ORIVIT
The ORIVIT – AG was founded in 1894 as “Rheinische Broncegieserei fur Kleinplastiken ”
in Koln-Ehrenfeld by Wilhelm Ferdinand Hubert Schmitz ( 1863-1939 ).
From 1896 they began with the making of luxury items the so called ORIVIT metal
(89,85% pewter 7,9 % antimony 1,9 % copper 0,12 % silver )
In 1900 the factory changed its name to
”ORIVIT –AG fur Kunsthandwerkliche Metalwarenfabrikation” .In 1901/02 they built a new factory in Köln- Braunfels
and began with a revolutionary new press “the Huber –Presverfahren”
The factory has won several prizes: in Paris the gold medal at the world exhibition of 1900<
in Dusseldorf in 1902 at the” Industrial Design Exhibition” And at the exhibition in
St Louis (USA) 1904 they won 2 Grand Prix prizes and 1 gold medal.
In 1905 the total financial collapse was a fact and the “Wurttembergische Metalwaren Fabrik” (WMF) bought ORIVIT . They produced items with the name ORIVIT until 1914.
In 1906 the designs from the “Metalwarenfabrik ORION” became ORIVIT
.The founder Georg Friedrich Schmitt (1856-1925 ) of ORION became the director in Köln.
The designers of ORIVIT were:

Hermann Gradl (1869-1934)
Georg Grasegger
Walter Scherf (1875- 1909)
Vicor Heinrich Seifert
Johann Cristian Kroner (1838-1911)
Georges Charles Couldray
Theo Blum