Though the sturdy material called enamel has been around for centuries, it wasn't used to make cookware until 1840 in Germany. It would take another few decades until renowned enamel cookware brand Le Creuset came to be, and it all started when an expert in metal casting and an enamel coatings specialist joined forces.

At the 1924 Brussels Fair, Armand Desaegher and Octave Aubecq met and decided to work together to create a cooking pot made with cast iron and enamel. Le Creuset's products are made of 15 % pig iron, 35% recycled steel, and 50% recycled iron, all of which are melted down together, a process that gave the brand its name.

Le Creuset is French for "the crucible," and a crucible is a container in which materials like metal are melted down. The brand name refers to the big pots that bring all of the pans' ingredients together, but also refers to the pots themselves that are created from the melted-down and molded metals, then take up residence in your kitchen.