ORIVIT

The ORIVIT – AG  was founded in 1894 as “Rheinische Broncegieserei fur Kleinplastiken ”

in Koln-Ehrenfeld by Wilhelm Ferdinand Hubert Schmitz ( 1863-1939 ).

From 1896 they began with the making of luxury items the so called ORIVIT metal

(89,85% pewter 7,9 % antimony 1,9 % copper 0,12 % silver )

In 1900 the factory changed its name to

”ORIVIT –AG fur Kunsthandwerkliche Metalwarenfabrikation” .In 1901/02 they built a new factory in Köln- Braunfels

 and began with a revolutionary new press “the Huber –Presverfahren”

The factory has won several prizes: in Paris the gold medal at the world exhibition of 1900<

in Dusseldorf in 1902 at the” Industrial Design Exhibition” And at the exhibition in

St Louis (USA) 1904  they won 2 Grand Prix prizes and 1 gold medal.

In 1905 the total financial collapse was a fact and the “Wurttembergische Metalwaren Fabrik” (WMF) bought  ORIVIT . They produced items with the name ORIVIT until 1914.

In 1906 the designs from the “Metalwarenfabrik ORION” became ORIVIT

.The founder Georg Friedrich Schmitt (1856-1925 ) of ORION became the director in Köln.

The designers of ORIVIT were:

Hermann Gradl (1869-1934)

Georg Grasegger

Walter Scherf  (1875- 1909)

Vicor   Heinrich Seifert

Johann Cristian Kroner  (1838-1911)

Georges Charles Couldray

Theo Blum