History

The industrial cradle

Out of the past into the future

In 1806, the company known as "Japy frères", run by the three eldest sons of Frédéric Japy, acquired a mill on the banks of the Feschotte, a small river than rises above the village of Blamont, and runs into the Lizaine.
During the next 60 years the Feschotte valley became studded with factories over a distance of more than two kilometres. The "Casserie" business was born in 1826
and its development required the factory at Rondelot to be built (1834) followed by that at Gros-Pré in 1889-90.

Their architecture presents many features of industrial buildings of that period:
• a metal structure which allows a wide space free of any supports. The roof frames were still made of wood, but supported on thin cast iron columns when the spans were too far apart for the trusses;
• brick, which offers the advantage of withstanding high temperatures and climate changes without shattering, and of being quick and cheap to produce. This was initially used in the bay structures because it provided a very easy means of creating the architrave and the arch segments.
Chimneys were built right from the beginning entirely out of brick. Later this material was used for the whole carcass, reinforced with an iron framework.
• The shed roofs which combine a lighting and roofing structure by means of two perpendicular pitches.
• Chimneys. These were square to begin with, then became round to make them more stable.

Work started again on the site in 1987, which made it possible to stop the buildings deteriorating too quickly.
The enamelling workshop threatened to collapse, and in any case was not well-suited to Cristel® production needs, so it was demolished in 1996. The only part that could be saved was the square section chimney. The renovated rendering and roofs, and the cleaned and treated bay architraves contribute to show these architectural structures inherited from the past at their best.

Today

When he returned in 1772, he set up a workshop to produce watch ebauches, with the idea of supplying them already made to the clockmakers after mechanising certain operations that up until then were carried out by hand. With the building in 1777 of his first factory, the "Pendulerie" in Beaucourt, he developed a real company identity founded on Protestant principles and paternalism. In 1806, he laid the foundations for a stable business when he set up the "Japy frères" company, headed by the "triumvirate” consisting of his three eldest sons: this expressed his desire to perpetuate the family's industrial tradition, by protecting it from the hazards of tricky inheritance questions.

Any head of the company had to be born a Japy, but also had to prove capable of the task. Frédéric insisted that his sons should be trained on the job so that they could each take over responsibility for a technical or management aspect.

The burden of work was distributed fairly, according to the capacities of each and their ability to work together: this principle became a tradition and was applied to the following generations.

Out of the past into the future

At the same time, he wanted to apply the principles of working by series to other products, and diversify the business. To this end he acquired several mills and started making wood screws, bolts, and ironmongery in the Feschotte valley. Very soon the valley became to be seen as the second direction for developing the company, and as early as 1816, the screw-fixings sector supplanted the Beaucourt clock business.
Under the management of the “triumvirate”, purchase of the “Gomme” process in 1826 gave rise to the construction of the "Casserie" in the Feschotte valley and the development of Japy's third business sector: the beaten iron industry.
The inventory dated 1845 lists 100 kitchen utensils made of enamelled beaten iron, and on the occasion of the Paris Universal Exhibition in 1867, "Japy frères et Cie" figured as the third French industrial group with 5,500 employees of which 1,300 worked in the beaten iron industry.

In 1831, King Louis-Philippe, when referring to the making of saucepans by stamping, was heard to declare: “you have rendered a great service to humanity, and we can eat in peace without worrying about being poisoned”.
But above all, during World War I, the group contributed to the war effort, and the protective Adrian helmets worn by the French army were produced at the "Casserie".

In 1918, the end of the war marked the beginning of a slow decline for the company.
With so many workers called to the front, much of the skills and knowhow disappeared from the industrial sites of the times. Management difficulties appeared in this fragmented empire, this veritable archipelago of factories.
In 1928, Japy had to open up its capital for the 1st time. Modernisation led to layoffs and tension in the factories during this pre-war crisis period.
The Second World War brought new difficulties, and an even more stern enemy made its appearance: plastic.
As the years passed, the Japy family gradually lost power to the financial backers. The latter abandoned the game in 1979. Attempted turnarounds were like so many death throes, and each failed in turn.
And in 1981 the presses came to a standstill. Silence invaded the workshops. The "Casserie" remained closed for 2 years.
Then in 1983, a worker's cooperative was set up by some former employees.
It took the name of CRISTEL®, a name chosen for its associations with clarity. A new brand was born. Its early years
were chaotic. There was massive debt, the industrial tool was out-of-date and the social structure unsuitable.
The cooperative wore itself out.

In 1987, CRISTEL® became a limited company set up at the initiative of a couple who believed the brand had potential
Bernadette DODANE is an accountant, and Paul DODANE a technical designer for industry. Their vision of a high quality product and their original concept of a mobile handle were to be decisive factors for the future of the company which today celebrates 20 years of existence. Twenty years have indeed passed since that inspired bet on the future. Today CRISTEL® is celebrating the success that has crowned these two decades of hard work and reconstruction. Today the now-renovated premises at "Casserie" produce top-of-the-range solid stainless steel culinary articles that display their bright, pure lines under the halogen spotlights of all the big shops and best "Tableware" boutiques.