0:00:07 > 0:00:09This is a ruined empire.
0:00:10 > 0:00:12Not Rome or Athens...
0:00:14 > 0:00:16..but Stoke-on-Trent.
0:00:18 > 0:00:20For over 200 years,
0:00:20 > 0:00:23this was the heart of ceramic industrial production...
0:00:25 > 0:00:28..for not just Britain, but much of the world.
0:00:31 > 0:00:34What had been a humble peasant craft
0:00:34 > 0:00:36exploded in the 18th century
0:00:36 > 0:00:40into a lucrative cutting-edge industry.
0:00:42 > 0:00:45It changed the way we saw pottery.
0:00:45 > 0:00:49But it also transformed the way we worked.
0:00:49 > 0:00:53Stoke, in its heyday, made the best industrial ceramics in the world.
0:00:54 > 0:00:58The ceramic goods produced in Stoke-on-Trent
0:00:58 > 0:01:02were more than just the products of an industry.
0:01:02 > 0:01:05They were, at their best, an art form unlike any other.
0:01:07 > 0:01:09They were functional art.
0:01:10 > 0:01:14And at their peak, the factories of Stoke-on-Trent
0:01:14 > 0:01:18were unsurpassed in bringing together artistry and craftsmanship.
0:01:20 > 0:01:24Yet the Stoke-on-Trent story is about more than just factories.
0:01:26 > 0:01:29It's about people.
0:01:29 > 0:01:31The pioneering men and women
0:01:31 > 0:01:33who made some of the most beautiful objects ever created
0:01:33 > 0:01:35within these shores.
0:01:37 > 0:01:39And the armies of unsung workers
0:01:39 > 0:01:42whose craftsmanship made Stoke-on-Trent a name
0:01:42 > 0:01:44known across the globe.
0:01:46 > 0:01:50Stoke-on-Trent is one of our great,
0:01:50 > 0:01:53inspiring sources of art.
0:01:55 > 0:01:58Wherever the British went, they took their pottery.
0:01:58 > 0:02:00You can find Staffordshire pottery from Alaska
0:02:00 > 0:02:03to the Falkland Islands, and every point in between.
0:02:03 > 0:02:06Staffordshire wares were the standard
0:02:06 > 0:02:08that other potters aspired to.
0:02:08 > 0:02:11But in the late 20th century,
0:02:11 > 0:02:14something went terribly wrong.
0:02:15 > 0:02:19The story of Stoke-on-Trent is a rags-to-riches epic.
0:02:19 > 0:02:23It's a massive romp through the Industrial Revolution,
0:02:23 > 0:02:26ending in a crumbling post-industrial ruin.
0:02:28 > 0:02:31Today, this once-great industrial heartland
0:02:31 > 0:02:35lives with the ghosts of its former glories.
0:02:36 > 0:02:42And one of our greatest traditions is now one of the most threatened.
0:02:44 > 0:02:46Makes you wonder what happened.
0:02:48 > 0:02:50Something's gone wrong somewhere.
0:03:04 > 0:03:06Only a few decades ago,
0:03:06 > 0:03:09Stoke-on-Trent was a place of national pride.
0:03:09 > 0:03:12A byword for creativity and industry.
0:03:13 > 0:03:17Over there is the city of Stoke-on-Trent.
0:03:17 > 0:03:20Stoke-ON-Trent, mind you, not Stoke-UPON-Trent.
0:03:20 > 0:03:23Me? Well, I'm Eric Ball,
0:03:23 > 0:03:26and this year, this city of mine is celebrating its anniversary.
0:03:26 > 0:03:29Come and take a closer look at our city.
0:03:31 > 0:03:34That was 1960.
0:03:36 > 0:03:39This is now.
0:03:44 > 0:03:49Nothing epitomises the rapid decline of Stoke-on-Trent's fortunes
0:03:49 > 0:03:51like Spode.
0:03:53 > 0:03:58Spode was once one of the largest producers of ceramics in the world.
0:03:58 > 0:04:03Today, only one employee is left at its former works.
0:04:03 > 0:04:09I've worked at Spode for nine years. Nine very good years at Spode.
0:04:11 > 0:04:13I was employed as a security officer,
0:04:13 > 0:04:21which we did right up until the administrators moved in, in 2008.
0:04:28 > 0:04:30Production used to run 24/7,
0:04:30 > 0:04:33but obviously, as the factory was closed down,
0:04:33 > 0:04:37and all the machinery was ripped out, it became more of a graveyard.
0:04:37 > 0:04:40If you dropped a pin, you could hear a pin drop on the floor,
0:04:40 > 0:04:44and you couldn't hear that when it was up and running.
0:04:48 > 0:04:51Josiah Spode, who built the factory,
0:04:51 > 0:04:53he walked these very grounds.
0:04:56 > 0:04:59But I'll never forget all those who worked here.
0:04:59 > 0:05:02And I think I feel better
0:05:02 > 0:05:05knowing that I'm keeping a place tidy which they loved.
0:05:05 > 0:05:07They loved to work here.
0:05:12 > 0:05:14There are jobs I can still do myself,
0:05:14 > 0:05:17like cutting the grass at the front. If there's weeds,
0:05:17 > 0:05:21pull the weeds out, it doesn't hurt, and I've got a bit of time.
0:05:21 > 0:05:24I don't sit down. There's a lot for me to do.
0:05:24 > 0:05:28But I shall continue to do it, you know.
0:05:38 > 0:05:43The story of Spode is echoed right across Stoke-on-Trent.
0:05:43 > 0:05:47In just the last few years, nearly all the great factories have closed.
0:05:49 > 0:05:52But to understand the fall of this mighty city,
0:05:52 > 0:05:55you need to go right back, before its heyday,
0:05:55 > 0:05:57into the mists of time.
0:05:59 > 0:06:03The story of Stoke-on-Trent begins with the very ground
0:06:03 > 0:06:05on which it stands.
0:06:07 > 0:06:10NEWSREEL: 'These were the villages.
0:06:10 > 0:06:15'Under the fields was clay, and under the clay, coal.
0:06:15 > 0:06:19'They mined the coal and dug the clay and the villages grew.'
0:06:19 > 0:06:22The ceramic industry developed in North Staffordshire primarily
0:06:22 > 0:06:24because of wonderful coal.
0:06:24 > 0:06:28In fact, you need ten times more coal than clay in proportion,
0:06:28 > 0:06:31therefore it was very much easier to bring clay to the coal.
0:06:31 > 0:06:36But similarly, there were seams of relatively good red and yellow clay in this area
0:06:36 > 0:06:41that were suitable for making crude domestic earthenwares.
0:06:41 > 0:06:44Neil Brownsword is a local artist.
0:06:44 > 0:06:47After completing an apprenticeship as a modeller
0:06:47 > 0:06:49at the Wedgwood factory,
0:06:49 > 0:06:51he went to art school.
0:06:52 > 0:06:54Like everyone from Stoke,
0:06:54 > 0:06:57he grew up aware of the rich resource all around the city.
0:07:00 > 0:07:04This is what the city of Stoke-on-Trent is built on.
0:07:04 > 0:07:07The clay here is known as Etruria Marl,
0:07:07 > 0:07:12and it spreads throughout North Staffordshire.
0:07:12 > 0:07:14You can see it here, quite granular.
0:07:14 > 0:07:18Again, you get further down into the quarry and it's more liquid.
0:07:19 > 0:07:23The site's got a lot of personal resonance.
