Wedgwood Josiah Wedgwood: The Entrepreneurial

Wedgwood

Josiah Wedgwood: The entrepreneurial giant

Josiah Wedgwood is called the father of industrialized manufacturing of pottery in England. As his days were known for advances in scientific means of manufacturing with rapid development in industrialization, Wedgwood was keen about learning new ways of creating his branded earthenware, glassware and other forms of precious porcelain and this interest led to a revolution of sorts in the English pottery industry. To categorize Wedgwood as a potter would be like calling the sun a light bulb. He was a lot more than a mere potter. His business acumen combined with his interest in learning turned him into one of the most successful entrepreneurs of his time.

It was towards the middle of the 18th century that pottery industry underwent a massive overhaul in England. People had suddenly realized they were no longer interested in old handcraft methods of Staffordshire and wanted something more mass-produced and more urban in taste. The industrial Revolution had changed people's preferences and this profound political and social change was reflected in the growing demand for different kind of pottery designs. With the revolution in full force, two important things emerged. One was the introduction of steam power and the other was the development of the principle of the division of labor. Josiah Wedgwood was quick to respond to this change and perfected his Queen's Ware in 1762.

Wedgwood was proud to call himself 'Potter to the Queen' and also had an entire line called Queensware, but he was not politically involved as some other people of his time. His interests lay in another direction and he literally personified the 'Age of Improvement'. He is known for his role as a nonconformist Midlands manufacturer during the Industrial Revolution. (Farrar, 1973)

His entrepreneurial spirit made good use of the expanding factory structure and successfully led to him to creation of less expensive wares than porcelain. He was however no ordinary potter of the common man. He was equally popular among the aristocratic as well as the middle-class markets (Finer and Savage: 1965), 58-9). Wedgwood employed production techniques that were meant to improve quality of pottery and this led to the mass production of earthenware at low prices. He was an exceptional businessman who introduced the concept of brand strategy much before it was known by the modern management world.

Josiah Wedgwood is often cited as the father of the modern brand. Beginning in the 1760s, Wedgwood placed his name on his pottery and china to indicate their source -- his state-of-the-art factories -- and therefore their quality. But the Wedgwood name came to stand for something more. Nearly two hundred years before the advent of mass media, and without using conventional advertising, Wedgwood used royal endorsements and other marketing devices to create an aura around the name of his company that gave the brand a value far beyond the attributes of the product itself. His business design of mass production and distribution enabled him to capture the value created by his calculated association of his product with a rich and famous lifestyle and his exploitation of customers' social aspirations. (Almquist and Roberts)

He took inspiration from Greek models and found a good source of inspiration in Etruscan ware and by 1768, he had already become a producer of red-on-black 'Etruscan' ware at his Burslem factory. On 13 June 1769 Wedgwood inaugurated his new Ornamental Works at the aptly named Etruria. This opening in the English Potteries saw the six black pots thrown in as Bentley turned the wheel. One such pot can be seen in (Fig. 1). These vessels were decorative and had some of the most beautiful scenes painted on them. These scenes mostly came from Hamilton's plate, an example of which can be seen in Figure 2. Once the idea caught up with Wedgwood, he realized that there was great commercial value in painting sceneries on blackware and most of these beautiful scenes came from prominent sources like well-known paintings etc. He was not overestimating the potential of such vessels as in 1770 a well wisher wrote to him saying: 'When Roman luxury increas'd, Etruscan ware gave place to Plate; but when English luxury seems at the height, your elegant taste has put to flight Gold & Silver vessels, & banished them from our Tables.' [Quoted in Farrar (1973), 1. 364.]

Wedgwood 'encaustic' ware vase. It has decorations from one of the vases in d'Hancarville, Hamilton Collection. Wedgwood Museum, Barlaston

Fig 2: Attic red-figure pottery decoration. Women. P. d'Hancarville, Hamilton Collection,

Wedgwood was very particular about the quality of his products as Boswell recounted and is cited in one of the many books on Wedgwood: "As he vividly expressed it, he saw him as 'an Iron Captain in the midst of his troops'. Wedgwood the potter, when he tried to enforce a strictly regulated division of labor in his workshops, had to fight not only the ill-will but the open hostility of his workpeople. He succeeded, however, in breaking down all opposition. The high quality of his wares, which made his trade-mark famous throughout the world, was only achieved by his tireless energy together with his constant supervision of every detail. He stumped about everywhere on his wooden leg, breaking with his own hand any pot which showed the least flaw, and chalking on the careless workman's bench: 'This won't do for Josiah Wedgwood.'" [Mantoux. 1961: 376]

The encaustic Etruscan wares that were inspired by Greek models and paintings were priced according to their size. Most small pieces were priced at 6 or 7 shillings, but some of the bigger ones could cost 30 guineas or more [Meteyard (1865-6), 2. 148]. Horace Walpole in his account of Wedgwood products wrote in 1770 that 'we have Etruscan vases, made of earthenware, in Staffordshire, from two to five guineas'. [Toynbee (1903-5), 7. 380] Bentley explained how prices were established and enhanced in one of his letters to a retailer. This letter is a good example of skillful salesmanship:

We have at length got some Etruscan Vases in great forwardness, & shall send you several sets by the next Carrier. If any of your Friends wonder why you have not got more & oftener, please to give them to understand that it is very difficult to make fine and perfect things of any kind. How often does our great Mistress Nature Fail, even in the finest Order of her Productions! The angelic Sex themselves are not all perfectly straight, delicate and beautiful, no more than our Vases; and you may contrive to edge in the Natural Inferene that every good Thing deserves a good Price. [Meteyard (1865-6), 2. 98-9]

Wedgwood's patent for 'encaustic' was however not approved immediately and was in fact stolen by another manufacturer. This event did not really upset Wedgwood as he saw another opportunity arising out of this rare occurrence. He wrote to Bentley:

May not this affair furnish us with a good excuse for advertising away at a great rate?... And in this advertisement could you not weave in Count Caylus' lamentation that no artists had then been able to imitate the ancient Etruscan Vases... At this time such a publication might answer more purposes than one to us. [Farrar (1973), 1. 378]

Wedgwood's ideas resulted in great popularity of Greek designs in vases. It was finally heartening to see that people were appreciating Greek beauty and artistic sense and were no longer equating them to antiquity. Some of these vases were even sold to the British Museum in 1772 and Wedgwood's name into history book as reviver of Greek art and design. As 1 bth century drew to a close, Greek pottery had become a very common and popular item throughout Europe a.L. Millin stated in 1808: 'Today governments have formed collections of this kind for the improvement of industry (pour le perfectionnement des manufactures)'; and there are some in all the capitals of Europe where the arts are respected.' [Millin (1808-10), 1, pp. xvii-xviii.]