Izida Ceramica was founded at Novi Han station (today Elin Pelin station) by “Georgi Mimidiev and Co.” – entrepreneurs who won a tender for the supply of ceramic pipes for the sewage system of the new Bulgarian capital. Since no foreign manufacturer wanted to supply the pipes to Bulgaria, they built their own factory. Thus, in 1894, the first ceramic enterprise in the country was born.

Soon after its founding, the factory expanded its activities – producing faience, bricks for stoves and fireplaces, floor and wall tiles. Orders came from Plovdiv, Varna and Burgas. At the beginning of the 20th century, “Izida” was already a recognized manufacturer with international authority – winner of medals from the world exhibitions in Paris (1900), St. Louis (1904), Lyon (1906) and London (1907).

After 1906, the factory fulfilled some of its most significant orders. It supplied clinker yellow paving stones, which paved over 70,000 m² of the center of Sofia – the same ones that are still used today. It produced over 5,000,000 bricks for the construction of the St. Alexander Nevsky Temple-Monument. Floor tiles and majolica from Isis decorated the Central Mineral Bath, the Synodal Palace, the Synagogue, the Russian Church and the Rectorate of Sofia University. At that time, the workshops were electrified, a 10-kilometer cable car was built to the clay deposits in Chukurovo, and the company imported the first freight trucks to Bulgaria.

The factory survived the Balkan Wars, World Wars I and II, the Great Depression, and nationalization in 1947 — and continued to operate. It built entire neighborhoods for its workers — four apartment blocks for nearly 4,000 people, three schools, a kindergarten, the “Keramik” sports club, and a community center.

Today, “Izida 1894” continues the tradition with a new level of quality. The factory is equipped with modern European production lines and produces high-quality glazed granite tiles for interior and exterior projects – the same dedication, the same location, 130 years later.