Jug

De plateelschilder zou geweest zijn Nico Koelewijn, zie: www.polychroom.nl

Aldaar meer gegevens over het bedrijf Velsen-Sassenheim, ook onderstaand interview, groet jvdh.

NICO KOELEWIJN  (wrote this himself ! , sent to me by Rob his Son...Thanks Rob !!)

Personal

I’m Nico Koelwijn, born in Voorhout on the 31^st of December 1928. Between jobs (as a house painter for instance) I went to the Royal Academy of Art in The Hague. In 1947 I had a meeting with Mr. Van Vliet who told me at that point that there would be no painting on the porcelain or earthenware. In May 1948 an agency in Leiden sent me to the Velsen factory in Sassenheim to talk to Mr. Van Vliet and mr. L. de Vrind. We came to terms quickly. I painted a stork with a baby on a coffee mug (still got it) en got hired immediately. I started as an earthenware painter the next Monday. I was the first painter in service of the Velsen company in Sassenheim. Mr. Van Vliet and Mr. De Vrind taught me how to profile (making the rims on plates, cups and saucers). For this I received my first turn plate, that I’m still using to this day. With these gentlemen I learned fast. Within the first year some Gouda painters were hired. At that moment the city of Sassenheim was building houses and the painters could move and live in Sassenheim (1952/1953). The first one was Eldert Bruyniks. This man taught me how to paint the “real” Delft Blue. Drawing was my hobby and painted became my trade. In those days there was a lack in earthenware and especially Delft Ware. Everything was made in Delfts – Red-Green-Blue-Sepia (brown) and Polychrome. It all went like crazy. My first painters boss was Gerrit Bunschoten, later on Joop Slinger, Jan van Leeuwen and then Wim Pouw. I became a specialist in city sights, landscapes and “heads” of the old masters. I wasn’t in the “Bideaux-system”, because I only did the special assignments. At that time the factory in Sassenheim had 37 painters and about 10  in a Gouda workplace. Besides that a lot was done at home. After 30 years of “Velsen” I left with Piet Verhoeven and Jaap van Doorn (see picture) to another company “De Leidsche Fles” (I designed the logo). The employer was Lou Guldemond. That company was at first based in Oegstgeest and later on moved to Leiden (first at the Morsweg and then to the Breestraat). I’ve worked there for ten years. Of these ten years I’ve worked from home for about three and a half years. After the factory was taken over and the new employer died, the company seized to exist and I was out of a job. At the request of Mayor Kret of Sassenheim I went on painting at home and up till now I’m still using my paintbrushes for painting earthenware.

The factory…

In 1949 Velsen started to produce painted earthenware and from 1950 the first numbered vases were sold (1001-1002-1003). These numbered products went up with the years to about 1800. You could find a numbered list in the painters hall. There were envelopes in boxes with ponsives (a ponsive is a piece of see-through paper with tiny holes for charcoal lines). The decoration was made by the master painter and then I made a pensive of that. The ponsives were folded around the object to be painted and then taped to the object. With a small bag with charcoal powder the ponsive was tapped on the “biscuit” (one time baked product) to outline the drawings. This was done on all the items to get an uniform product like the model the salesmen (also called “the travellers) showed to shops. At a later stage they also started to use numbers below the 1000. My job as a ponsive maker was taken over by Jan de Winter and I got the opportunity to work on tile tableaus (booklet under number T013/815 – sorry haven’t got that in my collection……). I made the clouded skies which later on were also used in Gouda and Delft. The decorations were made by painters like J. Slinger, J. Müller, S. Bitter, J. van Leeuwen, G. Bunschoten, L. Bruyniks en Wim Pouw. The old masters on plates and tableaus were mostly made by J. van Doorn and myself (Nic. Koelewijn). The city- and landscapes were mostly made by Wim Pouw, Jan van Leeuwen and Me. Portraits by Wim Pouw and Me and the very large vases by Marian Sobus and Wim Pouw. The managers were Leen Marbus and later on Dick Dorresteijn.

Hope to have been of some service, signing in highest regard,

Nic.