WEDGWOOD
Wedgwood is a British pottery firm, originally founded in 1759 by Josiah Wedgwood. In 1987, Wedgwood merged with Waterford Crystal, creating Waterford Wedgwood, the Ireland-based luxury brands group. The company still exists as a subsidiary within the group, with its own board of directors and management team. Wedgwood is also used as a general term to describe the company’s main products.
Josiah Wedgwood worked with an established potter, Thomas Whieldon, until 1759, when relatives leased him the Ivy House in Burslem to allow him to start his own pottery business. In 1765, Wedgwood created a new earthenware form which impressed the then English Queen, who gave permission to call it “Queen’s Ware”; this new form sold extremely well across Europe. In 1766, Wedgwood bought Etruria, a large Staffordshire estate, as both home and factory site. Wedgwood developed a number of further industrial innovations for his company, notably a way of measuring kiln temperatures accurately and new ware types, Black Basalt and Jasper Ware. The first Japer Ware color was the Poland Blue. In recognition of the importance of his pyrometer, Josiah Wedgwood was elected a member of the Royal Society in 1783. Today, the Wedgwood Prestige collection provides customers with the opportunity to purchase replicas of some of the original designs, as well as modern neo-classical style jasper ware. The main themes on the jasper ware have all been taken from ancient mythologies.
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A major break-through came when Wedgwood became the first firm in eighteenth century England to innovate the perfect mixture of fine bone china. This was an imitation of tea ware imported from China which was extremely popular with high society. These were delicate pieces: transluscent under candlelight, perfectly white, and light. Nevertheless the high transportation costs and the vigorous long journey from the Far East meant that the supply of china could not keep up with the increasingly high demand. Whoever could first produce a domestic version would be the a great success. Wedgwood’s new innovation of English Fine Bone China certainly led to an extremely profitable business. Almost two hundred and fifty years later, the fame of Wedgwood’s fine bone china is world-wide. Wedgwood stores in London regularly receive customers from all over the world purchasing its fine bone china ware.
The company today incorporates Coalport, Mason’s and Johnson Brothers wares, and its parent company, Waterford Wedgwood also owns crystal brands such as Waterford, Stuart and Edinburgh, as well as Royal Doulton. In 2009, following years of financial problems, and after a share placement failed during the global financial crisis of 2008, Wedgwood was placed into administration. Waterford Wedgwood’s receiver Deloitte announced that the New York-based private equity firm KPS Capital Partners had purchased certain Irish and United Kingdom assets of Waterford Wedgwood in a transaction expected to completed in March.
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