Endangered Industrial Pottery Skills Research

Research was carried out in 2021 by the Heritage Crafts Association in partnership with Staffordshire University. The aim of the project was 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. This was followed up with a skills symposium at the Potteries Museum and Art Gallery during the British Ceramics Biennial in October 2021.

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

20 ceramics businesses participated in this research and reported the following figures and issues

Design ‘Hand-fitting’ and ‘styling-up’

Practising personnel: 20

Issues:

• 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)

Practising personnel: 22

Issues:

• 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):

Practising personnel: 17

Issues

• 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 skills

Practising personnel:

• Throwers: 5
• Turners: 5
• Flatware pressers: 0
• Hand jiggering: 2
• Hollow Ware pressing: 1
• Hand Jolleying: 4

Issues

• Many of these processes have been replaced by automated equipment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

Production – Bench casters

Practising personnel: 36

Issues

• 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

Practising personnel: 40

Issues

• High investment in equipment and so needs a high volume of production to be viable
• Most work will now be off-shored

Decoration (clay)

Practising personnel:

• Agate, thrown/laid: 0
• Slip decoration (Marbling/trailing/dipped): 1
• Sgraffito: 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

Issues

• 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

Decoration (underglaze)

• Copperplate engraving: 2
• Printing (flat/roller engravings): 1
• Tissue transferrers: 28
• Painting (66 of these are in one business): 69
• Banding/lining: 2
• Pad printers; 2

Issues

• 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

Decoration (on glaze)

• Gilding – including raised paste and jewelling: 15
• Painting (enamel): 12
• Banding/lining: 9
• Ground laying: 1
• Acid etching: 0

Issues

• 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

Historic processes

• Saggar making (now obsolete): 0
• Clay pipe making: 4

Key issues for the sector across all skill areas:

• 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.