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Once upon a time, this factory was
the centre of an industrial empire

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that transformed Britain.

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And at the heart of that empire

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was a name that echoed around
the world - Wedgwood.

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Favoured by royalty,

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Wedgwood offered prestige porcelain
for the aspiring customer.

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In an age of fine dining,
this was the finest money could buy.

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Today, tastes have changed.

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Times have moved on.

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Under new management,
Wedgwood is looking to the future.

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What we do need now is to
get a bit of the dust

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away from the Wedgwood image.

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But the wheel still turns
in Stoke-on-Trent.

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GAS HISSES AND FLAME ROARS

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The kiln is still fired.

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A small group of potters
are still using techniques

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pioneered by Josiah Wedgwood
himself.

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You've got about ten seconds to
get it level, and then it's stuck.

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A place where generations of craft
and tradition are distilled

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into exquisite, handmade objects...

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There's 160 leaves
on one Panther Vase.

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..and where the past meets
an uncertain future.

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There were 77 people doing this job.

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There's now two of us.

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Amongst the plates,
the cups and the teapots,

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something more lavish is
beginning to take shape.

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The iconic jasperware that
Josiah Wedgwood introduced in 1775

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made his name famous the world over.

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Nowadays, the same methods
are used to produce

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one of the company's
most exclusive pieces -

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the Panther Vase.

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Based on an original
18th-century design,

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this £4,000 showcase object is a
luxury slice of high-end heritage -

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the sort that helped
the Wedgwood brand become

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a byword for Britishness.

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And it doesn't hurt to have
a Royal Seal of Approval that

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stretches back to the 1760s.

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Today, the Warrant
is proudly displayed.

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This is, after all,

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the company that made the plates
for the Queen's coronation banquet.

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The Panther Vase is the culmination
of over two centuries of

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bespoke craftsmanship -

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of skills honed over generations,

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handed down from potter to potter,

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figure maker to figure maker,

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turner to turner,

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but it all starts with
a lump of raw clay.

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When I left school,
I never thought I'd be able...

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I'd do something like this,

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or was capable of doing
something like this.

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They've tried different ways of
making vases and it's never worked.

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This is the best way
you'll ever do it.

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It's the most challenging way,
as well.

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But handcrafted vases alone
can't keep Wedgwood afloat.

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Away from the artisan potters,
the production line is busy

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turning out Wedgwood's
bread and butter -

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the plates, cups and saucers
for which the company is known,

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destined for dining tables
all over the world.

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Slightly more mid-range,

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slightly less handmade,

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but all distinguished by
a certain kind of quality.

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When you say "tough",
I mean, this is a relative word.

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You don't really mean tough, do you?

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I certainly do mean tough
and I'll demonstrate it.

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PLATE THUMPS

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It's so tough,
you can even stand on it.

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Me? You mean I could, with 15 stone?

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Certainly. I wouldn't dare.

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Be my guest.

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Your risk, as well. Well, here goes.

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Listen out for the crack.

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No, as safe as
the Rock of Gibraltar.

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These were the glory days.

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Back then, the whole world wanted
a piece of Wedgwood,

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and was willing to pay for it.

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There was a lot more people here.

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I think there was about 5,000 people

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altogether when I started.

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It was really busy.

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This particular job I'm doing,
there were 77 people doing this job.

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There's now two of us.

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For decades, this factory provided
employment for thousands.

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Today, things are a little quieter.

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MACHINE RUMBLES

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This Panther Vase
is quite a big job.

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There's a lot of things
that can go wrong with it.

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The slightest little mistake,
and we've lost it, you know?

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MACHINE RUMBLES

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44 years I've worked for Wedgwood,

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straight from school.

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In them days, everybody...

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Everybody who left school had a job.

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MACHINE RUMBLES

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Inspired by the vases of antiquity,
jasperware is the product

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of years of careful experimentation
by Josiah Wedgwood in the 1770s.

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The result is a fine-grained,
unglazed stoneware,

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which became the firm's trademark.

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It can be made in two ways -

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either coloured throughout

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or, as it is today,
sprayed with a surface coating.

