Emma Bridgewater

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Emma Bridgewater Limited
Company typePrivate
IndustryCeramics
Founded1985; 39 years ago (1985)
FounderEmma Bridgewater Edit this on Wikidata
Owners
  • Emma Rice
  • Matthew Rice
Websitewww.emmabridgewater.co.uk
A plate made by the company

Emma Bridgewater is a British ceramics manufacturing company founded in 1985. The company specialises in earthenware tableware, manufactured in Stoke-on-Trent, England.[1][2][3][4] The pottery is produced using traditional techniques.[5] The company is one of the largest pottery manufacturers based entirely in the UK.[6]

Bus with Emma Bridgewater livery

There are two Emma Bridgewater shops in London as well as two outlet stores, located at the company's factory in Hanley, Stoke-on-Trent, and in Bicester Village, Oxfordshire respectively.

The company has been certified as a B-Corporation since January 2022.[7]

History

Hanley

The company was founded by Emma Rice, née Bridgewater, in 1985 when being unable to find a suitable cup and saucer for a gift for her mother she decided to create her own.[8] Drawing four shapes, a mug, a bowl, a jug and a dish, samples were created in Stoke-on-Trent.[9]

In 1995, the company purchased a former Victorian factory site in Hanley, Stoke-on-Trent, and converted the site.[10] Production began there in 1996.[8]

During a royal visit, Bridgewater discussed the brand's launch of its biggest ever collection of Royal commemorative ware to celebrate Queen Elizabeth II's Diamond Jubilee in 2012.[11] Catherine, Princess of Wales, made an official visit to the factory in 2015.[8]

In its first year the company had a turnover of around £30,000. By 2009 this had increased to almost £8 million,[9] and £11 million in 2010, employing 180 people.[12] According to their website, in 2022 around 230 people worked their factory and produce 1.7 million pieces annually.[1]

Products and Production

Emma Bridgewater earthenware is manufactured using "traditional techniques of manufacture and decoration", for example decoration is hand-applied using sponges, brushes and transfers.[13] The earthenware is produced using mould casting, before being fettled and sponged, and then fired.[14] Decoration is then applied using either sponge painting or lithographing.[14] Sponge painted decoration was a historically common technique in the British pottery industry, but had fallen out of manufacturing practice until it was revived by the company in the 1980s.[10] The polka dot pattern is one prominent Emma Bridgewater design created using this technique.[14]

Emma Bridgewater also produces a range of homeware and gifts. The company's pottery designs are adapted for application onto textiles, glass, tin, stationery, and melamine.[15]

Founder and Owners

The company is named after the founder and owner Emma Rice, née Bridgewater. Bridgewater previously ran the company with her ex-husband artist Matthew Rice, who still designs for the company.[16][17]

Bridgewater was born in Cambridge, England, in 1960, and studied English Literature at the University of London.[13] Bridgewater spent most of her childhood in north Oxford and has seven siblings, including the journalist Clover Stroud and Nell Gifford, co-founder and ringmistress of Giffords Circus.[18][19]

Bridgewater married Matthew Rice in 1987 and the couple have four children together.[20] Matthew Rice is a painter, architectural writer[21] and illustrator[22] and also designs for the company, and he indulges his passion for birdlife in the Birds range.[15] The couple have since amicably divorced after 30 years of marriage however Rice still designs for the company.[23][17]

Both Bridgewater and Rice are honorary graduates of Staffordshire University, in relation to their work at Emma Bridgewater.[24] Bridgewater backed Stoke-on-Trent's bid for UK City of Culture when speaking to BBC News in 2017.[25]

In 2013 Bridgewater was appointed a

CBE by Queen Elizabeth II for services to British industry.[26]

In 2016, Emma Bridgewater was made President of the

Heritage Crafts Association
.

Bridgewater was interviewed for TED by serial entrepreneur and TED Speaker Margaret Heffernan.[28]

Emma Bridgewater was interviewed on BBC Radio 4's Desert Island Discs by Kirsty Young in 2016.[29] Also on BBC Radio 4, Bridgewater has appeared on Woman's Hour,[30] Any Questions?[31] and Saturday Live.[32]

"Festival in a Factory"

For the last few years, the Emma Bridgewater factory in

V&A Museum's Oriole Cullen and Claire Wilcox, and novelist Deborah Moggach.[34]

The 2020 Festival, planned for 4–6 June,[35] was cancelled as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The head gardener of the factory gatden is the author and broadcaster Arthur Parkinson. [36]

Bibliography

  • Toast & marmalade and other stories. London: Saltyard Books. 2014.
    ISBN 978-1-44473-491-1
    .
  • Pattern. London: Saltyard Books. 2016.
    ISBN 978-1-44473-494-2
    .

