He saved the last Czech enamel factory. It’s not chinaware, it lasts for generations, he says

Even thirty years ago, this would not have been anything special. Today, the enamel factory, hidden in an inconspicuous complex in Osek, Central Bohemia, is unique in the country. Most of the companies producing cast-iron enamelware, which used to be in almost every Czech household, had to close down. Stainless steel, Teflon or ceramics gradually pushed them out of kitchens.

Three years ago, the factory in Osek, which operated for many years under the name Smalt, s.r.o., was threatened with the same fate. Its last owners were losing the business and wanted to get rid of it. At that time, chance led Jan Novák to enamel, who had worked as the manager of the footwear brand Salamander for almost twenty years.

“In 2019, I decided that it was too much, so I finished there in August of that year. But I didn’t want to stay at home without a person. I have a homeopath that I go to regularly, and I told him that I was no longer an executive, that I don’t want to do anything complicated in international business, but that if he knew of someone who needed my services, he should tell me,” Novák describes the beginning of his three-year adventure.

The homeopath called him about two weeks later, asking him to go and see the enamel factory in Osek, which the owner of the industrial area is not interested in. “Before Salamander, I worked in retail, I bought and sold, I knew customer habits and behavior. We said to ourselves, why shouldn’t I go and have a look. There was trouble – I immediately fell in love,” says Novák about his first encounter with Czech enamel.

But he counted on the fact that he would be an advisory voice to the then owner, not that he would buy the business after twenty years of stressful work. “There are probably only two stronger manufacturers of cast iron cookware in the whole of Europe. But their designs and colors have nothing to do with domestic tradition, whereas in Osek it was something purely Czech. The tradition was completely alive. As the manager of the Salamander company, I did nothing but that I was explaining to people why they should buy our shoes when there are twenty other shoes around and we all make the same ones. Suddenly I came somewhere where something that has no competition is made,” he describes how he became interested in production.

He explained to the owner of the enamel factory at the time what, in his opinion, was the company’s potential and value. “I told him that he had a treasure in his hands. Only that it would be necessary to play with it a little, dig up the treasure, clean it and go out with it. He let me talk for an hour and then he told me that we did not understand each other. That he did not want me to develop program for a year or two. That he just wants to know if he should close the enamel factory or let it run. But that he will let it run only on the condition that he stops making money from day to day. That was an impossible task. We said goodbye.” Novak continues.

Later, the owner of the premises called him again. “He said: I thought about it and I have to say that I too would be sorry if the production were to cease. The dishes and renovations will end, people will go to work. Once they run away, no one will put it back together,” he repeats his words. “At the same time, he insisted that he didn’t want to do it. That he would either close it right now or make me a price and I would do what I saw fit with it,” he continues.

Dishes from grandmothers in new condition

He mentions that after twenty years in a stressful job, the least he wanted to do was expose himself to more stress. “But I couldn’t say no. I received some parting money from Salamander, with which I founded the company Český smalt and transferred the equipment of the enamel factory to it,” he explains, adding that he did not want to buy the original Smalt company because he considers it a risky business – you never know what you are buying with the company and whether it is burdened by obligations from the past.

Novák found meaning in the pursuit of maintaining craft production. He feels he hasn’t created any value in retail compared to that. “I think that enameled cast-iron cookware has an incredible history in the Czech Republic. My generation remembers the cookware from their grandmothers. Younger people may not know it from their own experience, but sustainability is a big issue for them, the fact that the cookware is not brought from China and that enamel is a purely natural product. If you don’t smash it on the pavement, you’ll have a cake for two or three generations,” he says.

Český smalt does not only produce its own tableware, but is also the only company in the Czech Republic to renovate decades-old cast iron pieces. People have the hundred-year-old cake molds or Easter lamb molds they find at home repaired and dressed in a modern jacket. Novák believes that they can evoke memories of childhood. “I remembered what it was like when my grandmother from Beroun used to bake for me in such dishes. One remembers the smell and suddenly feels good,” he describes.

Old bastards and young blood

Although Novák hasn’t gotten rid of the stress, he claims that thanks to Český smalt he has many reasons to be happy. “In retail there was stress for many reasons, but there was no stress because of money. Here it’s the opposite,” he compares. Despite the vicissitudes that the pandemic brought to him right at the start of the business, he managed to start production. Now they face another challenge – that the foundries are able to supply the company with raw castings in sufficient quantities.

After a long search, Novák managed to find a foundry that was willing to make castings for him, but he had to purchase the so-called model equipment himself, into which the desired shape of the dishes was cast. The old manual and wooden one, which he bought together with other enamel factory equipment, had reached its end of life. He therefore launched a crowdfunding campaign on Hithitu.

Another challenging task for the company owner is to find suitable employees who will be dedicated to the manual production and renovation of enamelware. In the industrial area in Osek, a school specializing in enameling and a research institute also functioned before. However, it was canceled in 1994, and one of its last graduates is still working at Český smalt today. He takes care of the initial part of the production, from the so-called frit made of glass-forming sands he creates a liquid enamel that is applied to dishes and other objects.

When Novák took over the company, it had the last three employees. Now he has eight. “I proudly count myself among the eight,” he clarifies. Now he needs two more employees to start a second shift. “Finding people is terrible. They are missing everywhere, but with us it is all the more difficult because I cannot take everyone who walks by. I still have to choose from the few people. The person must be a little interested, I need someone who will be here for a few months walk and learn step by step,” he says.

Enamel schools no longer exist today. “I am facing the task of replenishing the staff in such a way that young blood comes here, that they can endure the old bastards, learn from them, but at the same time think about things in their own way and in an innovative way. I am looking forward to it, I just have to find the right people, which will not simple,” guesses the owner of the business.

He would like to bring the company to a stage where it is stabilized, has ten to fifteen employees and has someone to hand it over to. “For now, I don’t have anyone who would take it over. My son is a doctor and my daughter does HR, she certainly won’t want to manage production here. So my dream is for Český smalt to have a clear program and future and to find an owner for it who will continue to develop. So that I know that it does not fall and does not stand with me. And that it becomes a small, nice Czech factory that will not fulfill anyone’s dreams of earning money for a yacht or a jet,” he wishes.

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