Philip Rosenthal wanted “to live with art”, stating that “art shouldn’t only hang on walls”. Therefore the idea of the Limited Art Edition was developed further by having artists like Friedrich Gräsel, Friedensreich Hundertwasser, Marcello Morandini and Otto Piene create art that paved the way for art from the wall to the living area and also included furniture and lamps.

Rosenthal feels obligated to this tradition. Almost everything that a person surrounds himself within his own four walls, can be done by one hand as long as this hand remains inspired artistically. Prestigious artists like Rainer Fetting, Jörg Immendorff, James Rizzi and Salomé were successfully trying their hand at the material offered by Rosenthal and achieved amazing results. Joerg Immendorff says “The »Lembruck-Saga« which I created for Rosenthal is a manifest against the muff showing its lowest level when dealing with contemporary art and not being able to understand what we are trying to say with our visions. I am very much in love with the discovery that something is being added on to when cast in porcelain – another spirit”.

To work with materials like porcelain, ceramics and glass has a special fascination for artists: To be able to work with the traditional craftsmanship of those materials. Working with porcelain requires detailed attention to the material since it shrinks about 1/6 of its original size. But porcelain also offers the artist an array of different forms. The artist working for Rosenthal can choose between white and black, unglazed or alternatively matte or gloss glazed porcelain. Naturally there is also the choice of adding color into the artistic design.

On the manufacturer’s side it requires competent partners in creating and producing the artist’s design. Rosenthal AG fulfills this requirement with the designers and technicians of the Creative Center as well as the experts from the different departments with their high expectations in quality and their expertise grown from years of experience. Moreover, Rosenthal is able to develop in cooperation with the artists special masses, glazes and colors.

The courage, patience and energy of both sides have been tested over and over again. Elsa Fischer-Treyden for example tells us about the realization of Henry Moore’s relief »Relief«: ”This big round plate with its delicate relief and a radius of more than 62cm (after burning) caused us a lot of troubles in the beginning. There wasn’t a pad that was big enough to burn plates of that size. First we tried to produce the plate in quarters. But after burning the individual pieces the plate was not round anymore. A new model form and the attempt to cut the quarters with laser and then put them together didn’t give us the success we were hoping for. Since they weren’t any pads made out of silicone carbide (SIC) in the size 80x80cm they had to be custom made. It was very expensive and wasn’t a success. Only after a manufacturer of SIC combustion agents offered us a custom made pad – a by-product of the US space research – was it possible to burn the big reliefs without a financial loss.”