Paris
In 1839, Christofle employed 125 workers, 75 of whom worked in its Parisian premises, the others being external workers. The purchase of the patents for electrolytic silvering and gilding in 1842, allows him to abandon the jewelry business in favor of the manufacture of goldsmith's and silversmith's wares from 1844. As the holder of the patents, he was the only one who could manufacture silver (or gold) plate in France for 10 years. This choice will also push him to develop his industrial tools.
The factory on rue de Bondy (now rue René-Boulanger in Paris) was dedicated to goldsmithing from 1844 onwards. The factory manufactured mainly large goldsmiths' wares, silvered and gilded all the company's French production and produced massive electroplating, a technique perfected by Henri Bouilhet from 1853. In 1851, the first mechanization of the shaping of round or oval hollow pieces was introduced. The company's development led to numerous expansions. It employed 344 workers in 1853, the year in which it produced 20,000 pieces of silverware. By 1867, the factory grew to 740 workers now located in the heart of the goldsmiths' district.
By 1930 all the production was grouped together on the site of Saint-Denis. The Parisian premises, now too small and unable to handle production, were abandoned. The abandonment of the Paris site also marked the end of electroplating production and the use of home workers. The factory was razed in 1933.
In 1875, Christofle opened a new factory in Saint-Denis, north of Paris. The 21,000 m2 site is located between the railroad and the canal. The construction of Saint-Denis meets three needs of the company: to make nickel metallurgy, to manufacture its own cutlery, and to compensate for the small size of the rue de Bondy.
Saint-Denis is first a metallurgical factory. It was built after Christofle had signed exclusive agreements with the Société Foncière Calédonienne, which was exploiting the Caledonian nickel deposits discovered by the Garnier brothers. The discovery of the deposits and the chemical refining process, practiced exclusively by Christofle, considerably lowered the cost of this metal, which was essential for the manufacture of silverware. For a little over 10 years, Saint-Denis was the only factory to refine nickel using this process, which was awarded a grand prize at the Paris World Fair in 1878.
Christofle decided to add to this production, the actual manufacture of cutlery. In 1884, the Saint-Denis factory produced 300 dozen pieces of cutlery per day. It was already necessary to enlarge it. Silver plating was still done on the rue de Bondy, but it was not done in Saint-Denis until the Paris factory closed.
In 1880, Christofle bought the Alfénide factory and renamed it "Orfèvrerie Gallia "47.
In 1930, the Saint-Denis site regrouped all Christofle's French production and continued to modernize: in 1959, the cutlery tooling was renewed (modernized again in 1968/69), and from 1961 on, the large goldsmith's workshop was modernized. With the departure of the manufacture of cutlery in 1971 to the new factory in Yainville, the large goldsmith's workshop was reorganized (installation of presses and development of mechanical polishing).
The last two presses were shut down in 2004, and the last workshop closed its doors in 2008. The site, sold the same year, is registered as a historical monument and becomes the Bouilhet-Christofle Goldsmiths' Museum.
Since 2017, the factory has been used as a set for the TV show Affaire conclue.
Yainville
Since it was no longer possible to expand in Saint-Denis, the decision was made in 1968 to build a new factory to manufacture cutlery. In 1970, construction began on a 12,000 m2 factory in Yainville, Normandy. The factory was designed in the most modern way and equipped with the most efficient machines. Production started at the end of 1970. The factory was inaugurated on September 27, 1971. It was designed to produce 5 million pieces of cutlery per year. From 1972 the factory manufactures the whole cutlery process (silvering and finishing being done in Saint-Denis during the first two years). In 1992, Yainville employed 623 people.
From the end of the 1990s, it integrated the manufacture of large silverware.
Since 2006, it is the only Christofle manufacturing facility.