0:07:23 > 0:07:25We used to play here as children.
0:07:25 > 0:07:27Quite a dangerous site, I know,
0:07:27 > 0:07:31but I suppose it was my first contact with clay as a material.
0:07:31 > 0:07:35Handling it, modelling with it, even getting stuck in it here,
0:07:35 > 0:07:40so, I've got a lot of affection for this place.
0:07:41 > 0:07:44But clay on its own doesn't make an industry.
0:07:44 > 0:07:49Local potteries had used it since the Middle Ages,
0:07:49 > 0:07:54to make crude but sturdy earthenware like this 17th-century butter pot.
0:08:00 > 0:08:03It took an innovation at the end of the 17th century
0:08:03 > 0:08:06to launch the potteries nationally.
0:08:07 > 0:08:10And it came from a misunderstanding.
0:08:17 > 0:08:20This is Bradwell Hall.
0:08:21 > 0:08:23Today, it's a retirement home.
0:08:23 > 0:08:26But in 1690, it was the showy,
0:08:26 > 0:08:30new residence of two Dutch entrepreneurs,
0:08:30 > 0:08:32the Elers brothers.
0:08:34 > 0:08:37The 17th century saw Britain spreading its wings
0:08:37 > 0:08:38on the world stage,
0:08:38 > 0:08:42emerging as a powerful naval force and trading capital.
0:08:45 > 0:08:47And one phenomenon above all
0:08:47 > 0:08:49epitomised the change in Britain's status.
0:08:51 > 0:08:52Tea.
0:08:54 > 0:08:57Tea was imported all the way from China.
0:08:57 > 0:09:00Drinking it was a sign of wealth,
0:09:00 > 0:09:03of sophistication, of open-mindedness.
0:09:04 > 0:09:07And with the tea came teapots,
0:09:07 > 0:09:11the likes of which had never been seen before.
0:09:15 > 0:09:20Chinese teapots were the unintended consequence
0:09:20 > 0:09:22of the new vogue for tea.
0:09:22 > 0:09:25The tea clippers that were coming back from the East
0:09:25 > 0:09:26with cargoes of tea,
0:09:26 > 0:09:29the merchants used to pack a bit of china into the hold
0:09:29 > 0:09:31cos it was heavy and acted as ballast.
0:09:31 > 0:09:34So, you know, they weren't really all that interested in it.
0:09:34 > 0:09:37But it was quite a useful way of filling up the ship.
0:09:37 > 0:09:41But then, people began to see it, love it, want it, acquire it.
0:09:41 > 0:09:43And then, over time,
0:09:43 > 0:09:46British people began to try to copy these items,
0:09:46 > 0:09:47which was difficult for them.
0:09:49 > 0:09:54A red stoneware teapot like this, from Yixing, was both delicate
0:09:54 > 0:09:59and ornate, decorated with vines and foraging squirrels.
0:10:02 > 0:10:05And tea was supposed to taste better from it, too.
0:10:05 > 0:10:08The Yixing clay was highly prized
0:10:08 > 0:10:12for its ability to absorb traces of the tea,
0:10:12 > 0:10:13giving it a deeper flavour.
0:10:19 > 0:10:21Back in Stoke-on-Trent,
0:10:21 > 0:10:25the ingenious Elers brothers spotted a gap in the market.
0:10:25 > 0:10:29They decided to manufacture affordable tea ware
0:10:29 > 0:10:33using a very fine red clay they had discovered near their home.
0:10:33 > 0:10:35But there was one problem.
0:10:37 > 0:10:39They were silversmiths.
0:10:39 > 0:10:42They had no idea how to throw a pot.
0:10:51 > 0:10:54This is a surviving teapot by the Elers brothers.
0:10:55 > 0:10:57Like the Yixing version, it's red stoneware
0:10:57 > 0:11:00with moulded decorations.
0:11:00 > 0:11:02This time, sprays of prunus blossoms.
0:11:05 > 0:11:08It was a serious rival to the Chinese tea ware...
0:11:09 > 0:11:11..and it was local.
0:11:12 > 0:11:14Somehow, the Elers brothers
0:11:14 > 0:11:17had managed to overcome their ignorance of pot-making.
0:11:17 > 0:11:19And more than that,
0:11:19 > 0:11:22they sparked a manufacturing revolution.
0:11:28 > 0:11:30This is a classic Elers production,
0:11:30 > 0:11:33and the curious thing is that it's completely round.
0:11:33 > 0:11:37And it's the sort of thing that any sensible potter
0:11:37 > 0:11:39would have thrown on a wheel.
0:11:39 > 0:11:42But they chose to cast their products in plaster moulds
0:11:42 > 0:11:46and it may be that that is because they weren't practising potters,
0:11:46 > 0:11:49so they didn't know what they were doing.
0:11:49 > 0:11:52And through ignorance, they introduced this method,
0:11:52 > 0:11:57which succeeding generations of potters did exploit.
0:11:58 > 0:12:02This mug, slipcast and lathe-turned, has a band of silver
0:12:02 > 0:12:04mounted on its lip,
0:12:04 > 0:12:08a reminder of the Elers' old profession as silversmiths.
0:12:14 > 0:12:17But it's the slipcasting method of manufacture
0:12:17 > 0:12:19that marks it out as special.
0:12:23 > 0:12:25Pouring liquid clay, known as slip,
0:12:25 > 0:12:28into plaster moulds, became instrumental
0:12:28 > 0:12:32in allowing potters to produce complex shapes in bulk -
0:12:32 > 0:12:35the beginnings of mass production in Britain.
0:12:35 > 0:12:38If Stoke-on-Trent had the clay,
0:12:38 > 0:12:41the Elers had brought a new quality -
0:12:41 > 0:12:43ingenuity.
0:12:44 > 0:12:49But they lacked something crucial to the success of the potteries -
0:12:49 > 0:12:52an understanding of the area or the market.
0:12:53 > 0:12:57The stage was now set, though, for a man who would put pottery
0:12:57 > 0:13:00at the heart of the Industrial Revolution.
0:13:05 > 0:13:09An innovator, an industrialist, but most importantly,
0:13:09 > 0:13:14Josiah Wedgwood was a man who understood people as well as pots.
0:13:16 > 0:13:18And he was confident that Britain could make pots
0:13:18 > 0:13:21as exquisite as any in the world.
0:13:21 > 0:13:25As a young man, all he could see around him was opportunity,
0:13:25 > 0:13:28as he was later to recall.
0:13:28 > 0:13:30I saw the field was spacious,
0:13:30 > 0:13:33and the soil so good, as to promise an ample recompense
0:13:33 > 0:13:36to anyone who should labour diligently in its cultivation.
0:13:40 > 0:13:43Josiah Wedgwood was born in 1730 in Burslem,
0:13:43 > 0:13:46one of the six historic towns that later joined
0:13:46 > 0:13:49to become Stoke-on-Trent.
0:13:49 > 0:13:51The youngest of 12 children,
0:13:51 > 0:13:54he came from five generations of local potters.
0:13:57 > 0:14:00Josiah Wedgwood came on the scene at precisely the right time
0:14:00 > 0:14:06because between 1710 and 1760, the potteries had industrialised,
0:14:06 > 0:14:09a whole new range of pottery types and wares were being made,
0:14:09 > 0:14:15export markets were in place, transport networks were opening up,
0:14:15 > 0:14:19but what was being made was not ambitious,
0:14:19 > 0:14:23and ambitious pottery is what Wedgwood wanted to make.
