Photography by Kathy McGuinness Designs
Covid Side Effect- old Wedgwood
is hotter than ever
Now-vintage British pottery is back in fashion - if you don't want to keep it, now's the time to sell. The stores are still off-limits and ready buyers are captive at home. They're looking to the internet to alleviate some of the boredom and sooth their souls with pretties.
Vintage pottery is having a huge resurgence in stylish modern homes. Spode’s landscape plates, Bristol’s mantle vases, Hornsea’s coffee pots and Staffordshire tea cups are all wanted by the fashion crowd, who have turned to decorating their homes with beautiful, quality second-hand finds that are the opposite of identikit high street buys. The “made in Britain” stamps are essential, as markers of quality scarcely found in the modern homewares market. Age only makes the items seem more exclusive – there is appeal in knowing not everyone else has it.
Caroline Leaper at home with willow pattern plates by Meakin and an assortment of pots by Artone and Wedgwood.
Photograph courtesy of the Telegraph
Paul Williams Speaks on the Impact of the Wedgwood Museum
Paul Williams, chairman of Stoke-on-Trent’s Cultural Destinations Partnership says that the Wedgwood Museum is an apt way to honour the ‘greatest man who applied himself to uniting art and industry’
Wedgwood Museum’s unparalleled collection, encyclopaedic and global in scope, contains 80,000 works of art, ceramics, manuscripts and letters, pattern books and photographs which stand as an extraordinary testament to the ‘greatest man who ever, in any age, or in any country … applied himself to the important work of uniting art and industry’.
The complete article of the Wedgwood Museum's history can be found on Stoke On Trent Live.
Wedgwood International Seminar presents ZOOM lecture series
The Wedgwood Society of Washington DC is pleased to share this information about the WIS Zoom Lecture Series.
An email will be sent to you before each meeting with a link. Please use the dedicated email address, WedgwoodInternationalS@gmail.com, for any questions about The WIS Zoom Lecture Series.
Each lecture will be recorded and will be posted on the WIS Website and the WIS Facebook Page.
The following is the schedule for The WIS Zoom Lecture Series:
PLEASE NOTE: Each of these meetings is free of charge and is open to the public.
April 16, 2021 Gaye Blake Roberts, Senior Research Fellow, The Research Department of the V&A in London.
"My much-esteemed friend" - Some Aspects of Thomas Bentley's Life and Achievements”
May 14, 2021 Rebecca Klarner, Collections and Curatorial Services Officer at V&A Collections at World of
Wedgwood. “Thérèse Lessore at Wedgwood”
June 18, 2021 Catrin Jones, Chief Curator at World of Wedgwood. “Wedgwood's Networks: a British Story,
a Global Trade”
Please note that each meeting will be on Fridays at 2:30pm U.S.A Eastern Standard Time.
The format for each meeting will allow members to socialize (if they sign in early) while the host is letting members into each session. After the conclusion of each 45-60-minute talk, participants will be able to ask questions. Disseminating cutting edge information about Wedgwood has always been one of the main purposes of The Wedgwood International Seminar. In the future, after the seminar can resume, the WIS hopes to have several Zoom lectures each year to augment the educational function of the WIS. We hope that many of you across the world will decide to become a member of The Wedgwood International Seminar so that you will join us when we are again able to hold our in-person meetings. We may not be able to gather in person for a while, but we are able to carry on the tradition in a 21st Century way. We think that Josiah would not only approve but would appreciate the innovative way we will be carrying on.
A visit to Burslem in search of Wedgwood's
First Factory- Ivy House Works
Working our way through streaming TV we uncovered a hidden Wedgwood gem. Time Team is a British TV show that originally aired on Channel 4. With help from experts and archaeologists host Tony Robinson has 3 days to discover historical artifacts at sites all around Britain. Season 6, episode 1, currently offered as “Classic Time Team” investigates the possible site of Wedgwood’s first factory. Originally broadcast in January 1999 this episode can be
seen on Amazon Prime.
Images from the episode courtesy of Channel 4 and VideoText Communications Ltd.
Special commemorative vase created by Wedgwood
and decorated by Victor Ambrus, resident illustrator
Time Team Host Tony Robinson (far left) examines pottery shards with experts.
Archeologists uncover a Victorian tile floor in their search for
Wedgwood's Ivy House Works in Burslem in this Time Team episode
The Grenville Winthrop
Collection of Old Wedgwood
The WSWDC Meeting held November 15th featured guest lecture Casey Monahan entitled: The Grenville L. Winthrop Collection of Old Wedgwood. She shared the amazing collection via ZOOM as well as insight into the unique marketing skills of Wedgwood dealer Frederick Rathbone. We're sharing the link to her article on the Grenville Portland Vase here:
