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“We need to do something radical for the future of Stoke-on-Trent,” says Emily Johnson, founder of ceramics brand 1882 Ltd. As the fifth generation of a local pottery lineage, Johnson is passionate about reinvigorating the West Midlands city through its once-thriving ceramics industry. It’s a mission at the heart of her brand — launched alongside her father in 2011 to create functional design objects by the likes of Faye Toogood and Paul Smith — as well as her latest initiative: a just-opened exhibition at the Potteries Museum & Art Gallery in Stoke-on-Trent.
Titled 100 Years, 60 Designers and 1 Future, the show is part of a roster of events celebrating the centenary of Stoke-on-Trent, a conglomeration of six towns, being granted city status. It centres on a display of 61 plates created by 1882 Ltd according to designs by 60 collaborators from across the creative industries — including John Pawson, Zandra Rhodes, Max Lamb, Bethan Laura Wood and Yinka Ilori.
“They’re all glazed, but use different techniques: colour overlay, hand painting, gilding,” says Johnson. “Some are funny, some poignant; there are poems, written words, bold brushwork.”
The original signed plates will be auctioned online in September; another unsigned run will be on display at Fortnum & Mason in London throughout August, and will be available to buy from 1882 Ltd at a later date. The goal is to fund a new apprenticeship in the decoration shop at 1882’s factory.
“We currently employ two women who are skilled beyond measure at glaze decoration, gilding, hand-building, flower-making, tube-lining, colour, pooling, bubbling,” says Johnson. “They are both in their mid-fifties and they desperately want to pass on their skills to the next generation.”
The average age on the 1882 Ltd factory floor is 55. “So really, every single person needs an apprentice,” says Johnson. “We currently receive no financial support from government or private enterprise, nor are there any workable apprenticeship schemes operating in the industry.”
It’s a campaign for visibility, identity and pride that has struck a chord with collaborators. Johnson invited 50 people to participate, but word spread and she quickly added a further 10 names. For Oscar-winning set designer Shona Heath — who has previously created two whimsical sculptural additions to the 1882 Ltd collection — the project brings home the wider cultural value of keeping production local.
“A lot of Stoke-on-Trent was built and populated because of the ceramics industry — it was its reason for being,” she says. “It would be so sad if that was lost — if everything was flown in from elsewhere, including copies of things that originated here.”
But visitors and auction bidders will have to work out for themselves which plate is by Heath’s hand; the plates are displayed without labels. “Some are unmistakable,” says Johnson. Others require more guesswork. They will be showcased alongside 1882’s ongoing, technicolour collaboration with Robbie Williams — the Stoke-on-Trent-born pop star who is “second only to the King, in Stoke”, quips Johnson — including busts inspired by two drawings of Jesus and the pope.
At a time when the city’s historic Moorcroft factory has just been saved from liquidation by the founder’s grandson, “above all,” concludes Johnson, “it’s about hope.”
“100 Years, 60 Designers and 1 Future” runs at the Potteries Museum & Art Gallery until December 7; 1882ltd.com. Auction bids can be placed via givergy.com
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