With the “queen of pottery” Emma Bridgewater , it might be tempting to fear the worst for Britain’s ceramics industry, what with the news of soaring prices of raw materials and higher energy costs denting Bridgewater’s profits. But it was also the fierce competition from other homeware brands that drove Bridgewater to slash her prices and further bruise her bottom line. Yet to see that the British ceramics scene is in rude health, bolstered by a new wave of smaller millennial brands that don’t have Bridgewater’s high running costs.
The best news is that some of these younger brands – among them, 1882 Ltd, DB Ceramic and Feldspar – are committed to working with the artisans of Stoke-on-Trent, the so-called world capital of ceramics, keeping Britain’s heritage craft alive. Here are some of the best. Fashion’s loss was the design world’s gain.
When Holland left his buzzy fashion label House of Holland in 2020, he took with him his knack for creating a statement. led him to a new passion that felt more manageable than the relentless fashion carousel. Holland’s ceramic signature is, he says, “my take on the [Japanese] technique, which uses different coloured clays to create patterns within the body of each piece, resulting in a distinctive marble-like effect” (as is evident in his sculptural tableware handmade in his Hackney studio).
And of course, “creating pieces that make people smile”. After buying a pottery wheel from a man on the Devon moors i.
