History

The Staffordshire Potteries is the industrial area encompassing the six towns – Tunstall, Burslem, Hanley, Stoke, Fenton and Longton – that now make up the city of Stoke-on-Trent. The Potteries became a centre of ceramic production in the early 18th century, due to the regional availability of clay, and coal with nearby deposits of lead and salt used for glazing.

Alongside pioneers of the industrial revolution such as Josiah Wedgwood and Spode, the Staffordshire potteries in the late 19th c comprised of hundreds of relatively small factories with more than 2,000 kilns firing millions of products a year. By 1938 half the workforce of Stoke-on-Trent worked in pottery factories with employment peaking in 1948 to an estimated 79000 people. Other centres of production emerged in Shropshire, Derby and South Wales but Staffordshire remained a key centre of global production way into the 20th Century.

The Staffordshire Potteries still remain a centre of UK ceramic production despite its reduction due to the impact of global economics. Outsourcing and new technologies have displaced many traditional crafts practiced in the industry. However, some historic processes, such as flower making, china painting and clay pipe making, are carried out within heritage settings in Stoke, Shropshire and Wales.

 

Techniques

The techniques used in industrial pottery are varied and highly specialised. They range from historic hand skills to mechanised and semi-mechanised processes. See ‘Sub-crafts’ and ‘Issues affecting the viability of the craft’ below.

 

Local forms

n/a

 

Sub-crafts

Design

• ‘Hand-fitting’ and ‘styling-up’

Modelling

• Tableware
• Figurine
• Relief

Mould making

• Blockers/casers
• Production mould makers

Production – making (plastic clay)

• Throwers
• Turners
• Flatware pressers
• Hand jiggering
• Hollow Ware pressing
• Hand Jolleying

Production – hand casting

• Bench casters

Production – Automated (personnel manning machines)

• Machine casting
• Pressure casting
• Dust pressing

Decoration (clay)

• Agate, thrown/laid
• Slip decoration (Marbling/trailing/dipped)
• Scraffito
• Pate-sur-Pate
• Flower makers
• Figure makers – (sprig maker)
• Ornamentors (sprig application)
• Engine-turned decoration (including dicing and rouletting)
• Piercing
• Tubelining
• Tubeline decorator/ painter

Decoration (underglaze)

• Copperplate engraving
• Printing (flat/roller engravings)
• Tissue transferrers
• Painting
• Banding/lining
• Lithography

Decoration (on glaze)

• Gilding – including raised paste and jewelling
• Painting (enamel)
• Banding/lining
• Ground laying
• Acid etching

Historic processes

• Saggar making
• Clay pipe making

Issues affecting the viability of the craft

Endangered Industrial Pottery Skills Research – INITIAL FINDINGS

Research is currently being carried out by the Heritage Crafts Association in partnership with Staffordshire University. The aim of the project is to survey existing skills and knowledge and then to develop a series of recommendations to preserve and promote these skills as embedded within our intangible cultural heritage. The first stage of the research is to survey the sector and this will be followed up with a skills symposium at the Potteries Museum and Art Gallery during the British Ceramics Biennial in October 2021. This research is ongoing but at the time of writing (May 2021), 20 practising ceramicists and ceramics businesses had participated in the research.

 

For the purposes of this research, these skills are distinct from those of studio pottery, which is a thriving craft.

 

