Emma Bridgwater Pottery

The company was born in 1985, when Emma was looking for a birthday present for her mother. She wanted to buy a cup and saucer, but in the shops she couldn’t find anything that she liked; the choices seemed to be either bewilderingly formal bone china with stiff silver or gold patterns, or clunky earthenware. 

Emma drew four shapes, a mug, a bowl, a jug and a dish. She went to Stoke-on-Trent to find a model-maker; she worked with him to get these first pieces just right. Luckily, her strong preference for cream earthenware was easily met as this was still in wide production in many large and small potteries in the city. Staffordshire earthenware has had a world-wide reputation since Josiah Wedgwood pioneered his beautiful creamware in the early 1800s. When her shapes were sampled, she started experimenting with the forgotten decorative technique of sponge printing, applying simple patterns with a cut sponge. She showed these samples to a selection of buyers, who almost all placed orders, and the show was on the road.