0:14:24 > 0:14:28By the age of nine, he was already showing a flair for pottery.
0:14:28 > 0:14:33However, a bout of smallpox left him with a weakened right leg,
0:14:33 > 0:14:35meaning he couldn't use a kick wheel.
0:14:37 > 0:14:42So instead, he threw himself into developing new bodies and glazes.
0:14:44 > 0:14:48Wedgwood quickly marked himself out as a tireless experimenter
0:14:48 > 0:14:50with a brilliant, restless mind.
0:14:52 > 0:14:54He filled up countless notebooks
0:14:54 > 0:14:57with details of his scientific investigations
0:14:57 > 0:15:00into new forms and glazes.
0:15:02 > 0:15:06This coffee pot is one of his earliest creations,
0:15:06 > 0:15:09the result of a series of trials during his apprenticeship
0:15:09 > 0:15:11to a local master potter.
0:15:12 > 0:15:16Nothing had been seen like it before.
0:15:16 > 0:15:20A green glaze made up of white lead, calcined flint and copper
0:15:20 > 0:15:23was matched to a wonderful translucency.
0:15:25 > 0:15:28It became known as "Mr Wedgwood's Green".
0:15:30 > 0:15:33With it, the young Wedgwood showed a precocious mastery
0:15:33 > 0:15:36of shape and colour.
0:15:42 > 0:15:43More importantly,
0:15:43 > 0:15:48it shows he had picked up on a new spirit emerging in British society.
0:15:50 > 0:15:52As you get more and more products,
0:15:52 > 0:15:54you need to find a new way of marking yourself out,
0:15:54 > 0:15:56rather than just having a lot of things,
0:15:56 > 0:15:58or having really expensive things.
0:15:58 > 0:16:01That was the determinate of good taste in the Tudor period.
0:16:01 > 0:16:03It was the richest, the most luxurious,
0:16:03 > 0:16:05the best that money could buy.
0:16:05 > 0:16:08In the 18th century, that's not enough to mark yourself out.
0:16:08 > 0:16:11Something else enters the equation and that is taste.
0:16:11 > 0:16:14The idea that your education, your travel,
0:16:14 > 0:16:17your sort of innate gentility of your mind,
0:16:17 > 0:16:19will help you choose more tasteful things
0:16:19 > 0:16:22than the same person with the same amount of money
0:16:22 > 0:16:24but a worse education would do.
0:16:26 > 0:16:30In 1759, Wedgwood set up his first pottery,
0:16:30 > 0:16:32known as Ivy House Works.
0:16:34 > 0:16:37He put everything he had into it.
0:16:37 > 0:16:40He was determined not to make the same mistake
0:16:40 > 0:16:44many of his contemporaries had made trying to emulate Chinese porcelain.
0:16:46 > 0:16:50What the English porcelain factories were trying to produce
0:16:50 > 0:16:52was an imitation of Chinese hard-paste porcelain.
0:16:52 > 0:16:54They could see the finished product.
0:16:54 > 0:16:57That was all around them, imported by the East India Company.
0:16:57 > 0:17:00What they didn't know was how it was made.
0:17:06 > 0:17:08They knew it was white and translucent.
0:17:08 > 0:17:10How do you get that effect?
0:17:10 > 0:17:13So, each of the factories would come up with their own recipe.
0:17:13 > 0:17:15Some were more successful than others.
0:17:15 > 0:17:20They'd use china clay, ball clays, soapstone, glass,
0:17:20 > 0:17:23anything that they could think of in the mix,
0:17:23 > 0:17:25anything that would give a white body
0:17:25 > 0:17:27that would hopefully be translucent when fired.
0:17:32 > 0:17:33A few factories would run
0:17:33 > 0:17:36for perhaps five or six years, maybe a decade,
0:17:36 > 0:17:38but ultimately, most failed.
0:17:41 > 0:17:44Rather than succumbing to the siren song of porcelain,
0:17:44 > 0:17:48Wedgwood perfected his own version of the local earthenware product
0:17:48 > 0:17:49known as creamware.
0:17:51 > 0:17:54Made from English clay and calcined flint,
0:17:54 > 0:17:58Wedgwood improved it by adding cobalt blue to the lead glaze
0:17:58 > 0:18:03to whiten it even more and make it attractive and affordable.
0:18:09 > 0:18:11It was a brilliant solution.
0:18:11 > 0:18:17Creamware would become one of Britain's key contributions to ceramics,
0:18:17 > 0:18:20a material that worked well and could be beautiful.
0:18:22 > 0:18:26I'm certain that having seen so many factories suffer financially
0:18:26 > 0:18:28in the production of porcelain,
0:18:28 > 0:18:31which, in the 18th century, was notoriously difficult,
0:18:31 > 0:18:34Wedgwood chose to make earthenware which was stable
0:18:34 > 0:18:36and which he was confident of
0:18:36 > 0:18:39and which was producing a suitable material for the table.
0:18:39 > 0:18:42He chose to go down the route of something that would give him profit
0:18:42 > 0:18:47rather than drive him into any form of financial insecurity.
0:18:48 > 0:18:51Creamware would become the biggest-selling product
0:18:51 > 0:18:54of the potteries in the 18th century.
0:18:59 > 0:19:02It was a fantastic product and it remained in fashion
0:19:02 > 0:19:06for an enormous span of time because it fulfilled so many needs.
0:19:09 > 0:19:11It looked clean and hygienic.
0:19:11 > 0:19:13Unlike salt-glaze stoneware,
0:19:13 > 0:19:16it didn't have the gritty surface, so you could wash it.
0:19:16 > 0:19:18You could decorate it in any number of ways.
0:19:18 > 0:19:22You could sell it plain to the bottom end of the market,
0:19:22 > 0:19:25or you could sell it with armorials
0:19:25 > 0:19:28or neoclassical decoration to those at the top.
0:19:30 > 0:19:34This is Leeds Pottery in Longton, Stoke-on-Trent,
0:19:34 > 0:19:37one of the last surviving manufacturers of creamware,
0:19:37 > 0:19:39as Wedgwood would have known it.
0:19:40 > 0:19:45For the people working here, making pots is a family trade.
0:19:47 > 0:19:51My mum and dad used to work on a pot bank when they were 15.
0:19:51 > 0:19:54My dad used to be a placer.
0:19:54 > 0:19:57My mum was a cup handler, fettler, sponger.
0:19:57 > 0:20:00She done a bit of everything, really - decorating.
0:20:00 > 0:20:02I enjoy it.
0:20:02 > 0:20:05It's nice to keep it going round here,
0:20:05 > 0:20:08instead of doing everything abroad, like they do.
0:20:12 > 0:20:16The use of moulds filled with slip, pioneered by the Elers brothers,
0:20:16 > 0:20:19was one major advance in mass manufacturing of pots.
0:20:21 > 0:20:27But there was another breakthrough that would revolutionise pottery production.
0:20:29 > 0:20:33Transfer-printing allowed pots to be decorated quickly
0:20:33 > 0:20:36and to a uniform high standard.
0:20:38 > 0:20:41One early printer boasted they could transfer-print
0:20:41 > 0:20:441,200 tiles in a single day.
0:20:45 > 0:20:50This was a huge leap forward, a perfect union of art and technology.
0:20:56 > 0:20:59The Burleigh Pottery in Stoke-on-Trent is the last today
0:20:59 > 0:21:04still using an old method of underglaze transfer-printing on tissue paper.
