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This is a ruined empire.

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Not Rome or Athens...

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..but Stoke-on-Trent.

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For over 200 years,

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this was the heart of
ceramic industrial production...

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..for not just Britain,
but much of the world.

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What had been a humble
peasant craft

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exploded in the 18th century

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into a lucrative
cutting-edge industry.

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It changed the way we saw pottery.

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But it also transformed
the way we worked.

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Stoke, in its heyday, made the best
industrial ceramics in the world.

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The ceramic goods produced
in Stoke-on-Trent

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were more than just
the products of an industry.

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They were, at their best,
an art form unlike any other.

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They were functional art.

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And at their peak,
the factories of Stoke-on-Trent

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were unsurpassed in bringing
together artistry and craftsmanship.

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Yet the Stoke-on-Trent story
is about more than just factories.

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It's about people.

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The pioneering men and women

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who made some of the most
beautiful objects ever created

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within these shores.

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And the armies of unsung workers

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whose craftsmanship made
Stoke-on-Trent a name

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known across the globe.

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Stoke-on-Trent is one of our great,

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inspiring sources of art.

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Wherever the British went,
they took their pottery.

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You can find Staffordshire
pottery from Alaska

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to the Falkland Islands,
and every point in between.

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Staffordshire wares
were the standard

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that other potters aspired to.

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But in the late 20th century,

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something went terribly wrong.

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The story of Stoke-on-Trent
is a rags-to-riches epic.

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It's a massive romp through
the Industrial Revolution,

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ending in a crumbling
post-industrial ruin.

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Today, this once-great
industrial heartland

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lives with the ghosts
of its former glories.

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And one of our greatest traditions
is now one of the most threatened.

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Makes you wonder what happened.

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Something's gone wrong somewhere.

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Only a few decades ago,

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Stoke-on-Trent was a place
of national pride.

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A byword for creativity
and industry.

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Over there is the city
of Stoke-on-Trent.

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Stoke-ON-Trent, mind you,
not Stoke-UPON-Trent.

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Me? Well, I'm Eric Ball,

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and this year, this city of mine
is celebrating its anniversary.

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Come and take a closer look
at our city.

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That was 1960.

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This is now.

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Nothing epitomises the rapid decline
of Stoke-on-Trent's fortunes

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like Spode.

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Spode was once one of the largest
producers of ceramics in the world.

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Today, only one employee is left
at its former works.

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I've worked at Spode for nine years.
Nine very good years at Spode.

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I was employed
as a security officer,

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which we did right up until the
administrators moved in, in 2008.

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Production used to run 24/7,

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but obviously,
as the factory was closed down,

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and all the machinery was ripped
out, it became more of a graveyard.

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If you dropped a pin, you could hear
a pin drop on the floor,

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and you couldn't hear that
when it was up and running.

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Josiah Spode, who built the factory,

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he walked these very grounds.

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But I'll never forget all those
who worked here.

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And I think I feel better

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knowing that I'm keeping a place
tidy which they loved.

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They loved to work here.

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There are jobs
I can still do myself,

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like cutting the grass at the front.
If there's weeds,

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pull the weeds out, it doesn't hurt,
and I've got a bit of time.

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I don't sit down.
There's a lot for me to do.

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But I shall continue to do it,
you know.

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The story of Spode is echoed
right across Stoke-on-Trent.

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In just the last few years, nearly
all the great factories have closed.

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But to understand the fall
of this mighty city,

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you need to go right back,
before its heyday,

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into the mists of time.

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The story of Stoke-on-Trent
begins with the very ground

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on which it stands.

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NEWSREEL: 'These were the villages.

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'Under the fields was clay,
and under the clay, coal.

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'They mined the coal and dug the clay
and the villages grew.'

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The ceramic industry developed
in North Staffordshire primarily

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because of wonderful coal.

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In fact, you need ten times more
coal than clay in proportion,

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therefore it was very much easier
to bring clay to the coal.

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But similarly, there were seams

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of relatively good red and yellow
clay in this area

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that were suitable for making
crude domestic earthenwares.

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Neil Brownsword is a local artist.

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After completing an apprenticeship
as a modeller

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at the Wedgwood factory,

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he went to art school.

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Like everyone from Stoke,

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he grew up aware of the rich
resource all around the city.

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This is what the city of
Stoke-on-Trent is built on.

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The clay here is known
as Etruria Marl,

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and it spreads throughout
North Staffordshire.

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You can see it here,
quite granular.

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Again, you get further down into
the quarry and it's more liquid.

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The site's got a lot
of personal resonance.

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We used to play here as children.

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Quite a dangerous site, I know,

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but I suppose it was my first
contact with clay as a material.

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Handling it, modelling with it,
even getting stuck in it here,

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so, I've got a lot of affection
for this place.

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But clay on its own
doesn't make an industry.

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Local potteries had used it
since the Middle Ages,

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to make crude but sturdy earthenware
like this 17th-century butter pot.

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It took an innovation
at the end of the 17th century

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to launch the potteries nationally.

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And it came from a misunderstanding.

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This is Bradwell Hall.

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Today, it's a retirement home.

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But in 1690, it was the showy,

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new residence of two
Dutch entrepreneurs,

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the Elers brothers.

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The 17th century saw Britain
spreading its wings

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on the world stage,

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emerging as a powerful naval force
and trading capital.

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And one phenomenon above all

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epitomised the change
in Britain's status.

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Tea.

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Tea was imported
all the way from China.

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Drinking it was a sign of wealth,

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of sophistication,
of open-mindedness.

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And with the tea came teapots,

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the likes of which
had never been seen before.

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Chinese teapots were
the unintended consequence

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of the new vogue for tea.

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The tea clippers that were
coming back from the East

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with cargoes of tea,

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the merchants used to pack
a bit of china into the hold

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cos it was heavy
and acted as ballast.

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So, you know, they weren't really
all that interested in it.

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But it was quite a useful way
of filling up the ship.

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But then, people began to see it,
love it, want it, acquire it.

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And then, over time,

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British people began
to try to copy these items,

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which was difficult for them.

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A red stoneware teapot like this,
from Yixing, was both delicate

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and ornate, decorated with vines
and foraging squirrels.

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And tea was supposed
to taste better from it, too.

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The Yixing clay was highly prized

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for its ability
to absorb traces of the tea,

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giving it a deeper flavour.

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Back in Stoke-on-Trent,

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the ingenious Elers brothers
spotted a gap in the market.

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They decided to manufacture
affordable tea ware

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using a very fine red clay
they had discovered near their home.

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But there was one problem.

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They were silversmiths.

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They had no idea how to throw a pot.

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This is a surviving teapot
by the Elers brothers.

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Like the Yixing version,
it's red stoneware

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with moulded decorations.

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This time,
sprays of prunus blossoms.

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It was a serious rival
to the Chinese tea ware...

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..and it was local.

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Somehow, the Elers brothers

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had managed to overcome
their ignorance of pot-making.

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And more than that,

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they sparked
a manufacturing revolution.

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This is a classic Elers production,

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and the curious thing
is that it's completely round.

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And it's the sort of thing
that any sensible potter

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would have thrown on a wheel.

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But they chose to cast
their products in plaster moulds

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and it may be that that is because
they weren't practising potters,

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so they didn't know
what they were doing.

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And through ignorance,
they introduced this method,

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which succeeding generations
of potters did exploit.

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This mug, slipcast and lathe-turned,
has a band of silver

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mounted on its lip,

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a reminder of the Elers'
old profession as silversmiths.

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But it's the slipcasting
method of manufacture

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that marks it out as special.

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Pouring liquid clay, known as slip,

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into plaster moulds,
became instrumental

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in allowing potters to produce
complex shapes in bulk -

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the beginnings of mass production
in Britain.

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If Stoke-on-Trent had the clay,

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the Elers had brought
a new quality -

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ingenuity.

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But they lacked something crucial
to the success of the potteries -

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an understanding of the area
or the market.

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The stage was now set, though,
for a man who would put pottery

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at the heart of
the Industrial Revolution.

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An innovator, an industrialist,
but most importantly,

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Josiah Wedgwood was a man who
understood people as well as pots.

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And he was confident
that Britain could make pots

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as exquisite as any in the world.

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As a young man, all he could
see around him was opportunity,

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as he was later to recall.

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00:13:29,400 --> 00:13:31,480
I saw the field was spacious,

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00:13:31,480 --> 00:13:34,160
and the soil so good,
as to promise an ample recompense

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00:13:34,160 --> 00:13:37,280
to anyone who should labour
diligently in its cultivation.

