Wedgwood

Josiah Wedgwood & Sons Ltd.. (later Josiah Wedgwood Ltd. ) was an English manufacturer of art pottery in Staffordshire, England. Especially famous was the company for the invented or improved by the company founder Josiah Wedgwood pottery types Creamware, Basalt and Jasper Ware Ware. Objects of this pottery styles are now therefore sometimes known as Wedgwoodware ( see products).

Company name

Namesake and founder of the company was Josiah Wedgwood (1730-1795), which helped the company with his inventions and improvements in the area of ​​ceramic production in his lifetime to world fame and laid the foundation that the name Wedgwood to become synonymous with craftsmanship and artistic quality ceramic objects is.

History

Josiah Wedgwood was born into a family of potters and worked very early in the workshops of the family. In 1759, he founded his own company, by ( now a suburb of Stoke -on-Trent ) rented, a pottery of his cousins ​​in Burslem, Staffordshire. Through his inventions and advancements in the field of ceramic production, the company grew very quickly. 1769 was the production to a new location outside of Burslem, in today's southwest edge, shifted from Stoke -on-Trent. The new factory together with the related dwellings for the workers was, in reference to the " Etruscan " style, the Wedgwood pottery copied, Etruria baptized. 1790 were Josiah's sons joined the company, and in 1895, 100 years after the death of Josiah Wedgwood, the company into a Limited Company (Ltd. ) was transferred.

In 1940 a new factory in Barlaston, just south of Stoke -on-Trent, based, as the production were outdated operating in Etruria after more than 150 years, the building had there as a result of a lowering of the subsurface serious damage. The factory in Barlaston is still in operation today. In 1966, after the Josiah Wedgwood & Sons Ltd.. had taken some other ceramic and porcelain manufacturers, the company was restructured and in Josiah Wedgwood Ltd.. renamed. This company acted now as a holding company for the various company departments. Fittingly, the chairman of the new holding was also a Josiah Wedgwood, namely, the great-great -great- grandson of the company founder. The name of Josiah Wedgwood & Sons Ltd.. was retained for that sub-contractors Holding, in which still held the production and distribution of the actual Wedgwood products.

In the late 1960s and the 1970s Josiah Wedgwood took over Ltd.. more ceramic and porcelain manufacturers such as Adams & Sons ( Potters ) Ltd. , Coalport China Ltd.. and Johnson Bros and finally in 1980, founded by a distant relative of Josiah Wedgwood and therefore names like Enoch Wedgwood ( Tunstall ) Ltd. ..

In 1986, Josiah Wedgwood Ltd.. by the Irish glass manufacturer Waterford Crystal Ltd.. taken. 1989 arose because the Waterford Wedgwood plc. After the complete takeover of Royal Doulton plc until 2005 and some subsequent turbulence (among insolvency in 2009 and subsequent takeover by a U.S. private equity firm ), the consortium now operates under the name of WWRD United Kingdom Limited. The production of pottery was for reasons of cost already for the most part according to Tangerang near Jakarta, the capital of Indonesia, moved to 2004, which coincided with the loss of around 1,500 jobs in the English root plants. Today, especially high-quality goods are only produced in Staffordshire.

Products

The most famous products of the company are items that are attributable to the invented by company founder Jasper Ware and further developed by him ceramic types basalt goods and Creamware. These include not only vases, boxes and dishes, but also jewelry and even buttons and buckles for garments. Josiah Wedgwood succeeded about 1762 the so-called Creamware, a cream-colored ceramic type produced in England in the 18th century, changed so that they now had a bluish- white color. This time the taste according refined goods he called Pearl goods, and by the failure to deliver this harness to the Queen of England, he began marketing it as Queens Ware. Also under the brand name known Wedgwood products are vases, candle holders or even busts of the products produced by Wedgwood from the late 1760s basalt goods (from about 1768) and Jasper Ware (from about 1775). These ceramic forms were successfully marketed by Josiah Wedgwood as a development of earthenware produced in Staffordshire, England in the 18th century as Egyptian Black. With all its products designed Josiah Wedgwood and his successors high quality standards, so that even today the name Wedgwood stands for high quality ceramic and porcelain products.

In addition to this typical Wedgwoodware Josiah Wedgwood & Sons but put forth other objects made ​​of ceramic and later also made ​​of real porcelain also. Especially after the adoption of different, sometimes competing company's product range was extended again and again, but the brand name Wedgwood was only ever used for high quality products. To ensure this, the brand name of 1980 by Josiah Wedgwood Ltd. was. acquired Enoch Wedgwood ( Tunstall ) Ltd.. changed to Unicorn Tableware. Accordingly, there have been many products that can be the Josiah Wedgwood Group Ltd. Although attributed to, but not as Wedgwood products in the proper sense.