Sociedade de Porcelanas de Coimbra
THE ABANDONED FACTORY IN PORTUGAL
This porcelain factory ‘Sociedade de Porcelanas de Coimbra’ was founded in 1922. It is known for the use of the mark Coimbra SP. They produced mass production tableware. The costumers were mainly hotels and restaurants.
In the 1930s, the porcelain from Portugal was very popular in Europe. Coimbra SP was not a big company, as a matter of fact competitor Vista Alegra was the biggest Coimbra-based company that exported porcelain.
In general, Portuguese porcelain was always better, cleaner, more durable and more beautiful. Consequently, it was also expensive and therefore not easily accessible to everyone. In the 1950s the business got info a financial crisis, eventually the first companies went bankrupt. Vista Alegre saw the danger and bought Coimbra SP together with Electro-ceramics Candal. Shortly after the merge with Vista Alegre, Coimbra SP also produced products for export with the brand Vista Alegre.
Eventually, SP closed its doors in 2005. The factory today is nothing more than a shelter for the homeless and drug addicts. At the present time, only the plaster molds remember of the heydays of mass production. I visited ‘Sociedade de Porcelanas de Coimbra’ in 2016. More Portuguese abandonment can be found here.