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00:13:41,240 --> 00:13:44,440
Josiah Wedgwood was born
in 1730 in Burslem,

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one of the six historic towns
that later joined

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00:13:47,640 --> 00:13:50,440
to become Stoke-on-Trent.

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00:13:50,440 --> 00:13:52,560
The youngest of 12 children,

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00:13:52,560 --> 00:13:55,240
he came from five generations
of local potters.

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00:13:58,120 --> 00:14:01,240
Josiah Wedgwood came on the scene
at precisely the right time

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00:14:01,240 --> 00:14:07,200
because between 1710 and 1760,
the potteries had industrialised,

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00:14:07,200 --> 00:14:11,000
a whole new range of pottery types
and wares were being made,

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00:14:11,000 --> 00:14:16,080
export markets were in place,
transport networks were opening up,

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00:14:16,080 --> 00:14:20,560
but what was being made
was not ambitious,

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00:14:20,560 --> 00:14:24,360
and ambitious pottery
is what Wedgwood wanted to make.

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00:14:25,440 --> 00:14:29,720
By the age of nine, he was already
showing a flair for pottery.

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00:14:29,720 --> 00:14:34,760
However, a bout of smallpox
left him with a weakened right leg,

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00:14:34,760 --> 00:14:36,920
meaning he couldn't use
a kick wheel.

216
00:14:38,440 --> 00:14:42,880
So instead, he threw himself into
developing new bodies and glazes.

217
00:14:45,160 --> 00:14:49,080
Wedgwood quickly marked himself out
as a tireless experimenter

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00:14:49,080 --> 00:14:51,320
with a brilliant, restless mind.

219
00:14:53,320 --> 00:14:55,600
He filled up countless notebooks

220
00:14:55,600 --> 00:14:58,440
with details of
his scientific investigations

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00:14:58,440 --> 00:15:00,960
into new forms and glazes.

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00:15:03,040 --> 00:15:05,800
This coffee pot is one
of his earliest creations...

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00:15:07,080 --> 00:15:10,320
the result of a series of trials
during his apprenticeship

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00:15:10,320 --> 00:15:11,840
to a local master potter.

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Nothing had been seen
like it before.

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A green glaze made up of white lead,
calcined flint and copper

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00:15:20,960 --> 00:15:23,680
was matched to
a wonderful translucency.

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00:15:25,760 --> 00:15:28,360
It became known as
"Mr Wedgwood's Green".

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00:15:30,640 --> 00:15:33,040
With it, the young Wedgwood

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showed a precocious mastery
of shape and colour.

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00:15:42,680 --> 00:15:44,360
More importantly,

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it shows he had picked up on a new
spirit emerging in British society.

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As you get more and more products,

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you need to find a new way
of marking yourself out,

235
00:15:55,800 --> 00:15:57,800
rather than just having
a lot of things,

236
00:15:57,800 --> 00:15:59,680
or having really expensive things.

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00:15:59,680 --> 00:16:02,560
That was the determinant
of good taste in the Tudor period.

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00:16:02,560 --> 00:16:04,680
It was the richest,
the most luxurious,

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00:16:04,680 --> 00:16:06,200
the best that money could buy.

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00:16:06,200 --> 00:16:09,440
In the 18th century, that's
not enough to mark yourself out.

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00:16:09,440 --> 00:16:12,160
Something else enters the equation
and that is taste.

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00:16:12,160 --> 00:16:15,040
The idea that your education,
your travel,

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00:16:15,040 --> 00:16:18,440
your sort of innate
gentility of your mind,

244
00:16:18,440 --> 00:16:20,680
will help you choose
more tasteful things

245
00:16:20,680 --> 00:16:23,640
than the same person
with the same amount of money

246
00:16:23,640 --> 00:16:25,680
but a worse education would do.

247
00:16:27,520 --> 00:16:31,560
In 1759,
Wedgwood set up his first pottery,

248
00:16:31,560 --> 00:16:33,720
known as Ivy House Works.

249
00:16:35,440 --> 00:16:38,720
He put everything he had into it.

250
00:16:38,720 --> 00:16:41,120
He was determined not
to make the same mistake

251
00:16:41,120 --> 00:16:45,000
many of his contemporaries had made
trying to emulate Chinese porcelain.

252
00:16:47,840 --> 00:16:51,160
What the English porcelain factories
were trying to produce

253
00:16:51,160 --> 00:16:53,680
was an imitation of
Chinese hard-paste porcelain.

254
00:16:53,680 --> 00:16:55,600
They could see the finished product.

255
00:16:55,600 --> 00:16:58,800
That was all around them,
imported by the East India Company.

256
00:16:58,800 --> 00:17:00,800
What they didn't know was
how it was made.

257
00:17:07,160 --> 00:17:09,360
They knew it was white
and translucent.

258
00:17:09,360 --> 00:17:11,400
How do you get that effect?

259
00:17:11,400 --> 00:17:14,440
So, each of the factories would
come up with their own recipe.

260
00:17:14,440 --> 00:17:16,680
Some were more successful
than others.

261
00:17:16,680 --> 00:17:21,560
They'd use china clay, ball clays,
soapstone, glass,

262
00:17:21,560 --> 00:17:24,200
anything that they could think of
in the mix,

263
00:17:24,200 --> 00:17:26,000
anything that would
give a white body

264
00:17:26,000 --> 00:17:28,440
that would hopefully
be translucent when fired.

265
00:17:33,160 --> 00:17:34,760
A few factories would run

266
00:17:34,760 --> 00:17:37,160
for perhaps five or six years,
maybe a decade,

267
00:17:37,160 --> 00:17:39,200
but ultimately, most failed.

268
00:17:42,480 --> 00:17:45,640
Rather than succumbing
to the siren song of porcelain,

269
00:17:45,640 --> 00:17:49,200
Wedgwood perfected his own version
of the local earthenware product

270
00:17:49,200 --> 00:17:50,760
known as creamware.

271
00:17:52,800 --> 00:17:55,680
Made from English clay
and calcined flint,

272
00:17:55,680 --> 00:17:59,160
Wedgwood improved it by adding
cobalt blue to the lead glaze

273
00:17:59,160 --> 00:18:03,880
to whiten it even more and make it
attractive and affordable.

274
00:18:10,080 --> 00:18:12,000
It was a brilliant solution.

275
00:18:12,000 --> 00:18:14,160
Creamware would become

276
00:18:14,160 --> 00:18:18,320
one of Britain's
key contributions to ceramics,

277
00:18:18,320 --> 00:18:21,760
a material that worked well
and could be beautiful.

278
00:18:23,440 --> 00:18:27,320
I'm certain that having seen
so many factories suffer financially

279
00:18:27,320 --> 00:18:29,200
in the production of porcelain,

280
00:18:29,200 --> 00:18:32,880
which, in the 18th century,
was notoriously difficult,

281
00:18:32,880 --> 00:18:35,440
Wedgwood chose to make earthenware
which was stable

282
00:18:35,440 --> 00:18:37,120
and which he was confident of

283
00:18:37,120 --> 00:18:40,440
and which was producing
a suitable material for the table.

284
00:18:40,440 --> 00:18:43,800
He chose to go down the route of
something that would give him profit

285
00:18:43,800 --> 00:18:48,040
rather than drive him into
any form of financial insecurity.

286
00:18:49,560 --> 00:18:52,360
Creamware would become
the biggest-selling product

287
00:18:52,360 --> 00:18:54,760
of the potteries
in the 18th century.

288
00:19:00,080 --> 00:19:03,280
It was a fantastic product
and it remained in fashion

289
00:19:03,280 --> 00:19:07,720
for an enormous span of time
because it fulfilled so many needs.

290
00:19:10,240 --> 00:19:12,240
It looked clean and hygienic.

291
00:19:12,240 --> 00:19:14,480
Unlike salt-glaze stoneware,

292
00:19:14,480 --> 00:19:17,280
it didn't have the gritty surface,
so you could wash it.

293
00:19:17,280 --> 00:19:19,560
You could decorate it
in any number of ways.

294
00:19:19,560 --> 00:19:23,400
You could sell it plain
to the bottom end of the market,

295
00:19:23,400 --> 00:19:26,280
or you could sell it with armorials

296
00:19:26,280 --> 00:19:28,920
or neoclassical decoration
to those at the top.

297
00:19:31,360 --> 00:19:35,280
This is Leeds Pottery in Longton,
Stoke-on-Trent,

298
00:19:35,280 --> 00:19:38,160
one of the last surviving
manufacturers of creamware,

299
00:19:38,160 --> 00:19:40,960
as Wedgwood would have known it.

300
00:19:40,960 --> 00:19:45,960
For the people working here,
making pots is a family trade.