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Later, this will allow the turner
to carefully reveal

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the base colour beneath.

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It's a process which requires
years of training

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and experience to master.

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Painstaking and labour-intensive,
these skills are becoming

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increasingly rare in an industry
undergoing rapid change.

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We don't know how long the pottery
industry here is, like,

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going to last, really.

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So...

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I mean, it's been OK for me,

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but will it be all right
in another 50 years?

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Nobody knows, you know?

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Only a few short years ago,
Wedgwood stood on the precipice.

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MUSIC: BBC News Theme

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Waterford Wedgwood, the company
that now owns the world-famous

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Wedgwood pottery brand,
has called in the administrators.

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The 250-year-old firm collapsed
after the banks pulled out

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of a financing deal,

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and now more than 2,500 jobs
are hanging in the balance.

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But salvation was at hand.

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Now under foreign ownership,

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this bastion of British industry
is reinventing itself

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for the 21st-century.

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On the other side of the factory
is a very different world -

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one that is less about manufacture
and more about taste and luxury,

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with a decidedly British flavour.

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And what could be more British
than afternoon tea?

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Good morning.

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Hi, good morning, how are you?

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Under the careful eye of
hospitality manager Mike Keane,

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a new kind of Wedgwood is emerging -

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a Wedgwood that
implicitly understands

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the value of its brand appeal
and isn't afraid to use it.

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This is our fabulous tea emporium,

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where we serve
a whole range of teas.

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We generally have lots of groups.

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Today we've got a group of 21
arriving from Japan.

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Wedgwood in Japan is such a...
It's such a big thing.

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I mean, they love it. They adore it.

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Of course, they shop.

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We had a group quite recently,
and they were late for lunch

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because they were too busy shopping.

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But that's not such
a bad thing either,

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cos they spend a lot of money.

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It's not unusual for us to
have a £2,000 or £3,000 sale

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and, you know,
who's going to argue against that?

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It's not just teacups and saucers
these tourists are buying -

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it's British tradition,
heritage, craftsmanship.

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The reality is that
much of Wedgwood's output

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is now made far from home,
in Indonesia.

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In Stoke-on-Trent, the skills on
which this company was built

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are now part of an experience -

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something to visit and photograph.

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For the artisans and craftspeople,
the job remains the same.

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This is the way it has
always been done -

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the only way it can be done.

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Once it's got another colour on it,
you can't separate the colours,

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so you just have to be
a little bit careful with this.

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Too expensive for me, these are.

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You'd think the company would let me
have one, really, wouldn't you?

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So it's come from...

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It's come from that to that,

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which has took a long time but...

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we got there.

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MACHINE HISSES

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THUMPING CONTINUES

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I've done 45 years,

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and I've done figure making
all the time.

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I roll the clay,

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I knock it in,

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and press it up on all the moulds.

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You occasionally make mistakes

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but it's very, very rare.
THUMPING

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It's more patience than anything,
because it's such a tedious job.

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There has been lads doing it
but they've never stuck it.

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You do it for a bit and say,

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"That's it.
It's too much like hard work."

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Cut the excess off.

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Then I get the waggler
and I waggle the figure out.

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The waggler.

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Everybody laughs at the waggler.

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The process dates back to 1764.

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It's still done exactly the same
today as when Josiah was doing it.

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I'm turning it round very slow.

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What this is actually doing now is,
every time it goes,

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then it pulls the pot towards
the tool and it'll cut.

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So it's shaving away,

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and eventually it will cut that
down to the base.

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You've got to get it just...
just right.

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Sometimes it'll cut
where you don't want it cut,

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so you have to adjust the tool
a little bit, you know?

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Over at the tearoom,

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Mike's coach party of Japanese
tourists has arrived.

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Hello.

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Are you having afternoon tea?

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Yeah, would you like
to come on through?

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Hi, it's just through here.

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This way here.

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'More often than not, they've only
got about an hour with us,

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'so we want to make sure that,
for that hour,

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'they're sat down and able to
enjoy the time with us.

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'Usually, when they arrive,
the cameras are out, sort of,

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'immediately,
and they're taking photographs.

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'So, yeah, it's big for them.'

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I often get referred to
as "the flamboyant man",

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which, I'm not sure if that's
a compliment or not,

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00:16:31,560 --> 00:16:33,840
but I kind of take it
as a compliment.

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00:16:33,840 --> 00:16:37,320
Hi. Is everything OK for you?
Yeah? All good? Good.

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00:16:37,320 --> 00:16:39,800
I worked in theatre
for about 15 years,

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00:16:39,800 --> 00:16:42,800
yeah, which I enjoyed immensely,

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00:16:42,800 --> 00:16:47,240
but I think, instinctively,
I felt a need for change.

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00:16:47,240 --> 00:16:50,600
You would like more tea? Certainly.
Yeah, absolutely.

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00:16:50,600 --> 00:16:51,960
Would you like any more tea?

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00:16:51,960 --> 00:16:54,920
'It's certainly a touch of theatre.
You're here on show.

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00:16:54,920 --> 00:16:57,680
'I think we're like swans.
I think, on the top,'

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00:16:57,680 --> 00:16:59,880
erm, we just keep smiling,

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00:16:59,880 --> 00:17:02,760
but underneath we're
paddling away like billyo.

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00:17:05,600 --> 00:17:09,240
The concept of afternoon tea is...
It waned at one point.

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00:17:09,240 --> 00:17:11,560
You know, coffee shops became
very, very popular

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00:17:11,560 --> 00:17:14,240
and the world of tea has, sort of,
declined slightly.

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00:17:14,240 --> 00:17:17,000
But afternoon tea's become
very, very popular again,

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00:17:17,000 --> 00:17:18,360
because it is high-end.

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00:17:18,360 --> 00:17:21,440
It is luxury. It is quite special
and quite unique.

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00:17:22,960 --> 00:17:27,360
We have a tearoom in India,
and Far Eastern countries,

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but this is the only one
actually in the UK.

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00:17:30,800 --> 00:17:34,840
The aspiration is to
expand on that, though.

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00:17:36,600 --> 00:17:39,480
Selling the Wedgwood tea experience
around the world

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is just the beginning.

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In 2015, the company was bought

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by the Finnish luxury giant,
Fiskars,

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00:17:49,480 --> 00:17:55,120
and, in its gleaming new offices,
a new Wedgwood has been crafted.

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00:17:56,200 --> 00:17:59,440
This quintessentially British
institution is becoming

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00:17:59,440 --> 00:18:03,560
a 21st-century superbrand,

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00:18:03,560 --> 00:18:09,280
drawing on its past to create
a bright new future.

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00:18:09,280 --> 00:18:11,800
Its new president, Ulrik Garde Due,

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is the man heritage brands turn to
when they need a modern makeover.

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00:18:17,600 --> 00:18:22,440
He's already worked his magic
at Burberry and Louis Vuitton.

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00:18:22,440 --> 00:18:25,560
Now it's Wedgwood's turn.

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Well, what you are seeing is
the jasper range in

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00:18:28,880 --> 00:18:31,200
more contemporary shapes,

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00:18:31,200 --> 00:18:37,320
and elaborating on our iconic
blue colour or blue colours.

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00:18:37,320 --> 00:18:41,440
And taking those into, also,
other colour schemes,

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00:18:41,440 --> 00:18:43,800
where you really mix and match,

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00:18:43,800 --> 00:18:48,520
and you even have a moving colour
target within one item,

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which already, there,
gives it a much more modern feel.

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00:18:53,560 --> 00:18:57,840
What we do need now is to
probably get a bit of the dust

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away from the Wedgwood image.

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00:18:59,960 --> 00:19:04,240
Make sure that, also,
the younger audience understand

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00:19:04,240 --> 00:19:06,320
the craftsmanship that we do.

250
00:19:06,320 --> 00:19:09,720
I see this brand very much
going into

251
00:19:09,720 --> 00:19:12,840
more of an English or British
lifestyle brand.

252
00:19:12,840 --> 00:19:15,080
Come on in, Marcus. Have a seat.

253
00:19:16,840 --> 00:19:20,640
This new Wedgwood will be about
more than just cups and saucers.