0:21:06 > 0:21:10Designs? There's hundreds.
0:21:10 > 0:21:13I have a roller room downstairs and it's absolutely...
0:21:13 > 0:21:17There must be... maybe thousands in it.
0:21:17 > 0:21:21And the colours - blues, blacks, pinks, brown, green,
0:21:21 > 0:21:24different shades of blues, different shades of greens.
0:21:29 > 0:21:32I think most of my family have worked on here.
0:21:32 > 0:21:38My dad was a placer, my sister was the boss and my daughter worked on doing transferring.
0:21:38 > 0:21:41Yeah, and a lot of friends as well.
0:21:47 > 0:21:50When it comes off perfect, it is quite satisfying.
0:21:50 > 0:21:52Which they do, 99% of the time.
0:21:55 > 0:21:57Along with mould casting,
0:21:57 > 0:22:01transfer-printing modernised production in the potteries.
0:22:03 > 0:22:07For the very first time, whole services were decorated with the same design.
0:22:07 > 0:22:10And it's interesting - from that point onwards,
0:22:10 > 0:22:14you start to get orders saying, tea services must be the same pattern.
0:22:14 > 0:22:20And you start to get this desire to have identically designed pieces,
0:22:20 > 0:22:25rather than the more random, freehand-painted services available prior to that point.
0:22:31 > 0:22:34The potteries of Stoke-on-Trent were expanding rapidly
0:22:34 > 0:22:39to meet public demand for products that were increasingly sophisticated.
0:22:41 > 0:22:43Wedgwood was leading the way,
0:22:43 > 0:22:48but he had yet to truly mark himself out ahead of his competitors.
0:22:49 > 0:22:54This he would manage in one well-calculated, ingenious move.
0:22:57 > 0:23:00Josiah Wedgwood was a very clever man,
0:23:00 > 0:23:05not just as an innovator, and producing new types of china,
0:23:05 > 0:23:07but in marketing them as well.
0:23:07 > 0:23:10And one of the secrets of his success was
0:23:10 > 0:23:14when he invented this new cream-coloured tableware,
0:23:14 > 0:23:17the reason that it caught on and captured the market
0:23:17 > 0:23:19was because he very cleverly went down to London,
0:23:19 > 0:23:22offered a set to Queen Charlotte,
0:23:22 > 0:23:24and she said, "Yes, I'll have this,"
0:23:24 > 0:23:28and from that point onwards he called it the Queen's Ware.
0:23:38 > 0:23:41And, of course, everyone wanted this Royal seal of approval.
0:23:41 > 0:23:45It was excellent product placement on his behalf, I think.
0:23:48 > 0:23:52The gentry around Stoke thought, "Oh, I'll have some of that."
0:23:52 > 0:23:55Then they could say, "Made by the potter to Her Majesty."
0:23:57 > 0:23:59With business booming,
0:23:59 > 0:24:03Wedgwood built a new factory on a large site that he called Etruria.
0:24:06 > 0:24:08His workers were rewarded with onsite housing
0:24:08 > 0:24:11and even received sickness benefits,
0:24:11 > 0:24:14a standard of living unheard of at the time.
0:24:17 > 0:24:20Etruria became the model for factories across Britain,
0:24:20 > 0:24:25and Wedgwood marked its opening in 1765 by personally throwing
0:24:25 > 0:24:28six commemorative First Day Vases.
0:24:31 > 0:24:34And before the arrival of the railways,
0:24:34 > 0:24:36Wedgwood was instrumental in the construction
0:24:36 > 0:24:40of the Grand Trunk Canal, which meant all the potters of Stoke
0:24:40 > 0:24:43could ship their wares to Liverpool and Hull,
0:24:43 > 0:24:45for export around the globe.
0:24:49 > 0:24:53But Wedgwood also knew the importance of the domestic market,
0:24:53 > 0:24:56and with his business partner Thomas Bentley,
0:24:56 > 0:24:59he set up smart showrooms in London.
0:25:00 > 0:25:05If Wedgwood's designs and methods have revolutionised ceramic production,
0:25:05 > 0:25:08his showrooms transformed British shopping habits.
0:25:11 > 0:25:15They weren't a shop. The word "showroom" is important -
0:25:15 > 0:25:17they were places where you would go and admire,
0:25:17 > 0:25:21and you didn't have to buy, but of course, you probably did.
0:25:21 > 0:25:24You probably placed quite substantial commissions.
0:25:24 > 0:25:29And he knew that women were very important in this market,
0:25:29 > 0:25:35because it's a domestic market, the buying of dinner services, whatever.
0:25:36 > 0:25:39He actually said he wanted a large room,
0:25:39 > 0:25:45not just to show his ware, but a large room for the ladies to gather.
0:25:45 > 0:25:47And there were sort of swags and drapes,
0:25:47 > 0:25:50and you came into one room where you could meet and chat,
0:25:50 > 0:25:56and then you went into the other great room which was like an inner sanctum,
0:25:56 > 0:26:00where Mr Wedgwood would show you his very best things.
0:26:00 > 0:26:02So, it was a whole day out!
0:26:08 > 0:26:10It seemed Wedgwood couldn't put a foot wrong.
0:26:10 > 0:26:15But in his mind, his real work was only beginning.
0:26:16 > 0:26:19At last he had the reputation and resources
0:26:19 > 0:26:21to make what he had always wanted...
0:26:21 > 0:26:25top-end, exquisite ornamental wares.
0:26:40 > 0:26:44There was the cool, austere black basalt,
0:26:44 > 0:26:48a hard stoneware named after volcanic rock
0:26:48 > 0:26:52and intended to appeal to the nobility and very wealthy.
0:26:59 > 0:27:03Black basalt as a new material was almost revolutionary.
0:27:03 > 0:27:08It was high-fired, impervious to liquid without the necessity of a glaze,
0:27:08 > 0:27:11and could be used for both ornamental and useful wares.
0:27:11 > 0:27:14But more importantly, the ladies loved it
0:27:14 > 0:27:17because in the 18th century, ladies wanted to show
0:27:17 > 0:27:20they had servants to do every menial task by having snow-white hands.
0:27:20 > 0:27:25You've got this wonderful juxtaposition of black tea ware.
0:27:30 > 0:27:34But even black basalt would be trumped by the body
0:27:34 > 0:27:37for which Wedgwood would become most famous...
0:27:38 > 0:27:40..jasperware,
0:27:40 > 0:27:44inspired by the classical pots being dug up in and around Rome.
0:27:53 > 0:27:58It took three years of experimentation to get jasperware right.
0:27:58 > 0:28:03These trials show how obsessed Wedgwood became with perfecting it,
0:28:03 > 0:28:05passing daily from delight to despair.
0:28:07 > 0:28:09White in its natural state,
0:28:09 > 0:28:13the jasper is then dyed with metallic oxides to give it colour.
0:28:13 > 0:28:16Then intricately moulded decorations were applied
0:28:16 > 0:28:20to give the neoclassical look so popular at the time.
0:28:21 > 0:28:24And it could take the oddest forms.
0:28:27 > 0:28:31But these were not just vases -
0:28:31 > 0:28:33they were works of art.
0:28:46 > 0:28:52And it was now that Wedgwood revealed his deepest, most outrageous ambition...
0:28:54 > 0:28:59..to prove British craftsmanship was not just better than anywhere else in the world,
0:28:59 > 0:29:02but as good as any other time in history too.