301
00:19:48,320 --> 00:19:52,840
My mum and dad used to work on
a pot bank when they were 15.

302
00:19:52,840 --> 00:19:54,920
My dad used to be a placer.

303
00:19:54,920 --> 00:19:58,760
My mum was a cup handler,
fettler, sponger.

304
00:19:58,760 --> 00:20:01,600
She done a bit of everything,
really - decorating.

305
00:20:01,600 --> 00:20:03,400
I enjoy it.

306
00:20:03,400 --> 00:20:06,080
It's nice to keep it going
round here,

307
00:20:06,080 --> 00:20:09,280
instead of doing everything abroad,
like they do.

308
00:20:13,000 --> 00:20:17,240
The use of moulds filled with slip,
pioneered by the Elers brothers,

309
00:20:17,240 --> 00:20:20,200
was one major advance
in mass manufacturing of pots.

310
00:20:22,400 --> 00:20:25,000
But there was another breakthrough

311
00:20:25,000 --> 00:20:28,240
that would revolutionise
pottery production.

312
00:20:30,880 --> 00:20:34,280
Transfer-printing allowed pots
to be decorated quickly

313
00:20:34,280 --> 00:20:36,920
and to a uniform high standard.

314
00:20:39,200 --> 00:20:42,320
One early printer boasted
they could transfer-print

315
00:20:42,320 --> 00:20:44,960
1,200 tiles in a single day.

316
00:20:46,440 --> 00:20:48,680
This was a huge leap forward,

317
00:20:48,680 --> 00:20:51,720
a perfect union of art
and technology.

318
00:20:57,040 --> 00:21:00,440
The Burleigh Pottery in
Stoke-on-Trent is the last today

319
00:21:00,440 --> 00:21:02,520
still using an old method
of underglaze transfer-printing

320
00:21:02,520 --> 00:21:05,200
on tissue paper.

321
00:21:07,800 --> 00:21:11,080
Designs? There's hundreds.

322
00:21:11,080 --> 00:21:14,440
I have a roller room downstairs
and it's absolutely...

323
00:21:14,440 --> 00:21:18,200
There must be...
maybe thousands in it.

324
00:21:18,200 --> 00:21:22,480
And the colours - blues, blacks,
pinks, brown, green,

325
00:21:22,480 --> 00:21:25,000
different shades of blues,
different shades of greens.

326
00:21:30,560 --> 00:21:33,600
I think most of my family have
worked on here.

327
00:21:33,600 --> 00:21:35,880
My dad was a placer,
my sister was the boss

328
00:21:35,880 --> 00:21:39,000
and my daughter
worked on doing transferring.

329
00:21:39,000 --> 00:21:41,960
Yeah, and a lot of friends as well.

330
00:21:48,160 --> 00:21:51,040
When it comes off perfect,
it is quite satisfying.

331
00:21:51,040 --> 00:21:53,320
Which they do, 99% of the time.

332
00:21:55,960 --> 00:21:58,000
Along with mould casting,

333
00:21:58,000 --> 00:22:02,120
transfer-printing modernised
production in the potteries.

334
00:22:04,080 --> 00:22:08,600
For the very first time, services
were decorated with the same design.

335
00:22:08,600 --> 00:22:11,000
And it's interesting -
from that point onwards,

336
00:22:11,000 --> 00:22:13,240
you start to get orders saying,

337
00:22:13,240 --> 00:22:15,880
tea services must be
the same pattern.

338
00:22:15,880 --> 00:22:21,440
And you start to get this desire
to have identically designed pieces,

339
00:22:21,440 --> 00:22:24,320
rather than the more random,
freehand-painted services

340
00:22:24,320 --> 00:22:25,840
available prior to that point.

341
00:22:32,720 --> 00:22:35,680
The potteries of Stoke-on-Trent
were expanding rapidly

342
00:22:35,680 --> 00:22:37,600
to meet public demand for products

343
00:22:37,600 --> 00:22:40,080
that were increasingly
sophisticated.

344
00:22:42,760 --> 00:22:44,880
Wedgwood was leading the way,

345
00:22:44,880 --> 00:22:49,160
but he had yet to truly mark himself
out ahead of his competitors.

346
00:22:50,600 --> 00:22:55,680
This he would manage in one
well-calculated, ingenious move.

347
00:22:57,920 --> 00:23:01,520
Josiah Wedgwood was a very
clever man,

348
00:23:01,520 --> 00:23:06,240
not just as an innovator,
and producing new types of china,

349
00:23:06,240 --> 00:23:08,280
but in marketing them as well.

350
00:23:08,280 --> 00:23:11,320
And one of the secrets
of his success was

351
00:23:11,320 --> 00:23:15,000
when he invented this new
cream-coloured tableware,

352
00:23:15,000 --> 00:23:18,040
the reason that it caught on
and captured the market

353
00:23:18,040 --> 00:23:20,840
was because he very cleverly
went down to London,

354
00:23:20,840 --> 00:23:22,960
offered a set to Queen Charlotte,

355
00:23:22,960 --> 00:23:24,960
and she said,
"Yes, I'll have this,"

356
00:23:24,960 --> 00:23:29,360
and from that point onwards
he called it the Queen's Ware.

357
00:23:38,960 --> 00:23:42,800
And, of course, everyone wanted
this Royal seal of approval.

358
00:23:42,800 --> 00:23:46,040
It was excellent product placement
on his behalf, I think.

359
00:23:49,320 --> 00:23:53,400
The gentry around Stoke thought,
"Oh, I'll have some of that."

360
00:23:53,400 --> 00:23:56,440
Then they could say,
"Made by the potter to Her Majesty."

361
00:23:58,800 --> 00:24:00,440
With business booming,

362
00:24:00,440 --> 00:24:04,760
Wedgwood built a new factory on
a large site that he called Etruria.

363
00:24:07,400 --> 00:24:09,760
His workers were rewarded
with onsite housing

364
00:24:09,760 --> 00:24:12,280
and even received sickness benefits,

365
00:24:12,280 --> 00:24:15,600
a standard of living
unheard of at the time.

366
00:24:18,480 --> 00:24:22,000
Etruria became the model
for factories across Britain,

367
00:24:22,000 --> 00:24:26,440
and Wedgwood marked its opening
in 1765 by personally throwing

368
00:24:26,440 --> 00:24:28,880
six commemorative First Day Vases.

369
00:24:32,480 --> 00:24:34,960
And before the arrival
of the railways,

370
00:24:34,960 --> 00:24:37,880
Wedgwood was instrumental
in the construction

371
00:24:37,880 --> 00:24:41,720
of the Grand Trunk Canal, which
meant all the potters of Stoke

372
00:24:41,720 --> 00:24:44,320
could ship their wares to Liverpool
and Hull,

373
00:24:44,320 --> 00:24:46,160
for export around the globe.

374
00:24:50,440 --> 00:24:54,600
But Wedgwood also knew the
importance of the domestic market,

375
00:24:54,600 --> 00:24:57,520
and with his business
partner Thomas Bentley,

376
00:24:57,520 --> 00:24:59,840
he set up smart showrooms in London.

377
00:25:01,200 --> 00:25:06,320
If Wedgwood's designs and methods
revolutionised ceramic production,

378
00:25:06,320 --> 00:25:09,720
his showrooms
transformed British shopping habits.

379
00:25:12,400 --> 00:25:16,160
They weren't a shop. The word
"showroom" is important -

380
00:25:16,160 --> 00:25:18,640
they were places where you would go
and admire,

381
00:25:18,640 --> 00:25:22,280
and you didn't have to buy,
but of course, you probably did.

382
00:25:22,280 --> 00:25:25,800
You probably placed quite
substantial commissions.

383
00:25:25,800 --> 00:25:30,680
And he knew that women were
very important in this market,

384
00:25:30,680 --> 00:25:35,840
because it's a domestic market, the
buying of dinner services, whatever.

385
00:25:37,600 --> 00:25:41,000
He actually said he wanted
a large room,

386
00:25:41,000 --> 00:25:46,120
not just to show his ware, but a
large room for the ladies to gather.

387
00:25:46,120 --> 00:25:48,840
And there were sort of swags
and drapes,

388
00:25:48,840 --> 00:25:51,720
and you came into one room
where you could meet and chat,

389
00:25:51,720 --> 00:25:55,480
and then you went into the other
great room

390
00:25:55,480 --> 00:25:57,080
which was like an inner sanctum,

391
00:25:57,080 --> 00:26:01,720
where Mr Wedgwood would show you
his very best things.

392
00:26:01,720 --> 00:26:03,520
So, it was a whole day out!

393
00:26:09,280 --> 00:26:11,800
It seemed Wedgwood
couldn't put a foot wrong.