254
00:19:21,680 --> 00:19:24,280
It will be a lifestyle experience.

255
00:19:26,520 --> 00:19:28,200
Scarves.

256
00:19:28,200 --> 00:19:31,360
OK. These ones here.
Those are amazing.

257
00:19:31,360 --> 00:19:34,640
Have we looked at
the logo placement, here? Not yet.

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00:19:34,640 --> 00:19:36,600
Have you seen this?

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00:19:36,600 --> 00:19:37,880
What is this?

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00:19:37,880 --> 00:19:39,280
Chocolate.

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00:19:39,280 --> 00:19:43,000
Chocolate, OK.

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00:19:43,000 --> 00:19:45,480
Beautiful. Wedgwood chocolate.

263
00:19:45,480 --> 00:19:48,000
Yeah, but, of course, life is sweet.
Yeah.

264
00:19:55,000 --> 00:19:59,520
A new chapter is beginning
in the Wedgwood story -

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00:19:59,520 --> 00:20:03,320
one that repackages generations
of craft and tradition

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00:20:03,320 --> 00:20:05,520
for a newer, younger customer.

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00:20:09,240 --> 00:20:12,840
But, for the workers on
the factory floor, the question is,

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00:20:12,840 --> 00:20:15,040
how long can this craft last?

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00:20:16,200 --> 00:20:20,640
Children today, they don't seem
to want, like, hands-on.

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00:20:20,640 --> 00:20:24,680
They more like working with
computers these days

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00:20:24,680 --> 00:20:26,520
and things like that.

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00:20:33,360 --> 00:20:36,280
We've asked for trainees but they
come for a couple of weeks,

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00:20:36,280 --> 00:20:38,440
and then they say,
"No, I don't want it."

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00:20:38,440 --> 00:20:41,760
They'll have to bring somebody in
before long to train up.

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00:20:41,760 --> 00:20:43,720
We're all getting on.

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00:20:45,560 --> 00:20:49,200
If Wedgwood wants to keep its
heritage at the heart of the brand,

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00:20:49,200 --> 00:20:54,240
it will need to create a new
generation of artisan potters,

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00:20:54,240 --> 00:20:58,040
otherwise, the exacting skills
needed to make this vase

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could be lost forever.

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00:21:02,880 --> 00:21:05,880
You've just got to concentrate on
getting the right shape,

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00:21:05,880 --> 00:21:07,480
all the right sizes,

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00:21:07,480 --> 00:21:10,080
because, of course,
everything's got to fit together,

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00:21:10,080 --> 00:21:14,400
so it's got to be really spot-on.

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00:21:27,280 --> 00:21:29,320
MACHINE WHIRS

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00:22:01,760 --> 00:22:03,800
DISTANT LAUGHTER

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00:22:22,280 --> 00:22:26,920
You've got about ten seconds to
get it level,

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00:22:26,920 --> 00:22:29,040
and then it's stuck.

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00:22:40,560 --> 00:22:42,640
HE BLOWS AIR

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00:22:51,080 --> 00:22:53,120
HE BLOWS AIR

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00:23:02,160 --> 00:23:04,360
THUMPING

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00:23:07,880 --> 00:23:10,760
You've got to be spot-on,
cos you can't leave any fringe,

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00:23:10,760 --> 00:23:13,160
nor creases or whatever, in them.

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00:23:16,440 --> 00:23:21,200
There's 160 leaves
on one Panther Vase,

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00:23:21,200 --> 00:23:23,880
and I put them on a damp mat,

295
00:23:23,880 --> 00:23:27,360
and that's where they'll stay
till the ornamenter uses them.

296
00:23:36,200 --> 00:23:39,800
It's something that you've got
to have a lot of concentration for,

297
00:23:39,800 --> 00:23:42,960
cos every piece...
every piece is slightly different.

298
00:23:57,920 --> 00:24:01,400
If the ornaments are a bit drier
than the piece of ware

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00:24:01,400 --> 00:24:03,120
or vice versa,

300
00:24:03,120 --> 00:24:06,720
when it dries out completely,
it'll crack and come off.

