When someone brings up the topic of entrepreneurship, the conversation veers towards Steve Jobs with his ambition to make technology user-friendly and accessible to anyone or to Harland Sanders, the founder of KFC, who made chicken a favourite choice for those eager to have a snack. Yet, few people remember the name of the creator of such beautiful things as you can see in the pictures below.
The pictures show the products of the company Josiah Wedgwood and Sons, commonly known as Wedgwood.
Here are 5 amazing facts about its founder - Josiah Wedgwood.
FACT 1 He transformed the way pottery was produced in Britain and was one of the first entrepreneurs to benefit from mass industrial production.
FACT 2 He relied on science and once carried out 411 scientific experiments to discover a way to produce a perfect ceramic surface for his products.
FACT 3 The bone china his company produced was so successfully competing with the original products from China that people in Britain and abroad began to seek Wedgewood's tea and dinner services for their families thinking of them as perfect.
FACT 4 Wedgewood is said to have invented such marketing methods as money back guarantee, 'buy one, get one free', travelling salesmen, free delivery, self-service.
FACT 5 Wedgewood was also the grandfather of Charles Darwin and an active campaigner against slavery encouraging businessmen and traders to see people in slaves by manufacturing medallions showing a slave asking: 'Am I not a man and a brother'?
Read our text about Josiah Wedgwood and learn more about this remarkable man, one of the greatest manufacturers and entrepreneurs of all time.
Josiah Wedgwood's pottery firm has existed since 1759 and even Jane Austen, a famous English novelist, was once happy to buy a Wedgwood dinner set. In a letter dated 16th September 1813 she wrote to her sister: 'We then went to Wedgwood's where my brother and Fanny chose a dinner set. I believe the pattern is a small Lozenge in purple, between Lines of narrow Gold and, it is to have the crest.'
It was not an accident that Josiah Wedgwood decided to embark on a career of a pottery maker. He was born into a family of potters and at the age of 9 began to work in the family business learning the skill of a potter. When he was 12 he fell ill with small pox, which left him with a permanently weakened knee. As a result he was no longer able to operate the traditional potter's wheel and channeled all his energy into modelling.
Josiah Wedgwood said: Beautiful forms and compositions are not made by chance, nor can they ever, in any material, be made at small expense. A composition for cheapness and not excellence of workmanship is the most frequent and certain cause of the rapid decay and entire destruction of arts and manufacturers.'
Josiah Wedgwood was a tireless innovator and in 1768 he developed a fine black porcelain called Black Basalt. It was named after the volcanic rock of the same name, which is characteristically dark. Black Basallt is developed from reddish brown clay that burned black in firing. The fine grain, rich hue and smooth texture of black basalt were quickly appreciated and in 1773 Wedgwood wrote, "The Black Basalt is sterling* and will last forever."
* sterling - of excellent quality
Jasperware was another remarkable Wedgwood discovery which is still sold today. In the 18th century Europe Chinese porcelein items were enjoying a vogue and were being imported in large numbers. Their production was a secret unknown to European manufacturers. Josiah Wedgewood was determined to profit from the fashion of the moment and after a long series of experiments he found new techniques of porcelain manufacture that enabled him to produce goods on a par with those brought from China. Jasperware resembles the natural stone jasper in its hardness, hence its name. Pottery under the name Jasperware comes in various colors: Traditional Wedgwood Blue, Royal Blue, Turquoise, Terracotta, Olive Green, Sea Green, Lime, Lilac, Chocolate Brown but the most recognizable color is the color of the Portland Vase. It was not only a brilliant copy of the Roman original vase but also the first step towards creating mass replicas of the finest examples of art.
Wedgewood's efforts at improving the cream ware resulted in Queen Charlotte ** ordering a complete dinner service and allowing Wedgewood's cream ware to be called Queen's ware. The invention of Queen's ware increased the number of people for whom pottery became affordable. Josiah Wedgwood raised prices for the nobility so that he could reduce them for the growing middle classes. Queen's ware became one of Wedgwood's products that middle class families could buy. Bone ware was the last of Wedgwood’s creations. In the middle of the 19th century the company added bone ash to ware. The result was astonishing: pottery pieces became white and their distinctive features were subtlety, sonority and transparency.
** Queen Charlotte (1744-1818) - the wife of King George III, Queen of Britain from 1761 to 1818.
Unfortunately, Wedgewood's creation - his pottery company - was up against intense competition at the end of the 20th century and had to merge with Waterford Crystal in 1987, which, however, didn't prove to be a long-term defence against the vagaries of the market. In 2009 the company was bought by KPS Capital Partners, the US private equity company, which in 2015 sold it to Fiskars, a home and garden products Finnish company.