394
00:26:11,800 --> 00:26:16,120
But in his mind,
his real work was only beginning.

395
00:26:17,560 --> 00:26:20,040
At last he had the reputation
and resources

396
00:26:20,040 --> 00:26:22,560
to make what
he had always wanted...

397
00:26:22,560 --> 00:26:25,880
top-end, exquisite
ornamental wares.

398
00:26:41,360 --> 00:26:45,640
There was the cool,
austere black basalt,

399
00:26:45,640 --> 00:26:49,520
a hard stoneware named after
volcanic rock

400
00:26:49,520 --> 00:26:53,320
and intended to appeal
to the nobility and very wealthy.

401
00:26:59,960 --> 00:27:04,680
Black basalt as a new material
was almost revolutionary.

402
00:27:04,680 --> 00:27:05,960
It was high-fired,

403
00:27:05,960 --> 00:27:09,200
impervious to liquid without
the necessity of a glaze,

404
00:27:09,200 --> 00:27:11,920
and could be used for both ornamental
and useful wares.

405
00:27:11,920 --> 00:27:15,280
But more importantly,
the ladies loved it

406
00:27:15,280 --> 00:27:18,200
because in the 18th century,
ladies wanted to show

407
00:27:18,200 --> 00:27:21,560
they had servants to do every menial
task by having snow-white hands.

408
00:27:21,560 --> 00:27:25,000
You've got this wonderful
juxtaposition of black tea ware.

409
00:27:31,760 --> 00:27:34,880
But even black basalt would be
trumped by the body

410
00:27:34,880 --> 00:27:38,400
for which
Wedgwood would become most famous...

411
00:27:39,440 --> 00:27:41,000
..jasperware,

412
00:27:41,000 --> 00:27:45,120
inspired by the classical pots
being dug up in and around Rome.

413
00:27:54,240 --> 00:27:57,280
It took three years
of experimentation

414
00:27:57,280 --> 00:27:59,320
to get jasperware right.

415
00:27:59,320 --> 00:28:01,400
These trials show how obsessed

416
00:28:01,400 --> 00:28:03,840
Wedgwood became
with perfecting it,

417
00:28:03,840 --> 00:28:06,480
passing daily from delight
to despair.

418
00:28:07,920 --> 00:28:10,160
White in its natural state,

419
00:28:10,160 --> 00:28:14,680
the jasper is then dyed with
metallic oxides to give it colour.

420
00:28:14,680 --> 00:28:17,840
Then intricately moulded decorations
were applied

421
00:28:17,840 --> 00:28:21,280
to give the neoclassical look
so popular at the time.

422
00:28:22,920 --> 00:28:25,520
And it could take the oddest forms.

423
00:28:28,560 --> 00:28:32,560
But these were not just vases -

424
00:28:32,560 --> 00:28:34,080
they were works of art.

425
00:28:47,080 --> 00:28:49,920
And it was now that Wedgwood
revealed his deepest,

426
00:28:49,920 --> 00:28:53,160
most outrageous ambition...

427
00:28:54,880 --> 00:28:57,040
..to prove British craftsmanship

428
00:28:57,040 --> 00:29:00,480
was not just better than anywhere
else in the world,

429
00:29:00,480 --> 00:29:03,320
but as good as
any other time in history too.

430
00:29:11,120 --> 00:29:14,320
The Portland Vase was
a Roman cameo glass vase

431
00:29:14,320 --> 00:29:18,320
produced around the time
of the birth of Christ.

432
00:29:18,320 --> 00:29:20,520
It took two years to make,

433
00:29:20,520 --> 00:29:23,840
such was its painstaking
level of craftsmanship.

434
00:29:25,800 --> 00:29:28,720
In 1786, it was on
public display in London...

435
00:29:29,840 --> 00:29:33,600
..and among those who saw it
was Wedgwood.

436
00:29:33,600 --> 00:29:36,480
Wedgwood set himself
the task of creating a copy

437
00:29:36,480 --> 00:29:41,520
made of jasperware, as delicate
and fine as the original.

438
00:29:43,080 --> 00:29:47,480
Time and again,
disasters occurred in the firing.

439
00:29:47,480 --> 00:29:52,480
This early effort, still preserved,
blistered in the kiln.

440
00:29:57,200 --> 00:30:02,080
But in 1789, Wedgwood announced
his work complete.

441
00:30:04,880 --> 00:30:09,320
Wedgwood's Portland Vase
is unsurpassed in refinement.

442
00:30:09,320 --> 00:30:11,240
The white relief's thinner

443
00:30:11,240 --> 00:30:15,240
and more intricate than anything
else produced at the time.

444
00:30:21,640 --> 00:30:25,320
Wedgwood showed his first edition
Portland Vases in London

445
00:30:25,320 --> 00:30:28,960
in the showrooms,
by ticket invitation only,

446
00:30:28,960 --> 00:30:31,440
before sending it off with his son

447
00:30:31,440 --> 00:30:34,280
and one of his top modellers
on a European tour.

448
00:30:36,680 --> 00:30:39,000
Josiah Wedgwood's Portland Vase

449
00:30:39,000 --> 00:30:42,280
was sold as a limited numbered
edition of 30,

450
00:30:42,280 --> 00:30:46,720
priced at £30 each,
nearly £2,000 today.

451
00:30:49,520 --> 00:30:52,760
It encapsulated everything
that made him great -

452
00:30:52,760 --> 00:30:56,360
experimentation, craftsmanship

453
00:30:56,360 --> 00:30:58,320
and a sharp eye for publicity.

454
00:31:03,400 --> 00:31:06,360
This painting, made towards
the end of his life,

455
00:31:06,360 --> 00:31:09,240
shows Wedgwood at the height
of his fame.

456
00:31:10,200 --> 00:31:12,920
He is surrounded by his wife
and children.

457
00:31:20,480 --> 00:31:22,560
And in case he should ever forget

458
00:31:22,560 --> 00:31:25,280
the source of this contentment
and wealth,

459
00:31:25,280 --> 00:31:29,360
the Etruria Works can just be made
out smoking away in the distance.

460
00:31:34,240 --> 00:31:37,040
Wedgwood had achieved so much,

461
00:31:37,040 --> 00:31:39,560
but he had done so by sidestepping

462
00:31:39,560 --> 00:31:43,120
the greatest manufacturing
mystery of the age.

463
00:31:48,680 --> 00:31:51,840
At the time of his death in 1795,

464
00:31:51,840 --> 00:31:55,120
one local rival had just hit upon
a solution

465
00:31:55,120 --> 00:31:59,200
and it would transform the potteries
beyond all recognition.

466
00:32:05,920 --> 00:32:07,560
NEWSREEL: 'It wasn't until

467
00:32:07,560 --> 00:32:10,600
'the opening up of the great
trade routes in the 17th century,

468
00:32:10,600 --> 00:32:14,040
'that porcelain and other luxuries
from the fabled East

469
00:32:14,040 --> 00:32:15,480
'began to reach England.

470
00:32:15,480 --> 00:32:18,720
'The lovely porcelain in particular
became immensely popular

471
00:32:18,720 --> 00:32:21,640
'and all over Europe, potters tried
to emulate

472
00:32:21,640 --> 00:32:24,440
'this fascinating Oriental material.

473
00:32:24,440 --> 00:32:27,400
'But in the little English village
of Stoke-on-Trent,

474
00:32:27,400 --> 00:32:30,520
'a young potter, Josiah Spode,

475
00:32:30,520 --> 00:32:34,760
'had already begun the experiments
which were to make him famous.'

476
00:32:36,640 --> 00:32:41,320
Like Wedgwood, Josiah Spode was born
in the Potteries.

477
00:32:41,320 --> 00:32:46,040
He was the son of a pauper and was
orphaned when only six years old.

478
00:32:47,600 --> 00:32:51,160
He completed his apprenticeship
alongside Josiah Wedgwood,

479
00:32:51,160 --> 00:32:55,520
and went on to found one of the most
successful factories in the region,

480
00:32:55,520 --> 00:32:59,400
producing creamware
to rival his illustrious competitor.

481
00:33:02,200 --> 00:33:04,440
But while Wedgwood
ignored the age-old dream

482
00:33:04,440 --> 00:33:06,840
of a viable alternative
to porcelain,

483
00:33:06,840 --> 00:33:10,600
Spode made it his life's work.

484
00:33:14,400 --> 00:33:17,000
He was 60 by the time he cracked it.

485
00:33:19,320 --> 00:33:23,760
And like all great formulas,
it seems remarkably simple.

486
00:33:24,960 --> 00:33:29,560
It included china stone
and china clay from Cornwall.