0:29:10 > 0:29:13The Portland Vase was a Roman cameo glass vase
0:29:13 > 0:29:17produced around the time of the birth of Christ.
0:29:17 > 0:29:19It took two years to make,
0:29:19 > 0:29:23such was its painstaking level of craftsmanship.
0:29:24 > 0:29:27In 1786, it was on public display in London...
0:29:28 > 0:29:32..and among those who saw it was Wedgwood.
0:29:32 > 0:29:35Wedgwood set himself the task of creating a copy
0:29:35 > 0:29:40made of jasperware, as delicate and fine as the original.
0:29:42 > 0:29:46Time and again, disasters occurred in the firing.
0:29:46 > 0:29:51This early effort, still preserved, blistered in the kiln.
0:29:56 > 0:30:01But in 1789, Wedgwood announced his work complete.
0:30:03 > 0:30:08Wedgwood's Portland Vase is unsurpassed in refinement.
0:30:08 > 0:30:10The white relief's thinner
0:30:10 > 0:30:14and more intricate than anything else produced at the time.
0:30:20 > 0:30:24Wedgwood showed his first edition Portland Vases in London
0:30:24 > 0:30:28in the showrooms, by ticket invitation only,
0:30:28 > 0:30:30before sending it off with his son
0:30:30 > 0:30:33and one of his top modellers on a European tour.
0:30:35 > 0:30:41Josiah Wedgwood's Portland Vase was sold as a limited numbered edition of 30,
0:30:41 > 0:30:45priced at £30 each, nearly £2,000 today.
0:30:48 > 0:30:51It encapsulated everything that made him great -
0:30:51 > 0:30:55experimentation, craftsmanship
0:30:55 > 0:30:57and a sharp eye for publicity.
0:31:02 > 0:31:05This painting, made towards the end of his life,
0:31:05 > 0:31:08shows Wedgwood at the height of his fame.
0:31:09 > 0:31:12He is surrounded by his wife and children.
0:31:19 > 0:31:24And in case he should ever forget the source of this contentment and wealth,
0:31:24 > 0:31:28the Erturia Works can just be made out smoking away in the distance.
0:31:33 > 0:31:36Wedgwood had achieved so much,
0:31:36 > 0:31:42but he had done so by sidestepping the greatest manufacturing mystery of the age.
0:31:47 > 0:31:50At the time of his death in 1795,
0:31:50 > 0:31:54one local rival had just hit upon a solution
0:31:54 > 0:31:58and it would transform the potteries beyond all recognition.
0:32:05 > 0:32:09NEWSREEL: 'It wasn't until the opening up of the great trade routes in the 17th century,
0:32:09 > 0:32:14'that porcelain and other luxuries from the fabled East began to reach England.
0:32:14 > 0:32:17'The lovely porcelain in particular became immensely popular
0:32:17 > 0:32:20'and all over Europe, potters tried to emulate
0:32:20 > 0:32:23'this fascinating Oriental material.
0:32:23 > 0:32:26'But in the little English village of Stoke-on-Trent,
0:32:26 > 0:32:29'a young potter, Josiah Spode,
0:32:29 > 0:32:34'had already begun the experiments which were to make him famous.'
0:32:35 > 0:32:40Like Wedgwood, Josiah Spode was born in the Potteries.
0:32:40 > 0:32:45He was the son of a pauper and was orphaned when only six years old.
0:32:46 > 0:32:50He completed his apprenticeship alongside Josiah Wedgwood,
0:32:50 > 0:32:54and went on to found one of the most successful factories in the region,
0:32:54 > 0:32:58producing creamware to rival his illustrious competitor.
0:33:01 > 0:33:06But while Wedgwood simply ignored the age-old dream of a viable alternative to porcelain,
0:33:06 > 0:33:09Spode made it his life's work.
0:33:13 > 0:33:16He was 60 by the time he cracked it.
0:33:18 > 0:33:23And like all great formulas, it seems remarkably simple.
0:33:24 > 0:33:28It included china stone and china clay from Cornwall.
0:33:30 > 0:33:31But for the rest,
0:33:31 > 0:33:35Spode's formula was simply the ash of burnt animal bones.
0:33:39 > 0:33:44For this reason, it became known as "bone china".
0:33:44 > 0:33:48A product not just as good as Chinese porcelain...
0:33:48 > 0:33:49'Does the cup ring true?'
0:33:49 > 0:33:51..but even better.
0:33:51 > 0:33:52PING!
0:33:52 > 0:33:54'Fine china speaks for itself.'
0:34:08 > 0:34:10The body itself is a brilliant white,
0:34:10 > 0:34:15so any painting or gilding on it shows up fantastically well.
0:34:15 > 0:34:19And it has more of a glow to it than the Chinese porcelains.
0:34:20 > 0:34:24It's got the great advantage that it's tolerant of quite a range of temperatures in the kiln,
0:34:24 > 0:34:28so you have fewer wasters, and so within a very few years,
0:34:28 > 0:34:32everybody in Stoke-on-Trent who wants to make porcelain is using that body.
0:34:32 > 0:34:36NEWSREEL: 'This gay oriental vase is one of Josiah Spode's early designs
0:34:36 > 0:34:38'in the new bone china.
0:34:39 > 0:34:42'So is this rather more formal sugar box,
0:34:42 > 0:34:45'a charming example of fine English gilding.
0:34:45 > 0:34:49'Yet another delightful 18th-century museum piece, Maritime Rose.'
0:34:52 > 0:34:56Spode's bone china was a true ceramic innovation
0:34:56 > 0:34:58and uniquely English.
0:34:58 > 0:35:03It was to revolutionise production of fine tea wares in Stoke-on-Trent.
0:35:03 > 0:35:06And the recipe was quickly imitated,
0:35:06 > 0:35:12with other potteries desperate to create bone china goods for a hungry market.
0:35:13 > 0:35:17By the mid-19th century, Stoke-on-Trent led the world
0:35:17 > 0:35:21in terms of output and technical accomplishment.
0:35:21 > 0:35:25And the perfect platforms for its command of technique and artistry
0:35:25 > 0:35:28were the great exhibitions springing up across Europe.
0:35:30 > 0:35:34The 1851 Great Exhibition in London displayed to the world
0:35:34 > 0:35:38the finest British pots produced by Stoke-on-Trent.
0:35:40 > 0:35:43This lavishly decorated earthenware vase
0:35:43 > 0:35:46was made by Minton for the Paris Exhibition of 1867.
0:35:51 > 0:35:55It shows scenes on the bowl taken from the works of Rubens.
0:35:59 > 0:36:04On its lid lies Prometheus, punished for stealing fire from the Gods,
0:36:04 > 0:36:08an image copied from the Italian Renaissance models.
0:36:14 > 0:36:16The message was clear -
0:36:16 > 0:36:19Stoke-on-Trent was positioning itself at the very pinnacle
0:36:19 > 0:36:22of art pottery production.
0:36:22 > 0:36:26These were virtuoso vases to be gasped at.
0:36:34 > 0:36:39By the end of the 19th century, there were 2,000 kilns in Stoke-on-Trent,
0:36:39 > 0:36:42firing millions of objects a year.
0:36:43 > 0:36:47But the very success of the potteries brought a new challenge.
0:36:51 > 0:36:56In the past, the great discoveries and innovations had come from within the factories.
0:36:58 > 0:37:02But now the potters who had once led the production line
0:37:02 > 0:37:05were in danger of becoming slaves to it.
