The tale of the line begins in 1730 with the birth of Josiah Wedgwood to a family who made pottery. At 6 years old, Josiah was an apprentice and by 14 he had suffered a session of smallpox that weakened his right knee. By 1760, Josiah had his own factory and had been messing with different formulas of porcelain, clays and glazes and technological advances in the art of transferring designs to the completed product. In 1765 he manufactured a complete set for Queen Charlotte, publicized himself as the’potter to the Queen’ and his business took off.
Josiah’s crowning achievement was his creation of Jasperware. Jasper is translucent clay that marries the basalt and Josiah’s original formulas to produce a dense, homogeneously colored stoneware. After more than ten thousand failed experiments with varied clays and glazes, Jasperware was launched in 1775 to overpowering success, particularly to his consumers in the new democracy of the U. S. of America. Josiah stated immediately after that,’there was no item too rich or too dear for Americans.’
Wedgwood died in 1795 and the business was left to his boys, who, having been brought up made, had absolutely little interest in running it. The job slid to a nephew, Tom Byerly who struggled greatly with the load of managing a company he had little love for. The subsequent twenty-five years proved difficult for the company and Josiah II took over to turn things around by restoring the formulas and business standards set by his father. Obviously, constant business turmoil, wars and growing competition made the 1800’s extraordinarily hard and it was not until the 20th Century, under the management of Josiah V that things started to improve.
With new, streamlined production facilities, assertive worldwide marketing especially in America, and exclusive designs, Wedgwood China products commenced gaining eminence in the bizz. In 1966, Wedgwood’s shares were introduced into the London Stock exchange and since that time, the Corporation has been involved in aggressive expansion. The assets of Susie Cooper, Royal Tuscan, William Adams, Franciscan, Mason’s Ironstone, Waterford, and Rosenthal have been combined with Wedgwood to form the Wedgwood group. Josiah Wedgwood I might be proud.
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Tags: china, industry, Wedgwood, Wedgwood China