A museum and space for art and creation dedicated to ceramics, Keramis was built on the site of the old Boch faience factory in La Louvière. Its bold, contemporary architecture incorporates an old listed building that contains three giant bottle kilns, the last of their kind in Belgium.
Keramis holds the collections of the Wallonia-Brussels Federation, the SRIW and the Province of Hainaut, and these pieces are supplemented by gifts and long-term loans from private collections such as that belonging to the Boch Keramis Foundation.
The collections also contain archived documents and testimonies as part of our work to help protect the artistic and archival heritage of the old Boch Frères Keramis factory in La Louvière.
THE BOCH COLLECTION
The museum owns a remarkable collection of faience made in the 19th and 20th centuries by the Boch factory, which was a flagship of Belgian industry. Exceptional creations produced in its art workshops, such as Charles Catteau’s vases, can be found alongside everyday items. In its reserve collections open to the public, a scenographic trail presents the techniques used to make industrial faience and provides an idea of what life was like in the company.
CONTEMPORARY CREATION
Keramis also has a major collection of ceramics by artists representative of the latter half of the 20th century, featuring every aspect of modern and contemporary ceramics and design. This original collection, provided by the Wallonia-Brussels Federation, is regularly supplemented by acquisitions from contemporary artists in Belgium and beyond.
ART & CREATION
Keramis has a workshop for the purposes of education, research and creation. This is where techniques are taught and passed on with the aim of providing a better understanding of the old and contemporary works on show. Artists in residence, some of whom have a background in a discipline other than ceramics (such as design or graphic arts), receive the technical assistance they need to implement their artistic projects.