0:37:07 > 0:37:12The people of Stoke, as ever, attempted a solution to their own problems.
0:37:22 > 0:37:26In 1869, work was completed on a large,
0:37:26 > 0:37:29elaborately decorated building at the heart of the Potteries.
0:37:31 > 0:37:34This is the Wedgwood Institute,
0:37:34 > 0:37:38dedicated to preserving the creative spirit of Josiah Wedgwood.
0:37:41 > 0:37:45And it was funded by the people of Stoke themselves.
0:37:47 > 0:37:49All around it were terracotta friezes
0:37:49 > 0:37:52celebrating the greatest figures of the Potteries
0:37:52 > 0:37:56as an inspiration to all who passed.
0:37:57 > 0:38:04The Institute's art school proved so popular that new premises had to be built across the road.
0:38:04 > 0:38:06This is Burslem School of Art.
0:38:06 > 0:38:09And in the years following the First World War,
0:38:09 > 0:38:15it was young artists who would re-invigorate the Potteries with designs fit for the new century.
0:38:21 > 0:38:24The 1920s and later
0:38:24 > 0:38:26sees one important change,
0:38:26 > 0:38:30and that is the appearance in the back stamp of a piece of pottery,
0:38:30 > 0:38:34of not just the name of the factory, but the name of the designer.
0:38:34 > 0:38:37There's always been designers in the pottery industry.
0:38:37 > 0:38:41You can't decide the shape of a teapot, handle or surface pattern without a designer.
0:38:41 > 0:38:43But those designers were anonymous.
0:38:43 > 0:38:48But from the 1920s onwards, you get quite a movement
0:38:48 > 0:38:51towards putting the designer's name on the back.
0:38:51 > 0:38:55These days, when you see a piece of pottery is by Jasper Conran for Wedgwood,
0:38:55 > 0:39:00you're not surprised, but in the 1920s it would have been quite a revelation.
0:39:02 > 0:39:06Women had been employed in the factories from the very start,
0:39:06 > 0:39:10but mostly in service to male managers and designers.
0:39:12 > 0:39:15But in the changing world of the 20th century,
0:39:15 > 0:39:19it was two women in particular who re-energised the Potteries
0:39:19 > 0:39:23and captured the imagination of the buying public.
0:39:25 > 0:39:29Susie Cooper was born in 1902, in Burslem,
0:39:29 > 0:39:31a true daughter of the Potteries.
0:39:33 > 0:39:36After attending Burslem School of Art,
0:39:36 > 0:39:39Cooper joined Gray's Pottery to gain experience
0:39:39 > 0:39:43as way to get into the Royal College of Art in London.
0:39:43 > 0:39:45But she was never to leave the pottery trade.
0:39:47 > 0:39:51Within a few years, she was producing her own distinctive range
0:39:51 > 0:39:56of elegant hand-painted designs that captured the spirit of the age.
0:40:05 > 0:40:11I wanted to do things for people who had taste but didn't necessarily
0:40:11 > 0:40:14have a deep pocket.
0:40:14 > 0:40:20And I felt there was an opening there which should be...
0:40:20 > 0:40:21which I'd like to fill.
0:40:24 > 0:40:30Confident of her skills, in 1929, Susie Cooper set up her own pottery.
0:40:31 > 0:40:34Her success lay in designing tableware
0:40:34 > 0:40:37that wasn't just pleasing to the eye.
0:40:37 > 0:40:39She also made sure it worked.
0:40:46 > 0:40:52You thought about all the problems of teapot lids getting broken,
0:40:52 > 0:40:58so you tried to correct those sort of little things like that.
0:40:58 > 0:41:02And the pouring aspect of pots.
0:41:02 > 0:41:08I suppose I tended to make a feature of the spout,
0:41:08 > 0:41:11and tried very hard to make it a good pourer.
0:41:13 > 0:41:16Susie Cooper's own slogan was "elegance with utility"
0:41:16 > 0:41:20and that really encapsulates what she was about.
0:41:20 > 0:41:23And this was really her great ability,
0:41:23 > 0:41:27was, I think, understanding what the modern consumer wanted.
0:41:27 > 0:41:31Things, objects which were beautiful, practical,
0:41:31 > 0:41:35affordable and would fit into modern lifestyles.
0:41:42 > 0:41:44But Susie Cooper had a rival.
0:41:44 > 0:41:47Clarice Cliff also quickly achieved renown
0:41:47 > 0:41:50as a successful commercial designer.
0:41:53 > 0:41:57Clarice Cliff was idiosyncratic.
0:41:57 > 0:42:01She wanted to tie into Art Deco, or however you want to see it,
0:42:01 > 0:42:04these abstracted designs.
0:42:04 > 0:42:10To some people quite vulgar, brightly painted,
0:42:10 > 0:42:13but when she produced them, they were stylish,
0:42:13 > 0:42:17they were catching the mood of the time, wares like Bizarre.
0:42:18 > 0:42:23Bizarre was Clarice Cliff's most famous range of tableware.
0:42:23 > 0:42:25By the start of the 1930s,
0:42:25 > 0:42:30she was commanding a staff of 150 paintresses.
0:42:30 > 0:42:33They became known as the Bizarre Girls.
0:42:34 > 0:42:35It was good.
0:42:35 > 0:42:37Real good.
0:42:37 > 0:42:39All the girls enjoyed it.
0:42:39 > 0:42:42And we all were one team.
0:42:42 > 0:42:46There was never anyone that you could say was wrong.
0:42:46 > 0:42:48Everything was good.
0:42:48 > 0:42:50And we used to have some fun.
0:42:51 > 0:42:53We were known as the Bizarre Babes.
0:42:53 > 0:42:57And we were locked in because they all wanted to come and see
0:42:57 > 0:42:59what was going inside there.
0:42:59 > 0:43:04No-one on the firm knew what we were doing in that room.
0:43:04 > 0:43:06THEY ALL TALK AT ONCE
0:43:06 > 0:43:07Happy girls are we
0:43:07 > 0:43:13With dabs of paint we're decorating And for work we're always waiting.
0:43:15 > 0:43:19Cliff worked tirelessly to keep her pottery in the public eye.
0:43:23 > 0:43:26One of the things that she did was to have, allegedly,
0:43:26 > 0:43:28the most attractive of her paintresses
0:43:28 > 0:43:31go to department stores and carry out
0:43:31 > 0:43:34demonstrations of painting her wares.
0:43:34 > 0:43:38And so, actually, her paintresses were in the public eye.
0:43:40 > 0:43:42What Clarice Cliff shared with Susie Cooper
0:43:42 > 0:43:46was a lesson learned from Josiah Wedgwood.
0:43:47 > 0:43:50That SHE was an important part of the product.
0:43:54 > 0:43:56I think there's a clear sense that
0:43:56 > 0:43:58to be successful in the business,
0:43:58 > 0:44:01it's not just about making a good product,
0:44:01 > 0:44:06but it's about branding, it's about identifying your wares as your own,
0:44:06 > 0:44:09and giving them a kind of individuality.
0:44:09 > 0:44:12That's one of the extraordinary things that applies both
0:44:12 > 0:44:14to Susie Cooper and Clarice Cliff -
0:44:14 > 0:44:16they're immediately recognisable as brands.
0:44:18 > 0:44:22Susie Cooper and Clarice Cliff became two of the most famous
0:44:22 > 0:44:25and celebrated ceramicists of the 20th century.
