3 minute read
Interview
A shared vision
Michelin-star chef Jan Hartwig (left) pictured with Nymphenburg’s CEO Anders Thomas
When three-star chef Jan Hartwig opened a pop-up restaurant in Nymphenburg’s manufactory, it was a collaboration borne from a passion for perfection. HoReCa learns more about this extraordinary union from Nymphenburg’s CEO Anders Thomas
Anders, how did the collaboration with 3-star chef Jan Hartwig came about? Having the same passion and the same view on perfection, the collaboration with Jan Hartwig is a perfect match. Creating every meal or every plate from the raw materials is what we are all dedicated to. If you create a meal on such level there is not many choices in porcelain which share the same level of craftsmanship. This is the best food on the best porcelain!
Is this type of creative collaboration with chefs important to the manufactory? Since Nymphenburg is creating everything with pure craftsmanship without any machinery we are always open to collaborations which we meet on the same eye level. Nymphenburg is specialised in custom-made orders due to our pure hand craft, so therefore, we share the same customer values.
Has it been a challenge to pull-off a pop-up restaurant of this calibre? Nymphenburg has excellent porcelain and Jan Hartwig has excellent culinary expertise. What ingredients are missing? It has been a smooth path to make it happen.
Did you know?
Everything the Nymphenburg team creates is entirely handmade, no machinery touches their collections. The company specialises in custom-made orders.
A Nymphenburg collection is renowned for its quality but what is the most important to the brand – aesthetics or functionality? A teapot must not drip, a vase should not fall over easily, but overall Nymphenburg has an aesthetic eye on everything which has been produced over the past 275 years. The aesthetics combined with the refinement of the Nymphenburg porcelain added with bespoke hand-painting is the key to longevity.
In terms of designing a Nymphenberg collection, how long does the process take from initial design idea through to completion?
Having agreed on the design and collection size Nymphenburg is rather quick due to the fact that we do everything in-house and are not dependent on any third party. Four to six months would be a normal lead-time.
When designing a collection, who is Nymphenberg designing for – the chef, the venue or the end user? Nymphenburg has normal retail collections which can be bought directly. In most cases we create shapes and designs are your thoughts on how the industry progresses now – has business changed irrevocably? In my eyes the business has not changed, the customer’s behaviour has changed. Even classic brick-and-mortar fans were finding their way to the digital shopping experience. This is something that we were ready for and that we are nevertheless working on constantly. Nymphenburg is not involved in the mass market, rather in the niche of design and quality refines.
With the right respect for the craftsmanship in porcelain even the Michelin-star restaurants have almost zero breakage. The awareness of quality has developed very positively. The customer consumes rather less but with highest quality, lasting a lifetime.
for yachting, jets and private residencies. This is not restricted to dinner sets and decorative objects but also bespoke lamp shades, tiles and sinks fitting the interior of the designer.
Finally, we are coming out of a very difficult two years, what
Spotlight on…
Restaurant Jan
Three-star Michelin chef Jan Hartwig has opened a pop-up restaurant in Nymphenburg’s Munich home. From February 2022, the acclaimed chef – one of only ten three-star chefs in Germany – moved his pop-up Restaurant JAN into Porzellan Manufaktur Nymphenburg’s newly converted show and event kitchen, before going on to open his own restaurant in Munich in early summer.
The venue offers the chef an intimate ambience in which he can cook and serve for a maximum of 16 people in direct interaction with his guests. “The guest should have the feeling that he is at home with me,” he says.
The chef and his team of five will be cooking for guests where, during the day, the dinner plates matching the menu are turned by hand one floor above.
Jan serves his food on collections such as Lightscape by Ruth Gurvich, on Wolfgang von Wersin’s Adonis, Orion and Lotos, and in clam shells by Ted Muehling.
