Wedgwood - potter of genius
Wedgwood pottery
marks.
More on Josiah
Wedgwood.
Dating
Wedgwood
Wedgwood is rather a special name. Nearly
everybody has heard it and nearly everybody will immediately have an image that
springs to mind.
The story is, after all, a fascinating one.
It is a success story like no other. Josiah Wedgwood's flair and talents were
exceptional and his rise to fame was steep. Having trained in Staffordshire with
one of the best potters of his time, Thomas Whieldon, he set up his own factory
in 1759. As a natural innovator who had developed his skills with Whieldon, the
climate of industrial revolution suited him perfectly. He saw the advantages of
factory production ahead of many others, and having already done well enough to
justify the investment, established purpose-built factory premises at Etruria in
1769. He never made the mistake of compromising quality and this earned him the
best of reputations.
His friendship with Thomas Bentley, an influential man of taste based in London, became a firm and fruitful business partnership. Bentley moved in the most fashionable circles and was able to inform Wedgwood as to exactly what was in vogue.
He also occasionally designed or suggested
designs. They were among the first to regularly mark their work as a guarantee
of quality to their customers. They were also the first to establish a factory
showroom in London devoted to their wares, affirming the exclusive nature of the
work. And, in a world that had always prized porcelain, they were the first to
make pottery fashionable and desirable. Add to all this Josiah's constant and
successful experimentation with ceramic bodies, glazes and decorations, and his
reputation and that of his factory now becomes more fully understandable.
The Wedgwood factory's reputation for quality
continues, and in the 20th century we have seen notable contributions to
contemporary style, often under the guidance of well-known designers
Adapted from an article in
