Doyen

DOYEN

SOLD

Established in 1909, Verreries, Gobeleteries d'Havre-Ville - C.Rose et Cie was established by Camille Rose (formerly an employee at Verreries Saint Laurent in Manage).

In approximately 1911 Jean-Baptiste Doyen took control of the site at Havre-ville and began to develop a glass factory on the site. With the arrival of the bottle-making machines, all the glass businesses in Belgium were confronted with the need to refocus on a more specialised markets. On resuming production after the war in 1918 the factory passed to his brother Gaston and in 1926 to Gaston's widow. According to Michele Thiry (in 'de L'art deco aux annees 50'), Doyen was one of the exhibitors alongside Val St Lambert at the Paris Expo of 1937. After WW2 the factory was restarted under the ownership of her son, Paul Doyen.

The 'great glass conglomeration' after 1968 saw the whole industry going into decline, first Doyen merged with Boussu and then became part of the group which progressively subsumed all the struggling factories into a single commercial entity called 'Manubelver' (Manufactures Belgique du Verre) which crashed in 1975.

In 1987 the final chapter of the Doyen factory ended with the closure of the remaining administration.