Soufflenheim, Pottery village, Alsace

The art of pottery started in Soufflenheim probably in the second century before Christ. The presence of clay (a raw material directly usable) and wood (near the Haguenau forest) as a natural fuel, are the reason why people settled here.

In the 13th century, the local potters obtained from the Emperor Frederick I Barbarossa the right to extract for free and perpetually clay from the soil in the Haguenau forest.

According to a census, there were in 1837 55 pottery shops in Soufflenheim, employing 600 people. Two thirds were peasants potters. Farmers were engaged in the pottery especially in winter when there was no work in the fields.

Starting from 1870, Soufflenheim was attached to the Prussian Empire, and potters had great difficulty in selling their products to the new occupant. Indeed, the Prussians had appealed for a long time to culinary articles in cast iron or aluminium, preferred to those in soil. Also, several workshops had to stop their activity. It only remained the potters whose production was more artistic. This situation lasted until the Second World War. It was not until the 60 years that the pottery Soufflenheim experienced a renaissance under the leadership of the German market, very fond of this style of local craft.