487
00:33:31,040 --> 00:33:32,640
But for the rest,

488
00:33:32,640 --> 00:33:36,520
Spode's formula was simply
the ash of burnt animal bones.

489
00:33:40,200 --> 00:33:45,080
For this reason,
it became known as "bone china".

490
00:33:45,080 --> 00:33:49,000
A product not just as good as
Chinese porcelain...

491
00:33:49,000 --> 00:33:50,760
'Does the cup ring true?'

492
00:33:50,760 --> 00:33:52,040
..but even better.

493
00:33:52,040 --> 00:33:53,600
PING!

494
00:33:53,600 --> 00:33:55,720
'Fine china speaks for itself.'

495
00:34:09,440 --> 00:34:11,720
The body itself is
a brilliant white,

496
00:34:11,720 --> 00:34:15,960
so any painting or gilding on it
shows up fantastically well.

497
00:34:15,960 --> 00:34:19,760
And it has more of a glow to it
than the Chinese porcelains.

498
00:34:20,800 --> 00:34:23,080
It's got the great advantage

499
00:34:23,080 --> 00:34:26,120
that it's tolerant of quite a range
of temperatures in the kiln,

500
00:34:26,120 --> 00:34:29,040
so you have fewer wasters,
and so within a very few years,

501
00:34:29,040 --> 00:34:32,360
everybody in Stoke-on-Trent wanting
to make porcelain uses that body.

502
00:34:33,440 --> 00:34:37,640
NEWSREEL: 'This gay oriental vase is
one of Josiah Spode's early designs

503
00:34:37,640 --> 00:34:39,120
'in the new bone china.

504
00:34:40,800 --> 00:34:43,360
'So is this rather more
formal sugar box,

505
00:34:43,360 --> 00:34:46,200
'a charming example
of fine English gilding.

506
00:34:46,200 --> 00:34:50,760
'Yet another delightful 18th-century
museum piece, Maritime Rose.'

507
00:34:53,760 --> 00:34:57,800
Spode's bone china
was a true ceramic innovation

508
00:34:57,800 --> 00:34:59,840
and uniquely English.

509
00:34:59,840 --> 00:35:04,680
It was to revolutionise production
of fine tea wares in Stoke-on-Trent.

510
00:35:04,680 --> 00:35:07,560
And the recipe was quickly imitated,

511
00:35:07,560 --> 00:35:10,360
with other potteries desperate
to create

512
00:35:10,360 --> 00:35:12,840
bone china goods
for a hungry market.

513
00:35:14,480 --> 00:35:18,000
By the mid-19th century,
Stoke-on-Trent led the world

514
00:35:18,000 --> 00:35:22,480
in terms of output
and technical accomplishment.

515
00:35:22,480 --> 00:35:26,040
And the perfect platforms for its
command of technique and artistry

516
00:35:26,040 --> 00:35:29,640
were the great exhibitions
springing up across Europe.

517
00:35:31,480 --> 00:35:35,600
The 1851 Great Exhibition in London
displayed to the world

518
00:35:35,600 --> 00:35:39,000
the finest British pots
produced by Stoke-on-Trent.

519
00:35:41,200 --> 00:35:44,120
This lavishly decorated
earthenware vase

520
00:35:44,120 --> 00:35:47,720
was made by Minton
for the Paris Exhibition of 1867.

521
00:35:52,520 --> 00:35:56,400
It shows scenes on the bowl
taken from the works of Rubens.

522
00:36:00,360 --> 00:36:02,600
And on its lid lies Prometheus,

523
00:36:02,600 --> 00:36:05,600
punished for stealing fire
from the Gods,

524
00:36:05,600 --> 00:36:08,880
an image copied
from the Italian Renaissance models.

525
00:36:14,960 --> 00:36:17,000
The message was clear -

526
00:36:17,000 --> 00:36:20,280
Stoke-on-Trent was positioning
itself at the very pinnacle

527
00:36:20,280 --> 00:36:23,600
of art pottery production.

528
00:36:23,600 --> 00:36:27,760
These were virtuoso vases
to be gasped at.

529
00:36:35,080 --> 00:36:37,120
By the end of the 19th century,

530
00:36:37,120 --> 00:36:39,960
there were 2,000 kilns
in Stoke-on-Trent,

531
00:36:39,960 --> 00:36:43,000
firing millions of objects a year.

532
00:36:44,440 --> 00:36:48,680
But the very success of the
potteries brought a new challenge.

533
00:36:52,640 --> 00:36:55,600
In the past, the great
discoveries and innovations

534
00:36:55,600 --> 00:36:57,600
had come from within the factories.

535
00:36:59,880 --> 00:37:03,120
But now the potters who had once
led the production line

536
00:37:03,120 --> 00:37:06,360
were in danger
of becoming slaves to it.

537
00:37:07,960 --> 00:37:10,240
The people of Stoke, as ever,

538
00:37:10,240 --> 00:37:13,600
attempted a solution
to their own problems.

539
00:37:23,440 --> 00:37:27,080
In 1869,
work was completed on a large,

540
00:37:27,080 --> 00:37:30,680
elaborately decorated building
at the heart of the Potteries.

541
00:37:30,680 --> 00:37:36,560
This is the Wedgwood Institute,

542
00:37:36,560 --> 00:37:40,880
dedicated to preserving the creative
spirit of Josiah Wedgwood.

543
00:37:42,120 --> 00:37:44,560
And it was funded
by the people of Stoke themselves.

544
00:37:48,000 --> 00:37:50,840
All around it
were terracotta friezes

545
00:37:50,840 --> 00:37:53,400
celebrating the greatest figures
of the Potteries

546
00:37:53,400 --> 00:37:57,000
as an inspiration to all who passed.

547
00:37:58,720 --> 00:38:01,840
The Institute's art school
proved so popular

548
00:38:01,840 --> 00:38:05,160
that new premises
had to be built across the road.

549
00:38:05,160 --> 00:38:07,720
This is Burslem School of Art.

550
00:38:07,720 --> 00:38:10,760
And in the years
following the First World War,

551
00:38:10,760 --> 00:38:14,320
it was young artists who would
re-invigorate the Potteries

552
00:38:14,320 --> 00:38:16,440
with designs
fit for the new century.

553
00:38:22,520 --> 00:38:25,160
The 1920s and later

554
00:38:25,160 --> 00:38:27,880
sees one important change,

555
00:38:27,880 --> 00:38:31,880
and that is the appearance in
the back stamp of a piece of pottery,

556
00:38:31,880 --> 00:38:35,360
of not just the name of the factory,
but the name of the designer.

557
00:38:35,360 --> 00:38:38,320
There's always been
designers in the pottery industry.

558
00:38:38,320 --> 00:38:41,600
You can't decide the shape of
a teapot, handle or surface pattern

559
00:38:41,600 --> 00:38:42,720
without a designer.

560
00:38:42,720 --> 00:38:44,880
But those designers were anonymous.

561
00:38:44,880 --> 00:38:49,360
But from the 1920s onwards,
you get quite a movement

562
00:38:49,360 --> 00:38:52,800
towards putting the designer's name
on the back.

563
00:38:52,800 --> 00:38:54,880
These days,
when you see a piece of pottery

564
00:38:54,880 --> 00:38:57,680
is by Jasper Conran for Wedgwood,
you're not surprised.

565
00:38:57,680 --> 00:39:00,320
But in the 1920s, it would
have been quite a revelation.

566
00:39:03,400 --> 00:39:07,480
Women had been employed in
the factories from the very start,

567
00:39:07,480 --> 00:39:11,440
but mostly in service to male
managers and designers.

568
00:39:13,520 --> 00:39:16,400
But in the changing world
of the 20th century,

569
00:39:16,400 --> 00:39:19,960
it was two women in particular
who re-energised the Potteries

570
00:39:19,960 --> 00:39:23,840
and captured the imagination
of the buying public.

571
00:39:26,320 --> 00:39:30,080
Susie Cooper
was born in 1902, in Burslem,

572
00:39:30,080 --> 00:39:32,160
a true daughter of the Potteries.

573
00:39:34,240 --> 00:39:37,080
After attending
Burslem School of Art,

574
00:39:37,080 --> 00:39:39,920
Cooper joined Gray's Pottery
to gain experience

575
00:39:39,920 --> 00:39:44,000
as way to get into
the Royal College of Art in London.

576
00:39:44,000 --> 00:39:46,800
But she was never to leave
the pottery trade.

577
00:39:48,440 --> 00:39:52,480
Within a few years, she was
producing her own distinctive range

578
00:39:52,480 --> 00:39:57,120
of elegant hand-painted designs
that captured the spirit of the age.

