Surviving successfully in a niche

Specializing in solid bricks –
the Steenbakkerijen van Membruggen
in Membruggen-Riemst, Belgium

The solid brick is the brickmaker’s archetypal product. A simple product, although its actual production is anything but simple. The solid brick has become a scarce in the product ranges of brickworks. A brickworks that only produces solid bricks is a rarity. But the Steenbakkerijen van Membruggen, in the Belgian Province of Limburg, has never done anything else – genuine solid bricks, I should say, without any perforations whatsoever. But the range is by no means boring, as various sizes and many different natural fired colours ensure variety. The brickworks’ success justifies this specialization in solid bricks – production is sold out long in advance, so there are only few stacks of bricks in the stockyard and kiln has not been shut down for three years. There follows a report on a small family business, which is completely devoted to producing solid bricks.

1 Company history

The history of Steenbakkerijen van Membruggen is still a relatively short one; it only starts after the Second World War. However, production did not start with the latest technology of that time, but as a simple brickfield. In 1947, Emile Porthoens and his brother Adam decided to earn their living with the production of solid bricks. In those days it was still common in many rural districts of Belgium to make the masonry bricks you needed for building your own house yourself, in a very rudimentary fashion. Accordingly, Emile and Adam Porthoens had been familiar with clay...

Related articles:

Issue 08/2009

Preserving Brickmaking Tradition – the Tuilerie-Briqueterie Pierre Lanter, Hochfelden-Alsace/France

1 Company History The history of the Lanter brickmaking family begins with Jacques Pfister, who practised the trade of the brickmaker around 1800 in Hochfelden/Alsace. Of his four sons, Anton Pfister...

more
Issue 06/2023

Brickmakers from Lippe in the environs of Berlin around 1900

Today, too, there are still regions in Germany where there are not enough jobs to give their inhabitants a living wage. Although, unlike in the time that we are addressing in the following, social...

more
Issue 10/2010 Dr. Andreas Immenkamp

Reconstruction of the Roman military brick kiln excavated in Dormagen – experimental archaeology at the Lage Brickworks of the LWL Museum of Industry

1 Objective The objective of this project was to contribute to research into Roman firing techniques. For the first time a kiln was to be reconstructed on 1:1 scale and put into operation. The project...

more
Issue 4/2019 Hans-Heinrich Böger

August – the pugnacious brickmaker

In memoriam of August Dannenberg (1843-1904)

August Dannenberg did not hold much with good manners. He was famous and infamous for his often coarse remarks both to employees in the Kodersdorf and Reuden clay roofing tile plants as well as in his...

more
Issue 1-2/2012 Fapro, Oran (Algeria)

Fapro’s brick plant doubles its production capacity

1 Introduction The construction market in Algeria is booming. The entire heavy clay production is consumed by the domestic market. In accordance with the Five-Year Plan (2010?–?2014), more than one...

more