. Juan, José and Vincente Lladro grew up in a much poorer environment, but the three brothers went on to create some of the best porcelain figurines Europe had ever seen.

Growing up in the small self contained town of Almácera, next to the grand city of Valencia situated on the East Coast of Spain, the boys discovered the arts though their mother. The brothers soon found their love for pottery crafting. It was this love of pottery, twinned with the determination to shape a more prosperous future for both themselves and their family, which was the sole reason for the creation of their very own kiln in the family garden. The brothers were fascinated by the Chinese origins of the material porcelain. The Chinese discovered that by mixing in a special ingredient with the clay, they created a new material all together. One that was both functional, fashionable and was in high demand by European nobility.

Seeing what could be achieved with the wonder material porcelain, the brothers were determined to create some of the finest art that the world had ever seen. They started to mix and experiment with different recipes for the wonder material and colour, shapes, coatings and blasting lengths. After a long time of experimenting the brothers were finally pleased with the mixture and texture of porcelain that they had produced. The recipe hasn't changed at all and is still used up to this very day.

To really get their ideas out of their head and onto designs the brothers borrowed nearly 2,000 pesetas from a close friend of theirs in 1958. This allowed Lladro to expand and grow into the town of Tavernas Blancas. After a while the brother's art became very popular in the local community. They took them down to stalls and sold them with great success. At this time they also started to create the legendary Lladro figurines.

During the 1960s a lot of famous clients started to purchase and gather the beautiful figurines. Because of this the company found that its popularity had increased tenfold. With this huge increase in demand, the plant had to be extended almost seven times, each one a new page in the Lladro history. Then in 1969 extension simply wasn't enough for the company and what is now known as the fabulous "Porcelain City" was designed. "Porcelain city" is made up of mills, kilns, rooms and display rooms that in total cover an area of over 100,000 square feet, and employs a total of over 2,000 people.

Every Lladro figurine is still to this day handcrafted, but also painted by hand. Every detail imaginable is thought about and given special attention, one of the reasons Lladro is as special as it is. At the start of 1986 Lladro started the "Collectors society", the starting piece in it being called "Little Pals." This figurine was of huge success and each year since then a special piece has been made, only available to members of the society, of course.

To explore our range of Lladro collectibles further, please visit our website at http://www.theukgiftcompany.co.uk.

Church's China, one of the United Kingdom's longest established China and Glass Retailers was founded in 1848 by a wheelright and carpenter, Thomas Church. He set up his business in Maryport Street in the sleepy market town of Devizes in Wiltshire