579
00:40:06,320 --> 00:40:10,800
I wanted to do things
for people who had taste

580
00:40:10,800 --> 00:40:15,120
but didn't necessarily
have a deep pocket.

581
00:40:15,120 --> 00:40:21,600
And I felt there was
an opening there which should be...

582
00:40:21,600 --> 00:40:22,760
which I'd like to fill.

583
00:40:25,480 --> 00:40:31,080
Confident of her skills, in 1929,
Susie Cooper set up her own pottery.

584
00:40:32,880 --> 00:40:35,600
Her success lay
in designing tableware

585
00:40:35,600 --> 00:40:38,200
that wasn't just
pleasing to the eye.

586
00:40:38,200 --> 00:40:40,280
She also made sure it worked.

587
00:40:47,040 --> 00:40:52,960
You thought about all the problems
of teapot lids getting broken,

588
00:40:52,960 --> 00:40:59,640
so you tried to correct those
sort of little things like that.

589
00:40:59,640 --> 00:41:03,800
And the pouring aspect of pots.

590
00:41:03,800 --> 00:41:09,200
I suppose I tended to make
a feature of the spout,

591
00:41:09,200 --> 00:41:12,320
and tried very hard
to make it a good pourer.

592
00:41:14,160 --> 00:41:17,720
Susie Cooper's own slogan
was "elegance with utility"

593
00:41:17,720 --> 00:41:21,240
and that really encapsulates
what she was about.

594
00:41:21,240 --> 00:41:24,120
And this was really
her great ability,

595
00:41:24,120 --> 00:41:28,000
was, I think, understanding
what the modern consumer wanted.

596
00:41:28,000 --> 00:41:32,800
Things, objects which were
beautiful, practical,

597
00:41:32,800 --> 00:41:35,920
affordable and would
fit into modern lifestyles.

598
00:41:43,160 --> 00:41:45,640
But Susie Cooper had a rival.

599
00:41:45,640 --> 00:41:48,480
Clarice Cliff also
quickly achieved renown

600
00:41:48,480 --> 00:41:51,120
as a successful commercial designer.

601
00:41:54,680 --> 00:41:58,480
Clarice Cliff was idiosyncratic.

602
00:41:58,480 --> 00:42:02,480
She wanted to tie into Art Deco,
or however you want to see it,

603
00:42:02,480 --> 00:42:05,560
these abstracted designs.

604
00:42:05,560 --> 00:42:11,120
To some people quite vulgar,
brightly painted,

605
00:42:11,120 --> 00:42:14,520
but when she produced them,
they were stylish,

606
00:42:14,520 --> 00:42:18,480
they were catching the mood
of the time, wares like Bizarre.

607
00:42:19,600 --> 00:42:24,320
Bizarre was Clarice Cliff's
most famous range of tableware.

608
00:42:24,320 --> 00:42:26,800
By the start of the 1930s,

609
00:42:26,800 --> 00:42:31,360
she was commanding
a staff of 150 paintresses.

610
00:42:31,360 --> 00:42:33,960
They became known
as the Bizarre Girls.

611
00:42:35,200 --> 00:42:36,640
It was good.

612
00:42:36,640 --> 00:42:38,240
Real good.

613
00:42:38,240 --> 00:42:40,560
All the girls enjoyed it.

614
00:42:40,560 --> 00:42:42,960
And we all were one team.

615
00:42:42,960 --> 00:42:47,560
There was never anyone
that you could say was wrong.

616
00:42:47,560 --> 00:42:49,520
Everything was good.

617
00:42:49,520 --> 00:42:51,240
And we used to have some fun.

618
00:42:52,680 --> 00:42:54,720
We were known as the Bizarre Babes.

619
00:42:54,720 --> 00:42:58,640
And we were locked in because
they all wanted to come and see

620
00:42:58,640 --> 00:43:00,640
what was going inside there.

621
00:43:00,640 --> 00:43:05,280
No-one on the firm knew
what we were doing in that room.

622
00:43:05,280 --> 00:43:07,720
THEY ALL TALK AT ONCE

623
00:43:07,720 --> 00:43:08,920
Happy girls are we

624
00:43:08,920 --> 00:43:13,920
With dabs of paint we're decorating
And for work we're always waiting.

625
00:43:16,680 --> 00:43:20,760
Cliff worked tirelessly to keep
her pottery in the public eye.

626
00:43:25,000 --> 00:43:27,520
One of the things that she did
was to have, allegedly,

627
00:43:27,520 --> 00:43:29,680
the most attractive
of her paintresses

628
00:43:29,680 --> 00:43:32,320
go to department stores
and carry out

629
00:43:32,320 --> 00:43:35,360
demonstrations
of painting her wares.

630
00:43:35,360 --> 00:43:39,480
And so, actually, her paintresses
were in the public eye.

631
00:43:41,040 --> 00:43:43,880
What Clarice Cliff
shared with Susie Cooper

632
00:43:43,880 --> 00:43:46,920
was a lesson learned
from Josiah Wedgwood.

633
00:43:48,040 --> 00:43:51,080
That SHE was an important part
of the product.

634
00:43:55,480 --> 00:43:57,480
I think there's
a clear sense that

635
00:43:57,480 --> 00:43:59,320
to be successful in the business,

636
00:43:59,320 --> 00:44:02,360
it's not just about
making a good product,

637
00:44:02,360 --> 00:44:07,840
but it's about branding, it's about
identifying your wares as your own,

638
00:44:07,840 --> 00:44:10,640
and giving them
a kind of individuality.

639
00:44:10,640 --> 00:44:13,360
That's one of the extraordinary
things that applies both

640
00:44:13,360 --> 00:44:15,360
to Susie Cooper and Clarice Cliff -

641
00:44:15,360 --> 00:44:17,680
they're immediately
recognisable as brands.

642
00:44:19,400 --> 00:44:21,480
Susie Cooper and Clarice Cliff

643
00:44:21,480 --> 00:44:24,480
became two of the most famous
and celebrated ceramicists

644
00:44:24,480 --> 00:44:26,720
of the 20th century.

645
00:44:26,720 --> 00:44:29,800
Yet they worked within industry.

646
00:44:29,800 --> 00:44:32,200
It was a reminder
that the spirit of the Potteries

647
00:44:32,200 --> 00:44:36,600
had always been as much about
artistry as about business.

648
00:44:36,600 --> 00:44:37,760
And about people.

649
00:44:45,400 --> 00:44:49,480
So it was that 200 years after
the heyday of Josiah Wedgwood,

650
00:44:49,480 --> 00:44:53,120
the Potteries were in rude health.

651
00:44:53,120 --> 00:44:54,760
Still ahead of the game,

652
00:44:54,760 --> 00:44:58,960
still a source of pride
for those who worked there.

653
00:45:06,880 --> 00:45:09,960
This is the world that writer
AN Wilson remembers so vividly.

654
00:45:11,240 --> 00:45:15,240
His father joined
the Wedgwood company in 1927

655
00:45:15,240 --> 00:45:18,280
and by 1961 was managing director.

656
00:45:20,760 --> 00:45:24,400
All my forebears were potters,
and they came to Staffordshire

657
00:45:24,400 --> 00:45:25,840
because of Wedgwood.

658
00:45:28,520 --> 00:45:31,320
I was a child of the factory.

659
00:45:31,320 --> 00:45:35,280
And I think some of my very earliest
memories at all are of this factory.

660
00:45:35,280 --> 00:45:38,000
The smell of it -
when you come in, even today,

661
00:45:38,000 --> 00:45:40,240
it's got that smell of white clay.

662
00:45:40,240 --> 00:45:42,920
Extraordinarily evocative for me

663
00:45:42,920 --> 00:45:47,280
of a whole range of
Proustian childhood recollections.

664
00:45:49,080 --> 00:45:52,640
I used to come in,
usually on a Saturday.

665
00:45:52,640 --> 00:45:54,880
My father would drive in,

666
00:45:54,880 --> 00:45:58,640
often wearing a suit rather like
this, which is why I'm wearing one.

667
00:45:58,640 --> 00:46:01,400
A sort of rather nice
sort of sporty suit.

668
00:46:01,400 --> 00:46:05,000
And then wander round,
talking to people.

669
00:46:07,800 --> 00:46:10,840
I ran about and felt perfectly happy
here and played here.

670
00:46:10,840 --> 00:46:14,160
And people would just look up
and say, "I love my work,"

671
00:46:14,160 --> 00:46:16,440
because they were skilled.

672
00:46:16,440 --> 00:46:21,000
In those days, mothers taught
daughters before they'd ever...