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00:24:21,480 --> 00:24:23,600
The vase is nearing completion.

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00:24:30,080 --> 00:24:33,120
The panther figurines that
give the piece its name

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00:24:33,120 --> 00:24:35,960
are cast in liquid clay
and attached.

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00:24:37,600 --> 00:24:39,120
For Josiah Wedgwood,

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00:24:39,120 --> 00:24:45,280
this was the neoclassical design
that would become his hallmark -

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00:24:45,280 --> 00:24:49,440
a touch of antiquity for those
who couldn't quite afford

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00:24:49,440 --> 00:24:52,680
the real thing.

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00:24:52,680 --> 00:24:58,160
Then, as now, the final stage of
the process was the most risky -

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00:24:58,160 --> 00:24:59,880
firing.

310
00:25:02,960 --> 00:25:05,840
It was done in the bottle ovens
in the old days,

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00:25:05,840 --> 00:25:09,720
with the coal and straw
and everything.

312
00:25:09,720 --> 00:25:11,680
They'd fire it up,

313
00:25:11,680 --> 00:25:14,200
maybe for a lot longer
in those days,

314
00:25:14,200 --> 00:25:18,200
until they thought it was ready,
and then pull it out.

315
00:25:21,240 --> 00:25:26,120
It'll fire at 1,180 degrees
for 18 hours,

316
00:25:26,120 --> 00:25:30,120
and then it'll cool down
for about 12-14 hours,

317
00:25:30,120 --> 00:25:32,240
and it'll change colour
as it's firing.

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00:25:32,240 --> 00:25:34,280
GAS HISSES

319
00:25:34,280 --> 00:25:36,320
FLAME ROARS

320
00:25:59,640 --> 00:26:02,720
You never know until it's fired,
until you open the kiln door,

321
00:26:02,720 --> 00:26:05,320
whether it's all right
or it isn't all right.

322
00:26:12,240 --> 00:26:14,640
When it's right,
it's a very good feeling.

323
00:26:28,400 --> 00:26:34,400
Josiah Wedgwood may have helped
design this vase,

324
00:26:34,400 --> 00:26:37,200
but he probably wouldn't recognise
the company he founded

325
00:26:37,200 --> 00:26:39,480
over 250 years ago.

326
00:26:43,120 --> 00:26:47,560
As this national institution
attempts to reinvent itself,

327
00:26:47,560 --> 00:26:52,040
the Panther Vase might begin to
seem a touch out of place -

328
00:26:52,040 --> 00:26:57,880
quaintly old-fashioned -

329
00:26:57,880 --> 00:27:01,960
but the heritage it represents
is part of Wedgwood's DNA.

330
00:27:07,360 --> 00:27:14,760
It's a physical link between
the past and the present -

331
00:27:14,760 --> 00:27:18,560
perfect for the kind of customer
who wants some British prestige

332
00:27:18,560 --> 00:27:21,160
on their well-appointed mantelpiece.

333
00:27:24,080 --> 00:27:25,840
For the artisan potters,

334
00:27:25,840 --> 00:27:29,000
continuing a tradition that
goes back centuries,

335
00:27:29,000 --> 00:27:31,840
it represents something else -

336
00:27:31,840 --> 00:27:35,320
the simple knowledge of
a job well done.

337
00:27:36,520 --> 00:27:39,400
There's no room for error.
Everything's got to be perfect.

338
00:27:39,400 --> 00:27:41,840
It is a good achievement
when you see them on the shelf.

339
00:27:41,840 --> 00:27:44,120
I always think, you know,
"I did that."

340
00:27:47,880 --> 00:27:50,920
It's nice when you actually see
the piece go from here,

341
00:27:50,920 --> 00:27:52,880
through all the different stages,

342
00:27:52,880 --> 00:27:56,560
and end up over at the other side
there when it's finished.

343
00:28:00,000 --> 00:28:03,520
I think it's the end product, when
you know what you've done to it.

344
00:28:03,520 --> 00:28:05,440
You know,
them are my figures on there,

345
00:28:05,440 --> 00:28:09,760
and it's going to be sold
anywhere in the world.