0:44:25 > 0:44:28Yet they worked within industry.
0:44:28 > 0:44:31It was a reminder that the spirit of the Potteries
0:44:31 > 0:44:35had always been as much about artistry as about business.
0:44:35 > 0:44:36And about people.
0:44:44 > 0:44:48So it was that 200 years after the heyday of Josiah Wedgwood,
0:44:48 > 0:44:52the Potteries were in rude health.
0:44:52 > 0:44:53Still ahead of the game,
0:44:53 > 0:44:58still a source of pride for those who worked there.
0:45:05 > 0:45:09This is the world that writer AN Wilson remembers so vividly.
0:45:10 > 0:45:14His father joined the Wedgwood company in 1927
0:45:14 > 0:45:17and by 1961 was managing director.
0:45:19 > 0:45:23All my forebears were potters, and they came to Staffordshire
0:45:23 > 0:45:24because of Wedgwood.
0:45:27 > 0:45:30I was a child of the factory.
0:45:30 > 0:45:34And I think some of my very earliest memories at all are of this factory.
0:45:34 > 0:45:36The smell of it - when you come in, even today,
0:45:36 > 0:45:39it's got that smell of white clay.
0:45:39 > 0:45:42Extraordinarily evocative for me
0:45:42 > 0:45:46of a whole range of Proustian childhood recollections.
0:45:48 > 0:45:51I used to come in, usually on a Saturday.
0:45:51 > 0:45:53My father would drive in,
0:45:53 > 0:45:57often wearing a suit rather like this, which is why I'm wearing one.
0:45:57 > 0:46:00A sort of rather nice sort of sporty suit.
0:46:00 > 0:46:04And then wander round, talking to people.
0:46:06 > 0:46:09I ran about and felt perfectly happy here and played here.
0:46:09 > 0:46:13And people would just look up and say, "I love my work,"
0:46:13 > 0:46:15because they were skilled.
0:46:15 > 0:46:20In those days, mothers taught daughters before they'd ever...
0:46:20 > 0:46:23come for jobs here, how to paint a plate, how to paint a cup.
0:46:23 > 0:46:26Each skill was handed down in families,
0:46:26 > 0:46:29and if you're good at something, it's good for morale -
0:46:29 > 0:46:31you're a happy person, basically.
0:46:31 > 0:46:34And so that was my memory, really, and then I would be allowed,
0:46:34 > 0:46:38as a treat, to decorate a plate or paint a mug,
0:46:38 > 0:46:42and they gave me little lumps of clay to play with.
0:46:43 > 0:46:47My brother and I often say our hands are the first Wilson hands
0:46:47 > 0:46:51since about 1750 not to have been used for the manufacture of pottery.
0:46:57 > 0:46:59Perhaps if left to its own devices,
0:46:59 > 0:47:02Stoke would have continued to flourish.
0:47:03 > 0:47:07But it was to be brought down by forces beyond its control.
0:47:10 > 0:47:12By the early 1980s,
0:47:12 > 0:47:16following a decade of economic decline,
0:47:16 > 0:47:20Britain's traditional manufacturing industries reached crisis point.
0:47:22 > 0:47:26In response, a new ethos emerged
0:47:26 > 0:47:29which placed blunt, economic logic above all else.
0:47:29 > 0:47:31Rate it down to five lots, working 20.
0:47:31 > 0:47:33Texas buyer!
0:47:34 > 0:47:39The label "Made in England" had once been a source of national pride.
0:47:41 > 0:47:44But in this new, unsentimental age, there was little room
0:47:44 > 0:47:47for an old-fashioned way of life and working.
0:47:47 > 0:47:52NEWSREEL: 'One of the biggest names in British ceramics, Royal Worcester and Spode,
0:47:52 > 0:47:53'has gone into administration.
0:47:53 > 0:47:57'..388 people, gone into administration according to PricewaterhouseCoopers.
0:47:57 > 0:48:00'..around since 1751, very historic...
0:48:00 > 0:48:05'The company had warned jobs were likely to be switched to Indonesia.
0:48:05 > 0:48:09'China maker Waterford Wedgwood has called in the administrators.
0:48:09 > 0:48:13'The latest blow to a region they're still proud to call the Potteries.'
0:48:13 > 0:48:17Many of the big potteries failed to survive.
0:48:17 > 0:48:20Those that did had to change their working methods
0:48:20 > 0:48:22beyond all recognition.
0:48:24 > 0:48:28While a Wedgwood factory remains in Stoke-on-Trent,
0:48:28 > 0:48:32most of the output is made overseas where labour is cheaper.
0:48:33 > 0:48:36Only in name is Wedgwood the same firm started by Stoke-on-Trent's
0:48:36 > 0:48:40most famous son, 250 years ago.
0:48:43 > 0:48:47Today, much of Stoke-on-Trent is an industrial wasteland.
0:48:49 > 0:48:51In the 1970s,
0:48:51 > 0:48:53there were 200 ceramic factories here.
0:48:55 > 0:48:57Now, there are less than 30.
0:49:02 > 0:49:04Among that handful, though,
0:49:04 > 0:49:08is one of Stoke's true success stories of recent years.
0:49:09 > 0:49:11Against all odds and advice,
0:49:11 > 0:49:14Emma Bridgewater opened a pottery
0:49:14 > 0:49:18in an old Victorian factory in Stoke-on-Trent in 1985.
0:49:21 > 0:49:23It seemed a crazy thing to do.
0:49:25 > 0:49:30Stoke in 1985 was just poised for its last great fall downwards.
0:49:30 > 0:49:33It was producing things that people didn't want,
0:49:33 > 0:49:34and it was poised for disaster.
0:49:34 > 0:49:38It already looked like a ruin, though, even then.
0:49:39 > 0:49:44In the decay, though, Emma Bridgewater and her husband, Matthew Rice,
0:49:44 > 0:49:48saw something from the past to hold on to.
0:49:48 > 0:49:50We produce a very domestic ware,
0:49:50 > 0:49:53and I like the domestic scale of a 19th-century factory.
0:49:53 > 0:49:55People talk to one another,
0:49:55 > 0:49:58people stand in rows and talk across the desk.
0:49:58 > 0:50:00I prefer that to the conveyor belt.
0:50:02 > 0:50:05While embracing the city's industrial past,
0:50:05 > 0:50:07the firm saw a vision for the future.
0:50:07 > 0:50:11High-end, feel-good tableware.
0:50:13 > 0:50:16It has proved highly successful.
0:50:18 > 0:50:23Producing pottery as a commodity is a very difficult thing to do in Stoke.
0:50:23 > 0:50:25That business has moved to the Far East,
0:50:25 > 0:50:28it's moved to the low-wages economies parts of the world.
0:50:28 > 0:50:31That doesn't mean that Stoke can't produce pottery.
0:50:31 > 0:50:33It's not beyond redemption.
0:50:33 > 0:50:35And we can still make stuff here -
0:50:35 > 0:50:37we just need to make the right things.
0:50:39 > 0:50:42This isn't new - Wedgwood knew that 250 years ago,
0:50:42 > 0:50:46and it was on that attitude that his business's success was founded.
0:50:46 > 0:50:50That's the future of manufacturing in England.
0:50:51 > 0:50:55Small boutique firms can still turn a profit
0:50:55 > 0:50:59if they display the qualities on which the Potteries were founded -
0:50:59 > 0:51:03innovation, pluck and knowing what makes people tick.