References

  1. ^ a b "About the Factory | Our History | Emma Bridgewater".
  2. ^ 'The UK Ceramic Marketing Strategy in response to globalization.' N.Ewins. Conference Of Historical Analysis And Research In Marketing (CHARM). 30 May - 2 Jun 2013. Copenhagen Business School, Denmark
  3. ^ "Emma Bridgewater | Artists | Collection | British Council − Visual Arts".
  4. ^ "Behind the brand: Emma Bridgewater".
  5. ^ "Emma Bridgewater's Oxfordshire farmhouse is as lovely as her pottery". House & Garden. 17 April 2020. Retrieved 23 April 2023.
  6. ^ "About the Company at Emma Bridgewater". www.emmabridgewater.co.uk. Archived from the original on 5 December 2010. Retrieved 18 October 2010.
  7. ^ "Emma Bridgewater Ltd - Certified B Corporation - B Lab Global". www.bcorporation.net. Retrieved 23 April 2023.
  8. ^ a b c "'5 homewares I can't live without,' with Emma Bridgewater". Country Living. 1 April 2020. Retrieved 23 April 2023.
  9. ^ a b "Emma Bridgewater: The success of a pottery design business". The Daily Telegraph. 5 May 2009. Retrieved 18 October 2010.
  10. ^ a b "Who is Emma Bridgewater? Everything you need to know". Your Home Style. Retrieved 23 April 2023.
  11. ^ "Emma Bridgewater launches Jubilee collection | 6 Towns Radio". 6towns.co.uk. Archived from the original on 16 July 2015.
  12. ^ "Emma Bridgewater". BBC Business News. 28 June 2010. Retrieved 18 October 2010.
  13. ^ a b "Emma Bridgewater | Artists | Collection | British Council − Visual Arts". visualarts.britishcouncil.org. Retrieved 23 April 2023.
  14. ^ a b c "This is how an Emma Bridgewater mug is made". Good Housekeeping. 16 December 2016. Retrieved 23 April 2023.
  15. ^ a b Knight, Kathryn (30 March 2014). "Pottery designer Emma Bridgewater: The woman who inspired my designs". Express. Retrieved 19 December 2017.
  16. ^ Wheater, Caroline. "Emma Bridgewater". BBC Homes and Antiques. Archived from the original on 17 January 2013. Retrieved 18 October 2010.
  17. ^ a b "About". Matthew Rice. Retrieved 23 April 2023.
  18. ^ Metcalf, Charlotte (30 August 2022). "Three Sisters: Emma Bridgewater, Nell Gifford and Clover Stroud". Country and Town House. Retrieved 23 April 2023.
  19. ISSN 0261-3077
    . Retrieved 23 April 2023.
  20. ^ "10 things you didn't know about Emma Bridgewater". Country Living. 13 January 2017. Retrieved 23 April 2023.
  21. ^ "Matthew Rice | Bedales School". www.bedales.org.uk. Retrieved 23 April 2023.
  22. ^ "Matthew Rice – Drawing Everyday". The Royal Drawing School. Retrieved 23 April 2023.
  23. ISSN 0307-1235
    . Retrieved 23 April 2023.
  24. ^ "Matthew Rice - Honorary Graduate - Staffordshire University". www.staffs.ac.uk. Retrieved 23 April 2023.
  25. ^ "Bridgewater backs Stoke's culture bid". BBC News. Retrieved 23 April 2023.
  26. ^ "Emma Bridgewater boss appointed CBE at Windsor Castle". BBC News. 22 November 2013. Retrieved 23 April 2023.
  27. ^ "CPRE". www.cpre.org.uk. Archived from the original on 8 August 2017. Retrieved 8 August 2017.
  28. ^ Bridgewater, Emma (1 December 2017), How an entrepreneurial potter helped restore beauty to a city, retrieved 23 April 2023
  29. ^ "BBC Radio 4 - Desert Island Discs, Emma Bridgewater". BBC. Retrieved 23 April 2023.
  30. ^ "BBC Radio 4 - Woman's Hour, Emma Bridgewater, New female politicians in Iran, Are you turning into your mother?". BBC. Retrieved 23 April 2023.
  31. ^ "BBC Radio 4 - Any Questions?, Ben Bradley MP, Emma Bridgewater, Richard Burgon MP, Edwina Currie". BBC. Retrieved 23 April 2023.
  32. ^ "BBC Radio 4 - Saturday Live, Lenny Henry, Pumeza Matshikiza, Jack Cooke, Emma Bridgewater, Ana Matronic". BBC. Retrieved 23 April 2023.
  33. ^ "Video of the 2019 highlights". Archived from the original on 27 March 2020. Retrieved 27 March 2020.
  34. ^ speaker list
  35. ^ "The cancelled 2020 programme". Archived from the original on 27 March 2020. Retrieved 27 March 2020.
  36. ^ https://books.google.co.uk/books/about/The_Pottery_Gardener.html?id=iGjJswEACAAJ&source=kp_book_description&redir_esc=y

External links

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