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Josiah Wedgwood was
born in Burslem, Stoke in the Staffordshire region of England
to Thomas Wedgwood, a potter and the father of 13 children.
In fact, his grandfather and great-grandfather had also been
potters, while his mother ensured he received an education and
went to school every day a full 8 miles away from their home.
His father died in 1739 when he was only 9 years old, and young
Josiah served as a potter's apprentice to his older brother
in order to learn the craft. He got smallpocks at the age of
11, leaving him with a severely disfigured right leg which later
had to be amputated. He was more interested in the science of
making fine ceramics more so than the industrial production
which he found repetitive and less challenging than the associated
science and business aspects. He partnered with the leading
potter of the time, Thomas Whieldon, in 1754 to establish their
own operation in Burslem. He experimented with glazes and clays
while at the same time learning how to run and grow a business
as a new entrepreneur. His first big success was "creamware",
patented in 1763, which was a particular favorite of the English
Queen Charlotte. Using this as leverage, Wedgwood asked the
Queen to permit him to call this type of ceramic "Queensware",
which she granted and he subsequently marketed to profitable
effect.
As the Wedgwood operation
grew, he always maintained two separate divisions for the design
and production of finer quality ornamental lines versus items
for everyday use. In fact, Wedgwood was an early pioneer of
the "weekly wage" (versus piecework) and of modern
manufacturing techniques, employing hundreds of people to perform
a specific task as only one step of many along the production
cycle. It is said that Wedgwood first used the "clocking
in" system for factory workers to monitor his workers and
their hours, and he invented the pyrometer which measured temperatures
in the kiln. In 1762, Josiah Wedgwood first met the merchant
Thomas Bentley, and Bentley took over the marketing of Wedgwood's
production. Bentley was an experienced businessman, and he increased
exports dramatically which further fueled Wedgwood's growing
reputation. Meanwhile, Josiah Wedgwood focused on the technology
and science, inventing the techniques to make Basaltware and
Jasperware. Black Basalt was first created in 1768 and named
after the Egyptian rock, but it was Jasperware which proved
to be their biggest success. He had been working to create Jasperware
since the early 1760s, but it required clay from teh Americas
which became expensive and hard to obtain. Finally, using Barium
Sulphate which he could obtain locally, Wedgwood at long last
produced his Jasperware, a dense white stoneware which could
be easily tinted. Jasperware continues to be the most recognizable
of the Wedgwood wares, and blue remains the most popular color
today just as it was when Jasperware was first introduced.
To ramp up production,
they built a new factory in 1771 named Eturia and built the
Trent & Mersey canal with the support of the Duke of Bridgewater
to bring in clay from Cornwall and deliver completed goods to
the market. By consolidating manufacturing and building a new
facility, Bentley and Wedgwood were able to optimize all the
latest manufacturing techniques and quality controls and organize
labor with a social conscience. They employed many innovative
worker relations techniques like tying wages to the skill levels
of the workers, and many politicians and world industrialists
visited the factory to see his theories in action. Wedgwood
also is said to have opened the first true shop for the sale
of ceramics, for previously pieces were made custom to the customer's
designs. Wedgwood developed entire lines which were marketed
through the showrooms, the first of which opened in London in
1774. Josiah Wedgwood died in 1795 and left the business to
his son Thomas. This lasting legacy continues in operation today,
and Wedgwood remains one of the world's most desirable and recognizable
brand names.
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