673
00:46:21,000 --> 00:46:24,200
come for jobs here, how to paint
a plate, how to paint a cup.

674
00:46:24,200 --> 00:46:27,000
Each skill was handed down
in families,

675
00:46:27,000 --> 00:46:30,200
and if you're good at something,
it's good for morale -

676
00:46:30,200 --> 00:46:32,560
you're a happy person, basically.

677
00:46:32,560 --> 00:46:35,520
And so that was my memory, really,
and then I would be allowed,

678
00:46:35,520 --> 00:46:39,800
as a treat, to decorate
a plate or paint a mug,

679
00:46:39,800 --> 00:46:42,880
and they gave me little lumps
of clay to play with.

680
00:46:44,160 --> 00:46:48,000
My brother and I often say
our hands are the first Wilson hands

681
00:46:48,000 --> 00:46:52,760
since about 1750 not to have been
used for the manufacture of pottery.

682
00:46:58,280 --> 00:47:01,000
Perhaps if left to its own devices,

683
00:47:01,000 --> 00:47:02,960
Stoke would have continued
to flourish.

684
00:47:04,000 --> 00:47:08,600
But it was to be brought down
by forces beyond its control.

685
00:47:11,840 --> 00:47:13,720
By the early 1980s,

686
00:47:13,720 --> 00:47:17,120
following a decade
of economic decline,

687
00:47:17,120 --> 00:47:21,520
Britain's traditional manufacturing
industries reached crisis point.

688
00:47:23,920 --> 00:47:27,000
In response, a new ethos emerged

689
00:47:27,000 --> 00:47:30,320
which placed blunt, economic logic
above all else.

690
00:47:30,320 --> 00:47:32,480
Rate it down to five lots,
working 20.

691
00:47:32,480 --> 00:47:33,920
Texas buyer!

692
00:47:35,240 --> 00:47:40,120
The label "Made in England" had once
been a source of national pride.

693
00:47:42,160 --> 00:47:45,400
But in this new, unsentimental age,
there was little room

694
00:47:45,400 --> 00:47:48,840
for an old-fashioned
way of life and working.

695
00:47:48,840 --> 00:47:51,880
NEWSREEL: 'One of the biggest names
in British ceramics,

696
00:47:51,880 --> 00:47:54,800
'Royal Worcester and Spode,
has gone into administration.'

697
00:47:54,800 --> 00:47:56,760
'..388 people,
gone into administration

698
00:47:56,760 --> 00:47:58,600
'according to
PricewaterhouseCoopers.'

699
00:47:58,600 --> 00:48:02,880
'..around since 1751,
very historic...'

700
00:48:02,880 --> 00:48:07,440
'The company had warned jobs were
likely to be switched to Indonesia.'

701
00:48:07,440 --> 00:48:10,960
'China maker Waterford Wedgwood
has called in the administrators.'

702
00:48:10,960 --> 00:48:14,840
'The latest blow to a region they're
still proud to call the Potteries.'

703
00:48:14,840 --> 00:48:18,680
Many of the big potteries
failed to survive.

704
00:48:18,680 --> 00:48:21,600
Those that did
had to change their working methods

705
00:48:21,600 --> 00:48:23,360
beyond all recognition.

706
00:48:25,400 --> 00:48:29,040
While a Wedgwood factory
remains in Stoke-on-Trent,

707
00:48:29,040 --> 00:48:32,880
most of the output is made overseas
where labour is cheaper.

708
00:48:34,600 --> 00:48:37,000
Only in name
is Wedgwood the same firm

709
00:48:37,000 --> 00:48:41,040
started by Stoke-on-Trent's
most famous son, 250 years ago.

710
00:48:44,920 --> 00:48:48,520
Today, much of Stoke-on-Trent
is an industrial wasteland.

711
00:48:50,560 --> 00:48:51,960
In the 1970s,

712
00:48:51,960 --> 00:48:54,440
there were
200 ceramic factories here.

713
00:48:55,960 --> 00:48:58,440
Now, there are less than 30.

714
00:49:03,880 --> 00:49:05,840
Among that handful, though,

715
00:49:05,840 --> 00:49:09,480
is one of Stoke's true
success stories of recent years.

716
00:49:10,880 --> 00:49:12,760
Against all odds and advice,

717
00:49:12,760 --> 00:49:15,600
Emma Bridgewater opened a pottery

718
00:49:15,600 --> 00:49:19,800
in an old Victorian factory
in Stoke-on-Trent in 1985.

719
00:49:22,440 --> 00:49:24,360
It seemed a crazy thing to do.

720
00:49:25,960 --> 00:49:31,280
Stoke in 1985 was just poised
for its last great fall downwards.

721
00:49:31,280 --> 00:49:34,040
It was producing things
that people didn't want,

722
00:49:34,040 --> 00:49:35,840
and it was poised for disaster.

723
00:49:35,840 --> 00:49:39,320
It already looked like a ruin,
though, even then.

724
00:49:40,760 --> 00:49:42,720
In the decay, though,

725
00:49:42,720 --> 00:49:45,400
Emma Bridgewater
and her husband, Matthew Rice,

726
00:49:45,400 --> 00:49:49,080
saw something from the past
to hold on to.

727
00:49:49,080 --> 00:49:50,920
We produce a very domestic ware,

728
00:49:50,920 --> 00:49:54,840
and I like the domestic scale
of a 19th-century factory.

729
00:49:54,840 --> 00:49:56,600
People talk to one another,

730
00:49:56,600 --> 00:49:59,080
people stand in rows
and talk across the desk.

731
00:49:59,080 --> 00:50:00,920
I prefer that to the conveyor belt.

732
00:50:04,000 --> 00:50:06,360
While embracing
the city's industrial past,

733
00:50:06,360 --> 00:50:08,560
the firm saw
a vision for the future -

734
00:50:08,560 --> 00:50:12,480
high-end, feel-good tableware.

735
00:50:14,640 --> 00:50:17,400
It has proved highly successful.

736
00:50:19,440 --> 00:50:24,240
Producing pottery as a commodity is a
very difficult thing to do in Stoke.

737
00:50:24,240 --> 00:50:26,360
That business
has moved to the Far East,

738
00:50:26,360 --> 00:50:29,760
it's moved to the low-wages
economies parts of the world.

739
00:50:29,760 --> 00:50:32,360
That doesn't mean
that Stoke can't produce pottery.

740
00:50:32,360 --> 00:50:34,480
It's not beyond redemption.

741
00:50:34,480 --> 00:50:36,640
And we can still make stuff here -

742
00:50:36,640 --> 00:50:38,640
we just need to make
the right things.

743
00:50:40,160 --> 00:50:43,760
This isn't new -
Wedgwood knew that 250 years ago,

744
00:50:43,760 --> 00:50:47,760
and it was on that attitude that
his business's success was founded.

745
00:50:47,760 --> 00:50:51,040
That's the future
of manufacturing in England.

746
00:50:52,880 --> 00:50:55,960
Small boutique firms
can still turn a profit

747
00:50:55,960 --> 00:51:00,080
if they display the qualities on
which the Potteries were founded -

748
00:51:00,080 --> 00:51:04,160
innovation, pluck
and knowing what makes people tick.

749
00:51:12,120 --> 00:51:14,600
But for many of the people
of Stoke-on-Trent,

750
00:51:14,600 --> 00:51:17,240
making pots remains
a thing of the past.

751
00:51:19,440 --> 00:51:21,720
For artist Neil Brownsword, though,

752
00:51:21,720 --> 00:51:24,680
that lost history
forms the basis of his work.

753
00:51:27,400 --> 00:51:32,040
He uses the industrial detritus
of the region to create his art.

754
00:51:36,640 --> 00:51:40,440
For him, these found objects
are far more than junk -

755
00:51:40,440 --> 00:51:44,440
but poignant relics of a people
who took pride in their craft.

756
00:51:45,720 --> 00:51:49,560
This is a local shraff tip.

757
00:51:49,560 --> 00:51:52,800
"Shraff" is a term
for spent pottery.

758
00:51:52,800 --> 00:51:55,560
If you can imagine
how much production was here,

759
00:51:55,560 --> 00:51:59,480
you know, 19th century,
early 20th century,

760
00:51:59,480 --> 00:52:03,960
with the waste, there's got to be
some places to locate it,

761
00:52:03,960 --> 00:52:08,080
so here we have a mix of materials
from broken saggars.

762
00:52:09,680 --> 00:52:12,480
'First of all the cups
are put in what we call saggars.

763
00:52:12,480 --> 00:52:15,360
'It's how you arrange them
that makes all the difference,

764
00:52:15,360 --> 00:52:17,200
'when the clay
is fired in the oven.'

