Kea Enamel Factory

Location: Korissia

The only factory in Greece that produced enamel kitchen tools functioned between 1927 and 1957 and is located in Korissia, Kea.
The Enamel Factory was very important for the economy and social life of the island during that time.
Ioannis Gleoudis was its founder, and the workers were mainly refugees from Asia Minor.

At first, it produced signs for public and private use and household utensils. However, in 1936, the state ordered the production of military canteens. After that, the factory expanded to the war industry and started producing manufacturing mortars as well. That was the period when the factory reached its peak; it began exporting products to the Balkans and the Middle East and had 300 workers in its employ.

Because of this successful business, Kea experienced economic growth until 1957, when its financial manager Athanasios Konstas died. His death, along with financial problems, resulted in the permanent closure of the factory.

In 2002, craftsmen who previously worked in the Enamel Factory and owned numerous molds, utensils, machines, and other items, took the initiative of creating the Association of Friends of the Enamel Factory of Kea.
The members managed to gather machinery from the factory that had been sold to other establishments in Attica.
Today, the equipment and objects are exhibited in a municipal area, not far from the factory.
The association’s long-range goal is the creation of an Industrial Museum that will host all former machines of the Enamel factory.