A ceramic is any of the various hard, brittle, heat-resistant and corrosion-resistant materials made by shaping and then firing an inorganic, nonmetallic material, such as clay, at a high temperature. Common examples are earthenware, porcelain, and brick.
Imperial Chemical Industries (ICI) was a British chemical company. It was, for much of its history, the largest manufacturer in Britain. It was formed by the merger of four leading British chemical companies in 1926. Its headquarters were at Millbank in London. ICI was a constituent of the FT 30 and later the FTSE 100 indices.
Porcelain is a ceramic material made by heating substances, generally including materials such as kaolinite, in a kiln to temperatures between 1,200 and 1,400 °C. The strength and translucence of porcelain, relative to other types of pottery, arises mainly from vitrification and formation of the mineral mullite within the body at these high temperatures. Though definitions vary, porcelain can be divided into three main categories: hard-paste, soft-paste, and bone china. The category that an object belongs to depends on the composition of the paste used to make the body of the porcelain object and the firing conditions.
Earthenware is glazed or unglazed nonvitreous pottery that has normally been fired below 1,200 °C (2,190 °F). Basic earthenware, often called terracotta, absorbs liquids such as water. However, earthenware can be made impervious to liquids by coating it with a ceramic glaze, which the great majority of modern domestic earthenware has. The main other important types of pottery are porcelain, bone china, and stoneware, all fired at high enough temperatures to vitrify.
Kyocera Corporation is a Japanese multinational ceramics and electronics manufacturer headquartered in Kyoto, Japan. It was founded as Kyoto Ceramic Company, Limited in 1959 by Kazuo Inamori and renamed in 1982. It manufactures industrial ceramics, solar power generating systems, telecommunications equipment, office document imaging equipment, electronic components, semiconductor packages, cutting tools, and components for medical and dental implant systems.
Noritake Co., Limited, commonly known as "Noritake," is a tableware and technology company headquartered in Nagoya, Aichi Prefecture, Japan.
Bone china is a type of ceramic that is composed of bone ash, feldspathic material, and kaolin. It has been defined as "ware with a translucent body" containing a minimum of 30% of phosphate derived from animal bone and calculated calcium phosphate. Bone china is the strongest of the porcelain or china ceramics, having very high mechanical and physical strength and chip resistance, and is known for its high levels of whiteness and translucency. Its high strength allows it to be produced in thinner cross-sections than types of porcelain. Like stoneware, it is vitrified, but is translucent due to differing mineral properties.
The NGK SPARK PLUG CO., LTD. is a public company established in 1936 and based in Nagoya, Japan. NGK SPARK PLUG manufactures and sells spark plugs and related products for internal combustion engines, as well as sensors and ceramics for a wide range of applications.
Zsolnay, or formally Zsolnay Porcelánmanufaktúra Zrt is a Hungarian manufacturer of porcelain, tiles, and stoneware. The company introduced the eosin glazing process and pyrogranite ceramics.
Morgan Advanced Materials is a company which manufactures specialist products, using carbon, advanced ceramics and composites. The company is headquartered in Windsor, United Kingdom, and has 85 sites across 30 countries. A public limited company, it is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index.
CoorsTek, Inc. is a privately owned manufacturer of technical ceramics for aerospace, automotive, chemical, electronics, medical, metallurgical, oil and gas, semiconductor and many other industries. CoorsTek headquarters and primary factories are located in Golden, Colorado, US. The company is wholly owned by Keystone Holdings LLC, a trust of the Coors family. John K. Coors, a great-grandson of founder and brewing magnate Adolph Coors, Sr., and the fifth and youngest son of longtime chairman and president Joseph Coors, retired as president and chairman in January 2020 after 22 years at the helm.
CeramTec manufactures and develops advanced ceramic components. The products are used in many different applications, especially in medical technologies, automotive manufacturing, electronics, equipment and machine construction, defense technologies, and chemical industries. The company headquarters are in Plochingen, Baden-Württemberg, Germany.