765
00:52:17,200 --> 00:52:21,600
These are bases of thimbles.

766
00:52:21,600 --> 00:52:23,680
These are pinched by hand

767
00:52:23,680 --> 00:52:27,640
and the thimble would sit in them,
and then a series would stack,

768
00:52:27,640 --> 00:52:30,600
to stack a flatware plate or saucer,
in a saggar.

769
00:52:38,920 --> 00:52:41,960
'There's not enough ovens
in the Potteries

770
00:52:41,960 --> 00:52:46,000
'to keep up with demand for
our stuff, so we're pretty busy.'

771
00:52:50,960 --> 00:52:54,560
I'm not really interested
in the objects themselves,

772
00:52:54,560 --> 00:52:58,040
I'm interested in the by-products
from production.

773
00:52:58,040 --> 00:53:02,040
So, things which are
redolent of human contact.

774
00:53:03,680 --> 00:53:04,720
Great.

775
00:53:06,520 --> 00:53:11,000
It's a handle mould,
it's one half of a handle mould...

776
00:53:11,000 --> 00:53:13,440
you can just see
the pairs of handles, there.

777
00:53:13,440 --> 00:53:15,840
And the centre, here,
almost like a Polo mint,

778
00:53:15,840 --> 00:53:18,480
where the slip would be poured.

779
00:53:35,560 --> 00:53:37,600
'You know,
handling clay in this stage

780
00:53:37,600 --> 00:53:39,760
'is rather like managing a husband -

781
00:53:39,760 --> 00:53:42,480
'you've got to know when to be firm,
and when to go easy.'

782
00:53:46,440 --> 00:53:48,880
These waste tips
are quite symbolic, really,

783
00:53:48,880 --> 00:53:51,080
because they almost
represent these people

784
00:53:51,080 --> 00:53:53,560
who were kind of expendable

785
00:53:53,560 --> 00:53:55,880
when some of these factories closed,
you know,

786
00:53:55,880 --> 00:53:59,760
so they have got that association,
really, with those people.

787
00:54:09,920 --> 00:54:12,320
A whole way of life has been lost.

788
00:54:13,520 --> 00:54:15,680
Not just factories,

789
00:54:15,680 --> 00:54:17,560
but communities, too.

790
00:54:26,320 --> 00:54:30,000
I worked at Royal Doulton
for 25 years.

791
00:54:30,000 --> 00:54:34,480
I started as a boy
straight from school in 1950,

792
00:54:34,480 --> 00:54:36,280
and I trained to be
a figurine painter

793
00:54:36,280 --> 00:54:40,360
and I enjoyed my 25 years here.

794
00:54:43,440 --> 00:54:45,840
There was a fantastic
community spirit.

795
00:54:45,840 --> 00:54:50,400
And we had all kinds of outings.

796
00:54:50,400 --> 00:54:52,920
There was an art society here,

797
00:54:52,920 --> 00:54:54,800
a Royal Doulton brass band,

798
00:54:54,800 --> 00:54:57,000
a Royal Doulton choir,

799
00:54:57,000 --> 00:54:58,600
a Royal Doulton cricket club.

800
00:54:58,600 --> 00:55:01,120
In fact, there was just
so many community things

801
00:55:01,120 --> 00:55:02,720
that one could get involved in.

802
00:55:02,720 --> 00:55:04,960
It was almost like
a home from home, really.

803
00:55:04,960 --> 00:55:06,960
WORKERS:
# ..Travel the road

804
00:55:06,960 --> 00:55:09,360
# Sharing our load

805
00:55:09,360 --> 00:55:13,680
# Side by side

806
00:55:13,680 --> 00:55:18,120
# Through all kinds of weather

807
00:55:18,120 --> 00:55:22,880
# What if the sky should fall? #

808
00:55:22,880 --> 00:55:26,080
I feel sad that it's all gone.

809
00:55:26,080 --> 00:55:29,320
Those wonderful skills
of the Potteries have now been lost.

810
00:55:29,320 --> 00:55:33,880
And I think probably one of
the reasons that it's all gone

811
00:55:33,880 --> 00:55:36,640
was there was a policy
of outsourcing.

812
00:55:36,640 --> 00:55:38,760
People wanted things made in England

813
00:55:38,760 --> 00:55:41,080
and when they weren't
made in England any more,

814
00:55:41,080 --> 00:55:42,720
that made things worse, really.

815
00:55:42,720 --> 00:55:46,000
They didn't want it as much...
you know?

816
00:55:46,000 --> 00:55:50,040
Somehow, "Made in China",
"Made in Indonesia,"

817
00:55:50,040 --> 00:55:53,560
didn't have the same ring underneath
the back stamp as "Made in England".

818
00:55:55,120 --> 00:55:56,480
It was always said

819
00:55:56,480 --> 00:56:00,680
that the potters had slip
in their veins instead of blood.

820
00:56:02,400 --> 00:56:04,840
That's what we were -
we were potters.

821
00:56:17,280 --> 00:56:20,800
The craftsmanship
that once defined the Potteries

822
00:56:20,800 --> 00:56:22,520
is rapidly disappearing.

823
00:56:26,000 --> 00:56:30,120
All that will be left
to testify to Stoke's former glory

824
00:56:30,120 --> 00:56:32,720
will be the factory ruins.

825
00:56:38,520 --> 00:56:41,440
When you see the ruins
of classical civilisation,

826
00:56:41,440 --> 00:56:45,160
in a way, you're deriving
a kind of pleasure from that

827
00:56:45,160 --> 00:56:49,120
which you wouldn't have derived
if you'd seen Ephesus or Corinth

828
00:56:49,120 --> 00:56:50,920
in their heyday.

829
00:56:50,920 --> 00:56:53,880
You'd probably have thought
they were sordid, flashy places,

830
00:56:53,880 --> 00:56:56,600
but in ruins,
there's a kind of beauty about them.

831
00:56:56,600 --> 00:56:59,120
Similarly, if you were
having to cough your way

832
00:56:59,120 --> 00:57:01,200
through the streets
of Hanley or Stoke,

833
00:57:01,200 --> 00:57:04,640
you wouldn't necessarily have seen
what pure poetry there is

834
00:57:04,640 --> 00:57:08,240
in this industry,
as you see in the ruins.

835
00:57:12,120 --> 00:57:16,640
There's physical buildings
and gateways and lodges

836
00:57:16,640 --> 00:57:19,440
and all the things
that make up the factories,

837
00:57:19,440 --> 00:57:25,240
are really what you can hang
the city's cultural memory on.

838
00:57:25,240 --> 00:57:27,120
There's been a very sad destruction,

839
00:57:27,120 --> 00:57:29,760
particularly in the last 20 years
while we've been here,

840
00:57:29,760 --> 00:57:32,000
of that inheritance.

841
00:57:35,840 --> 00:57:38,320
No empire lasts for ever.

842
00:57:38,320 --> 00:57:41,120
The world turns
and new ones take its place.

843
00:57:44,080 --> 00:57:46,840
And even as Stoke-on-Trent
enjoyed its heyday,

844
00:57:46,840 --> 00:57:49,560
there were those
predicting its fall.

845
00:57:51,480 --> 00:57:53,720
"And if, in the revolutions of time,

846
00:57:53,720 --> 00:57:55,360
"the country should be found

847
00:57:55,360 --> 00:57:59,040
"whose porcelain and earthenware
are vended on cheaper terms

848
00:57:59,040 --> 00:58:01,520
"than those of the potteries
of Britain,

849
00:58:01,520 --> 00:58:05,120
"thither will flock
all the earthenware dealers

850
00:58:05,120 --> 00:58:07,520
"and neither fleets, nor armies,

851
00:58:07,520 --> 00:58:09,720
nor any other human power,

852
00:58:09,720 --> 00:58:13,440
"would prevent the present
flourishing borough of Stoke-on-Trent

853
00:58:13,440 --> 00:58:17,120
"sharing the fate
of its once-proud predecessors

854
00:58:17,120 --> 00:58:19,720
"in Phoenicia, in Greece
and in Italy."

855
00:58:30,360 --> 00:58:33,760
Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd

856
00:58:33,760 --> 00:58:37,320
E-mail subtitling@bbc.co.uk

857
00:58:37,320 --> 00:58:43,080
WORKERS: # Oh, we don't know
what's coming tomorrow

858
00:58:43,080 --> 00:58:47,960
# Maybe it's trouble and sorrow

859
00:58:47,960 --> 00:58:50,920
# But we'll travel the road

860
00:58:50,920 --> 00:58:53,240
# Sharing our load

861
00:58:53,240 --> 00:58:56,920
# Side by side. #