Interview Dibbern
“We combine traditional craftsmanship with aesthetically appealing simplicity to create a contemporary design”
Contemporary craftsmanship A name synonymous with excellence, Dibbern has created a niche for itself – creating tableware with style, substance and flair. Simplistic yet beautifully designed, the company’s collections are coveted at both hospitality and retail. We spoke with Jan Dibbern about past, present and future
T
he essence of the Dibbern brand name is, it is fair to say, one of virtue. The family-run business is very much a partnership, a meeting of minds between founder Bernd Dibbern, and his sons Jan and Ben. Porcelain has become second nature, flowing as freely as blood through the Dibbern family veins, built into their very being.
The company we know today, one which sees traditional craftsmanship meet contemporary design, has been built on a devoted passion to excellence. When Bernd Dibbern founded the company back in 1966, his operating model was simple – introducing and distributing Scandinavian brands such as Iittala to the German retail market. It was when Dibbern began designing
“
Our aim, as a team, is to create products that... meet the highest standards in terms of quality, design, functionality and durability Jan Dibbern
”
18 TABLEWARE INTERNATIONAL
Jan and Ben Dibbern
their own collections with German porcelain producers and Italian glass manufacturers that the brand had its international breakthrough. “That was in the early 1980s,” Jan Dibbern explains, “with the product line Solid Color, a shape that was initially designed during the Bauhaus period.” Another major milestone in the company history was in 1997 – Dibbern’s reopening of the Carl Magnus Hutschenreuther porcelain manufactory, which was founded in 1814 in Bavaria. Today, the family business is one of the leading manufacturers and suppliers of high-quality design products in the field of fine dining, and employs 150 people at two different locations – the company’s headquarters located nearby Hamburg and at the production site in Hohenberg, Bavaria. “The first collections in the ‘60s and ‘70s really established the
company’s philosophy,” Jan tells us. “It’s a philosophy still valid today for all Dibbern products –