RAK Ceramics P.J.S.C is one of the largest ceramics brands in the world. Headquartered in the emirate of Ras Al Khaimah in the United Arab Emirates, RAK Ceramics has an annual production capacity of 110 million square metres of tiles, 5 million pieces of sanitaryware, 24 million pieces of porcelain tableware and 600,000 pieces of faucets. The company employs 15,000 people across its operations in the UAE, India, Bangladesh, Iran, Europe, Australia, East Africa, and Singapore.
Murugappa Group is an Indian conglomerate founded in 1900. The Group has 28 businesses including nine companies listed on the NSE and the BSE. Headquartered in Chennai, the major companies of the Group include Carborundum Universal Ltd., Cholamandalam Financial Holdings Ltd., Cholamandalam Investment and Finance Company Ltd., Cholamandalam MS General Insurance Company Ltd., Coromandel International Ltd., Coromandel Engineering Company Ltd., EID Parry (India) Ltd., Parry Agro Industries Ltd., Shanthi Gears Ltd., Tube Investments of India Limited., Net Access India Ltd and Wendt (India) Ltd.
Antelope Enterprise Holdings was founded in 1993 and now based in Jinjiang city, Fujian province of China. China Ceramics involves in the market of ceramic tiles. These ceramic tiles are sold domestically and worldwide, used for exterior siding and interior flooring of residential and commercial buildings. The company engages in partnership with about 40 exclusive distributors domestically. It has 2 facilities in Jinjiang, Fujian Province and Gaoan, Jiangxi Province.
Carborundum Universal Ltd (CUMI), a part of Murugappa Group, is one of the largest and oldest conglomerates in India. CUMI is the leading manufacturer and developer of abrasives, ceramics, refractories, aluminium oxide grains, machine tools, polymers, adhesives and electro minerals in India.
Ceramic art is art made from ceramic materials, including clay. It may take forms including artistic pottery, including tableware, tiles, figurines and other sculpture. As one of the plastic arts, ceramic art is one of the visual arts. While some ceramics are considered fine art, such as pottery or sculpture, most are considered to be decorative, industrial or applied art objects. Ceramics may also be considered artefacts in archaeology. Ceramic art can be made by one person or by a group of people. In a pottery or ceramic factory, a group of people design, manufacture and decorate the art ware. Products from a pottery are sometimes referred to as "art pottery". In a one-person pottery studio, ceramists or potters produce studio pottery.
Upsala-Ekeby AB was a porcelain, tile, brick, and glass company founded in 1886 in Uppsala, Sweden. From 1910 to 1945, Upsala-Ekeby produced tiled cocklestoves in Ekeby. In 1910, Upsala-Ekeby hired designers for their production of household and art ceramics. Upsala-Ekeby expanded by buying competing companies including Gefle Porcelain AB Group and the AB Karlskrona Porcelain Factory. In 1964, Upsala-Ekeby began a major expansion with the acquisition of the Swedish ceramic company Rörstrand. To expand their tabletop business, Upsala-Ekeby acquired Reijmyre Glassworks, Kosta Boda (glass) and GAB Gense (cutlery).
The Porzellanikon is a museum complex dealing with the production of porcelain and ceramics in Selb and Hohenberg an der Eger in the district of Wunsiedel i. Fichtelgebirge (Oberfranken) in Germany. The complex of museums was the result of the merger of the European Industrial Museum for Porcelain, the European Museum of Technical Ceramics, the Rosenthal Museum and the German Porcelain Museum in Hohenberg an der Eger. Since 2012, the Porzellanikon has been included in the European Route of Ceramics as a member of the "UNIC".
Royal Ceramics Lanka PLC branded as Rocell, is a Sri Lankan holding company and is also engaged in manufacturing ceramic tiles and bath ware. The company was founded in 1990 and in 1994, it was listed on the Colombo Stock Exchange. The company is one of the constituents of the S&P Sri Lanka 20 Index. LMD, a Sri Lankan business magazine placed the company 38th in the LMD 100, a list of leading listed companies in Sri Lanka. Brand Finance ranked 74th amongst the 100 most valuable brands in Sri Lanka.
