Jean-François Boch

He was a member of the third generation of owners of the family pottery business, Jean-François Boch which at that time had its headquarters at Siebenbrunnen a short distance to the north of Luxembourg City.

When he was 27 he left his parents' home to set up in business independently, buying in 1809 the baroque Benedictine St. Peter's Abbey at Mettlach in the Sarre department.

[4] For the ovens used for firing the product, the government imposed the condition that Boch would have to use the soft bituminous coal which was available in abundance locally.

[1][2] Boch's treatment of his workforce reflected the paternalistic approach of the more enlightened employers of the time, and in 1819 he was able to set up an orphans' support fund for workers' families.

At the Prussian Exhibition held in 1822 in Berlin Boch was the only manufacturer in the pottery and ceramics sector to receive a gold medal.

Further expansion followed with the acquisition across the frontier in France of "Utzschneider und Fabry" of Sarreguemines and in Belgium where they established "Keramis".

[1] In 1849 Jean-François Boch made a brief excursion into the world of politics, serving as a member of the Frankfurt Parliament between 3 January and 30 May.

[1] At Frankfurt Boch did not join any particular faction, but he tended to vote with the Centre-Right members, supporting of the election of the Prussian king as Emperor of the Germans.