Antje Frömel Pottery @museum.de

M: Of all the pottery addresses in Bürgel, Hintergasse number 13 is one that's especially steeped in tradition. In the early 20th century, it was home to the "Hofkunsttöpferei Eberstein / Hohenstein" – the town's first ceramics manufactory. Immediately after the First World War, Carl Fischer purchased the small factory and opened the "Bürgeler Kunstkeramische Werkstätten" (the Bürgel Ceramic Art Workshops). In GDR times, it was integrated into a producers' cooperative.

F: Today, there are two workshops on this historic site. The firm of Echtbürgel carries on the manufacturing tradition. Antje Frömel, on the other hand, whose workshop is closer to the road, operates as a solo artisan, running everything single-handedly. She works at the wheel and decorates, manages her showrooms and maintains a presence at the pottery markets.

M: Antje Frömel completed her training in the producers' cooperative, in the masters' department run by Eberhard Friedel. After a brief, intensive period at Marieluise Fischer's workshop, she returned to work with Friedel.

In 1999, she set up her own business and has since focussed entirely on tried and tested Bürgel patterns. She offers both pottery for everyday use and decorative ceramics in blue and white, as well as a few pieces in shades of brown and white.

F: But Antje Frömel's blue and white isn't confined to the dot pattern. She's adopted what's known as the sgraffito technique from Carl Fischer's workshop, an incision technique that allows for larger floral motifs in blue and white.

In this process, a pattern is scored into the partially dried, "leather-hard" clay with a metal needle, allowing the colour of the clay to resurface. The resulting patterns are filled in with engobe, coloured slip, and further worked on with the needle. During firing, a delicate iridescent pattern is created that shows off the blue and white contrast to great effect.

M: Five different designs are available in this sgraffito technique – an appealing variation on Bürgel's traditional blue and white.