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A Lavish Look at an English Design Icon: The Wedgwood Story

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Wedgwood: A Story of Creation and Innovation

Wedgwood: A Story of Creation and Innovation by Gaye Blake-Roberts, Rizzoli New York, 2017

If the timeless elegance of English design has ever tugged at your heart, influenced your taste or helped shape your world view of interior design, then “Wedgwood: A Story of Creation and Innovation” will resonate. One of the most distinguished china brands in the world, Wedgwood is the essence of English design and craftsmanship. With rarely-seen photographs, drawings and watercolors from Wedgwood’s extensive archive dating back to its founding in 1759, the book is a gorgeous visual celebration of English design. Unlike previous volumes that were geared to serious collectors only, this one will appeal to interior designers, collectors and everyday lovers of English country homes, art and fashion.

Wedgwood: A Story of Creation and Innovation Vase

The pioneering, innovative spirit of Wedgwood that emanated from its founder Josiah Wedgwood leaps up from every page. Visionary entrepreneur Wedgwood was a transformational figure whose understanding of taste and fashion enabled him to elevate pottery from a cottage craft into a luxury good, an art form and a global enterprise. Recognized as “Potter to Her Majesty,” Josiah built one of the most modern factories of his time,  “the opening of which coincided with the arrival of the dominant Neo-Classical architectural style and the development of great new country houses, inside which ornamental vases became one of the most important aspects of the interior décor,” author Gaye Blake-Roberts told Hadley Court.

“Vase No. 1,” pictured above, was the first hand-drawn shape in the factory record of ornamental wares manufactured.

Wedgewood: Centrepiece Bowl, circa 1790

Josiah Wedgwood was the creative mastermind behind Wedgwood’s most enduring collections, including Queen’s Ware, Black Basalt and Jasperware. Wedgwood was also an early champion of design collaboration. That tradition of collaboration continues at Wedgwood today, with celebrated designers such as Vera Wang and Jasper Conran.

Vera Wang Wedgwood

Pictured just above is one selection from the prolific Vera Wang Wedgwood line, the Simplicity Indigo Chevron Dinner Plate. 

Dating several centuries earlier, the bowl pictured above the dinner plate is the Centrepiece Bowl, circa 1790. The bowl is crafted of solid blue jasper with applied white and yellow strapwork in a basket weave pattern. Four applied flowers inside the bowl are there, possibly to support a pierced cover. 

Rayne Shoe Heel, circa 1960-1970

The chic Rayne Shoe Heel above, circa 1960-1970, is  another example of Wedgwood’s history of design and manufacturing collaboration. Beginning in 1958, Wedgwood manufactured a range of different styles and colors of jasper shoe heels for the British manufacturer Rayne Shoes. Available until the early 1970s, matching handbags with jasper ornamentation were also offered. Rayne produced shoes for Queen Elizabeth II, as well as many other members of the royal family.

The Wild Strawberry Collection

With strawberries and cream being an English institution, the succulence of wild strawberries inspired the Wild Strawberry Collection, above. The collection features crisp and clean white bone china decorated with finely drawn leaves, flowers and succulent red strawberries. A lustrous rim of 22-carat gold completes the decoration of this elegant and whimsical dinnerware collection.

The Parapet-Shaped Teapot, circa 1812-1828

Above, the Parapet-Shaped Teapot, circa 1812-1828, is crafted of bone china, hand-painted with pattern number 619: “Green leaves, shaded in black and red flowers, red brown leaves to them, lines gold.”

Darwin 'Water Lily' Pattern (Brown and Blue) 1808-1815

Darwin ‘Water Lily’ Pattern (Brown and Blue) 1808-1815, Wedgwood/John Robinson

It is believed that the inspiration for the “Water Lily’ pattern came from John Wedgwood, Josiah’s eldest son, who was particularly interested in horticulture and was one of the founding members of the Horticultural Society, later the Royal Horticultural Society.

A fascinating point of trivia about this earthy and organic pattern: it was erroneously called “Darwin Water Lily” because a set was given to Susannah Wedgwood Darwin, Josiah’s oldest child, by her brothers as part of her wedding present. She went on to become the mother of Charles Darwin.

“Wedgwood’s principal legacy,” believes Blake-Roberts, “was marrying art to industry and applying the principals of formal beauty to things of everyday use”…”Josiah rightly earned the tribute paid to him by William Ewart Gladstone, when in 1863 he commented that Wedgwood was, ‘The greatest man who ever, in any age or country, applied himself to the important work of uniting art with industry.”

 Photos courtesy of Rizzoli New York

Photo 4: wedgwood.com

Kim Darden Shaver

for

Leslie Hendrix Wood

Founder,
Editor In Chief
Hadley Court

Interior Designer
Leslie Hendrix Wood Interiors
Midland, Texas

Gracious Living. Timeless Design. Family Traditions.

Photos Courtesy of Lexington Home Brands. Photos 6, 9, 10 & 11 by Author.

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About Leslie Hendrix Wood

Leslie Hendrix Wood is the founding editor of the luxury lifestyle and design blog, Hadley Court and an has her own interior design firm, Leslie Hendrix Wood Interiors in Midland, Texas.

Leslie received her undergraduate degree in business. She worked briefly in banking and returned to school to earn her MBA.

Upon graduation, she moved to Washington D.C. to work on a Presidential campaign and received a Presidential appointment to a position in International Trade.

At the end of the administration, Leslie returned to her hometown and joined the family oil and gas business, although her first passion has always been, after raising her children with her husband, business and interior design.

When she saw her children were closer to leaving home, she decided to start the blog, Hadley Court. in 2012, which won the Design Bloggers Conference Hall of Fame award for Best New Design Blog in 2013 - a prestigious honor granted by her peers.

In 2014, she is, in addition to blogging, beginning to build the family friendly luxury lifestyle brand: HADLEY COURT, based on her values of Gracious Living, Timeless Design and Family Traditions.

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