Image Credit: Disclaimer
We post only texts written by us but we use images we have found on the web. Should you find an image of yours and want it to be removed, or if you would like us to give you credit as the author of this image, please let us know and we will be happy to do it.
The pictures show the products of the company Josiah Wedgwood and Sons, commonly known as Wedgwood.
Here are 5 amazing facts about its founder - Josiah Wedgwood.
FACT 1 He transformed the way pottery was produced in Britain and was one of the first entrepreneurs to benefit from mass industrial production.
FACT 2 He relied on science and once carried out 411 scientific experiments to discover a way to produce a perfect ceramic surface for his products.
FACT 3 The bone china his company produced was so successfully competing with the original products from China that people in Britain and abroad began to seek Wedgewood's tea and dinner services for their families thinking of them as perfect.
FACT 4 Wedgewood is said to have invented such marketing methods as money back guarantee, 'buy one, get one free', travelling salesmen, free delivery, self-service.
FACT 5 Wedgewood was also the grandfather of Charles Darwin and an active campaigner against slavery encouraging businessmen and traders to see people in slaves by manufacturing medallions showing a slave asking: 'Am I not a man and a brother'?
Read our text about Josiah Wedgwood and learn more about this remarkable man, one of the greatest manufacturers and entrepreneurs of all time.
Josiah Wedgwood's pottery firm has existed since 1759 and even Jane Austen, a famous English novelist, was once happy to buy a Wedgwood dinner set. In a letter dated 16th September 1813 she wrote to her sister: 'We then went to Wedgwood's where my brother and Fanny chose a dinner set. I believe the pattern is a small Lozenge in purple, between Lines of narrow Gold and, it is to have the crest.'
It was not an accident that Josiah Wedgwood decided to embark on a career of a pottery maker. He was born into a family of potters and at the age of 9 began to work in the family business learning the skill of a potter. When he was 12 he fell ill with small pox, which left him with a permanently weakened knee. As a result he was no longer able to operate the traditional potter's wheel and channeled all his energy into modelling.
 |
| a potter working at a potter's wheel |
Josiah Wedgwood was a tireless innovator and in 1768 he developed a fine black porcelain called Black Basalt. It was named after the volcanic rock of the same name, which is characteristically dark. Black Basallt is developed from reddish brown clay that burned black in firing. The fine grain, rich hue and smooth texture of black basalt were quickly appreciated and in 1773 Wedgwood wrote, "The Black Basalt is sterling* and will last forever."
* sterling - of excellent quality
 |
| A pair of Wedgewood's Black Basalt Urns |
Jasperware was another remarkable Wedgwood discovery which is still sold today. In the 18th century Europe Chinese porcelein items were enjoying a vogue and were being imported in large numbers. Their production was a secret unknown to European manufacturers. Josiah Wedgewood was determined to profit from the fashion of the moment and after a long series of experiments he found new techniques of porcelain manufacture that enabled him to produce goods on a par with those brought from China. Jasperware resembles the natural stone jasper in its hardness, hence its name. Pottery under the name Jasperware comes in various colors: Traditional Wedgwood Blue, Royal Blue, Turquoise, Terracotta, Olive Green, Sea Green, Lime, Lilac, Chocolate Brown but the most recognizable color is the color of the Portland Vase. It was not only a brilliant copy of the Roman original vase but also the first step towards creating mass replicas of the finest examples of art.
 |
| Wedgwood Jasper Ware. Portland Vase. |
Wedgewood's efforts at improving the cream ware resulted in Queen Charlotte ** ordering a complete dinner service and allowing Wedgewood's cream ware to be called Queen's ware. The invention of Queen's ware increased the number of people for whom pottery became affordable. Josiah Wedgwood raised prices for the nobility so that he could reduce them for the growing middle classes. Queen's ware became one of Wedgwood's products that middle class families could buy. Bone ware was the last of Wedgwood’s creations. In the middle of the 19th century the company added bone ash to ware. The result was astonishing: pottery pieces became white and their distinctive features were subtlety, sonority and transparency.
** Queen Charlotte (1744-1818) - the wife of King George III, Queen of Britain from 1761 to 1818.
 |
| Queen's Ware |
Unfortunately, Wedgewood's creation - his pottery company - was up against intense competition at the end of the 20th century and had to merge with Waterford Crystal in 1987, which, however, didn't prove to be a long-term defence against the vagaries of the market. In 2009 the company was bought by KPS Capital Partners, the US private equity company, which in 2015 sold it to Fiskars, a home and garden products Finnish company.
Image Credit: Disclaimer
We post only texts written by us but we use images we have found on the web. Should you find an image of yours and want it to be removed, or if you would like us to give you credit as the author of this image, please let us know and we will be happy to do it.
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