0:51:11 > 0:51:13But for many of the people of Stoke-on-Trent,
0:51:13 > 0:51:16making pots remains a thing of the past.
0:51:18 > 0:51:20For artist Neil Brownsword, though,
0:51:20 > 0:51:23that lost history forms the basis of his work.
0:51:26 > 0:51:31He uses the industrial detritus of the region to create his art.
0:51:35 > 0:51:39For him, these found objects are far more than junk -
0:51:39 > 0:51:43but poignant relics of a people who took pride in their craft.
0:51:44 > 0:51:48This is a local shraff tip.
0:51:48 > 0:51:51"Shraff" is a term for spent pottery.
0:51:51 > 0:51:54If you can imagine how much production was here,
0:51:54 > 0:51:58you know, 19th century, early 20th century,
0:51:58 > 0:52:03with the waste, there's got to be some places to locate it,
0:52:03 > 0:52:07so here we have a mix of materials from broken saggars.
0:52:08 > 0:52:11'First of all the cups are put in what we call saggars.
0:52:11 > 0:52:14'It's how you arrange them that makes all the difference,
0:52:14 > 0:52:16'when the clay is fired in the oven.'
0:52:16 > 0:52:20These are bases of thimbles.
0:52:20 > 0:52:22These are pinched by hand
0:52:22 > 0:52:26and the thimble would sit in them, and then a series would stack,
0:52:26 > 0:52:29to stack a flatware plate or saucer, in a saggar.
0:52:39 > 0:52:42'There's not enough ovens in the Potteries to keep up with demand for our stuff,
0:52:42 > 0:52:44'so we're pretty busy.'
0:52:50 > 0:52:53I'm not really interested in the objects themselves,
0:52:53 > 0:52:57I'm interested in the by-products from production.
0:52:57 > 0:53:01So, things which are redolent of human contact.
0:53:02 > 0:53:03Great.
0:53:05 > 0:53:09It's a handle mould, it's one half of a handle mould...
0:53:09 > 0:53:12you can just see the pairs of handles, there.
0:53:12 > 0:53:14And the centre, here, almost like a Polo mint,
0:53:14 > 0:53:17where the slip would be poured.
0:53:34 > 0:53:38'You know, handling clay in this stage is rather like managing a husband -
0:53:38 > 0:53:42'you've got to know when to be firm, and when to go easy.'
0:53:45 > 0:53:47These waste tips are quite symbolic, really,
0:53:47 > 0:53:50because they almost represent these people
0:53:50 > 0:53:52who were kind of expendable
0:53:52 > 0:53:54when some of these factories closed, you know,
0:53:54 > 0:53:58so they have got that association, really, with those people.
0:54:09 > 0:54:11A whole way of life has been lost.
0:54:12 > 0:54:14Not just factories
0:54:14 > 0:54:16but communities, too.
0:54:25 > 0:54:28I worked at Royal Doulton for 25 years.
0:54:28 > 0:54:33I started as a boy straight from school in 1950,
0:54:33 > 0:54:35and I trained to be a figurine painter
0:54:35 > 0:54:39and I enjoyed my 25 years here.
0:54:42 > 0:54:44There was a fantastic community spirit.
0:54:44 > 0:54:49And we had all kinds of outings.
0:54:49 > 0:54:52There was an art society here,
0:54:52 > 0:54:53a Royal Doulton brass band,
0:54:53 > 0:54:56a Royal Doulton choir,
0:54:56 > 0:54:59a Royal Doulton cricket club. In fact, there was just so many
0:54:59 > 0:55:01community things that one could get involved in.
0:55:01 > 0:55:03It was almost like a home from home, really.
0:55:03 > 0:55:06- WORKERS: - # ..Travel the road
0:55:06 > 0:55:08# Sharing our load
0:55:08 > 0:55:12# Side by side
0:55:12 > 0:55:17# Through all kinds of weather
0:55:17 > 0:55:21# What if the sky should fall? #
0:55:21 > 0:55:25I feel sad that it's all gone.
0:55:25 > 0:55:28Those wonderful skills of the Potteries have now been lost.
0:55:28 > 0:55:32And I think probably one of the reasons that it's all gone
0:55:32 > 0:55:35was there was a policy of outsourcing.
0:55:35 > 0:55:37People wanted things made in England
0:55:37 > 0:55:41and when they weren't made in England any more, that made things worse, really.
0:55:41 > 0:55:45They didn't want it as much... you know?
0:55:45 > 0:55:49Somehow, "Made in China", "Made in Indonesia,"
0:55:49 > 0:55:52didn't have the same ring underneath the back stamp as "Made in England".
0:55:54 > 0:55:59It was always said that the potters had slip in their veins instead of blood.
0:56:01 > 0:56:03That's what we were - we were potters.
0:56:11 > 0:56:16The craftsmanship that once defined the Potteries is rapidly disappearing.
0:56:18 > 0:56:22Soon, all that will be left to testify to Stoke's former glory
0:56:22 > 0:56:24will be the factory ruins.
0:56:26 > 0:56:31And in this, Stoke-on-Trent has become our Pompeii.
0:56:37 > 0:56:40When you see the ruins of classical civilisation,
0:56:40 > 0:56:44in a way you're deriving a kind of pleasure from that which
0:56:44 > 0:56:48you wouldn't have derived if you'd seen Ephesus or Corinth in their heyday.
0:56:48 > 0:56:51You'd probably have thought they were sordid, flashy places.
0:56:51 > 0:56:54In ruins, there's a kind of beauty about them.
0:56:54 > 0:56:59Similarly, if you were having to cough your way through the streets of Hanley or Stoke,
0:56:59 > 0:57:04you wouldn't necessarily have seen what pure poetry there is
0:57:04 > 0:57:07in this industry, as you see in the ruins.
0:57:10 > 0:57:15There's physical buildings and gateways and lodges
0:57:15 > 0:57:19and all the things that make up the factories,
0:57:19 > 0:57:24are really what you can hang the city's cultural memory on.
0:57:24 > 0:57:28There's been a very sad destruction, particularly in the last 20 years while we've been here,
0:57:28 > 0:57:31of that inheritance.
0:57:35 > 0:57:37No empire lasts for ever.
0:57:37 > 0:57:41The world turns and new ones take its place.
0:57:42 > 0:57:45And even as Stoke-on-Trent enjoyed its heyday,
0:57:45 > 0:57:48there were those predicting its fall.
0:57:50 > 0:57:52And if, in the revolutions of time,
0:57:52 > 0:57:56the country should be found whose porcelain and earthenware
0:57:56 > 0:58:00are vended on cheaper terms than those of the potteries of Britain,
0:58:00 > 0:58:04thither will flock all the earthenware dealers
0:58:04 > 0:58:09and neither fleets, nor armies, nor any other human power, would prevent
0:58:09 > 0:58:13the present flourishing borough of Stoke-on-Trent sharing the fate
0:58:13 > 0:58:18of its once proud predecessors in Phoenicia, in Greece and in Italy.
0:58:27 > 0:58:30Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd
0:58:30 > 0:58:34E-mail subtitling@bbc.co.uk
0:58:37 > 0:58:42WORKERS: # Oh, we don't know what's coming tomorrow
0:58:42 > 0:58:47# Maybe it's trouble and sorrow
0:58:47 > 0:58:50# But we'll travel the road
0:58:50 > 0:58:52# Sharing our load
0:58:52 > 0:58:55# Side by side. #