Process	Personnel still practising (These figures include practitioners in the surveyed businesses and estimated numbers based on industry expertise)			Issues affecting the viability/sustainability of the craft in the UK industry e.g. market issues, training and recruitment issues, shortages of raw materials, lack of demand for products/skills etc.
Design ‘Hand-fitting’ and ‘styling-up’	20			Decline in skills and material understanding Lack of training opportunities and work experience within industrial settings Reduction in higher education courses that specialise in industrial design.
Modelling: tableware, figurine, relief	22			CAD and 3d printing are now widely used in the production of models The majority of modelling work is outsourced to a dwindling number of free-lance makers Decline in skills and material understanding Decline in the use of clay and other creative activities in schools leading to a loss of haptic skills and material understanding
Mould making: blockers/casers, production mould makers	17			These skills are industry led and it is difficult to find advanced training or learn the skills outside of an industrial pottery setting Mould making is outsourced to a dwindling number of free-lance makers As many mould makers are free-lance, it is less likely that skills are passed on to the next generation of makers
Production – making (plastic clay)	Throwers		5	Many of these processes have been replaced by automated equipment Some heritage companies are continuing the skills but in a very limited capacity The majority of production now happens overseas
	Turners		5
	Flatware pressers		0
	Hand jiggering		2
	Hollow Ware pressing		1
	Hand Jolleying		4
Production – hand casting Bench casters	36			Most factories will still employ bench casters ·Work can be repetitive and so some companies (e.g. Denby) are upskilling staff into different processes and ensuring they can work in other areas of the business
Production – Automated (personnel manning machines) Machine casting Pressure casting Dust pressing	40			High investment in equipment and so needs a high volume of production to be viable Most work will now be off-shored
Decoration (clay)	Agate, thrown/laid	0		Many of these techniques are difficult to implement due to the increased cost, and so lower cost techniques are used Many of these techniques are seen as niche and take time to learn and perfect Could be seen as a non-contemporary aesthetic and less relevant for a younger generation Some of these skills, such as slip decoration and scraffito, will be used more in a studio setting
	Slip decoration (Marbling/trailing/ dipped)	1
	Scraffito	2
	Pate-sur-Pate	1
	Flower makers (6 of these are in the heritage sector)	7
	Figure makers – (sprig maker)	2
	Ornamentors (sprig application)	5
	Engine-turned decoration (including dicing and rouletting)	1
	Piercing	2
	Tubelining	3
	Tubeline decorator/ painter	3
Decoration (underglaze)	Copperplate engraving	2		Some of these skills, particularly knowledge of print, are built up over many years and are difficult to replace. These are often high cost processes and are used for high-end products. As processes are streamlined the quality is gradually eroded. Hand painting skills have largely been replaced with lower cost transfers It is difficult to find trainees with the right aptitude for the job The risk of losing these skills is high
	Printing (flat/roller engravings)	1
	Tissue transferrers	28
	Painting (66 of these are in one business)	69
	Banding/lining	2
	Pad printers	2
Decoration (on glaze)	Gilding – including raised paste and jewelling	15		These are seen as highly skilled roles and it can be problematic to replace skills as makers retire The techniques take time to perfect and learn with experienced makers These are often high cost processes and are used for high-end, prestige products
	Painting (enamel)	12
	Banding/lining	9
	Ground laying	1
	Acid etching	0
Historic processes	Saggar making	0		Saggar making is now obsolete
	Clay pipe making	4

 

Key issues for the sector

• Ageing practitioners – many are beyond retirement age.
• Outsourcing of work to a dwindling pool of free-lance experts. As they are self-employed, these makers are unlikely to have the capacity or resources to train the next generation
• Lack of training opportunities and work experience
• Some of the potteries employ a token workforce to demonstrate the heritage of the skills while outsourcing the majority of their production to low-wage economies in other countries. This can give a misleading sense of the health of the crafts.
• Some of the current practitioners have been kept on as demonstrators by heritage organisations such as the Gladstone Pottery Museum and the Ironbridge Gorge Museum, keeping the skills alive but in a precarious state due to reliance on public funding in place of a sustainable market.
• Rapid decline of the Staffordshire Potteries: The potteries have lost a number of companies and hundreds of jobs over recent years, posing a series threat to the legacy of industrial ceramics skills.

 

Support organisations

• Clay College
• Gladstone Pottery Museum
• Spode Museum Trust Heritage Centre
• Staffordshire University
• Gladstone Pottery Museum
• Middleport Pottery
• Ironbridge Gorge Museum Trust
• Nant Garw China Works & Museum

 

Craftspeople currently known

• Helen Johannessen – Yo Yo Ceramics 
• Dave Richardson
• Nathan Smallman – Sculpta
• Andrew Henshall – modeller
• Ed Bentley

 

Businesses

N.B. These are all industrial ceramics but not all will be using hand skills and some will be outsourcing work to free-lance specialists.

• Staffordshire Heritage Fine China
• Denby
• Nant Gawr China Works
• Edwards and Locket
• Moorland
• Caverswall China
• Heraldic
• Emma Bridgewater
• Brunswicks
• Wades
• Adderley Ceramics
• Burgess and Leigh
• Burslem Pottery
• Cauldon Ceramics
• Finsbury China
• Heron Cross Pottery
• Pollyana – Walpole Fine Bone china
• 1882 Ltd
• Royal Crown Derby
• Wedgwood – Fiskars Corporation
• Portmerion
• Duchess
• Ceramics by Design https://www.ceramicsbydesign.co.uk
• Dunoon Mugs
• Foley Pottery
• Churchhill China
• Moorcroft
• Peregrin Pottery
• Repeat Repeat – design
• Johnson Tiles
• Global Bisque
• E. Smith
• Milton China
• Royal Stafford
• Steelite
• Topaz China
• William Edwards
• Ceramics 77 – mould making

 

Other information

 

 

References

• thepotteries.org