Wedgwood Handmade: By Royal Appointment

Once upon a time, this factory was the centre of an industrial empire

that transformed Britain.

And at the heart of that empire

was a name that echoed around the world - Wedgwood.

Favoured by royalty,

Wedgwood offered prestige porcelain for the aspiring customer.

In an age of fine dining, this was the finest money could buy.

Today, tastes have changed.

Times have moved on.

Under new management, Wedgwood is looking to the future.

What we do need now is to get a bit of the dust

away from the Wedgwood image.

But the wheel still turns in Stoke-on-Trent.

GAS HISSES AND FLAME ROARS

The kiln is still fired.

A small group of potters are still using techniques

pioneered by Josiah Wedgwood himself.

You've got about ten seconds to get it level, and then it's stuck.

A place where generations of craft and tradition are distilled

into exquisite, handmade objects...

There's 160 leaves on one Panther Vase.

..and where the past meets an uncertain future.

There were 77 people doing this job.

There's now two of us.

Amongst the plates, the cups and the teapots,

something more lavish is beginning to take shape.

The iconic jasperware that Josiah Wedgwood introduced in 1775

made his name famous the world over.

Nowadays, the same methods are used to produce

one of the company's most exclusive pieces -

the Panther Vase.

Based on an original 18th-century design,

this £4,000 showcase object is a luxury slice of high-end heritage -

the sort that helped the Wedgwood brand become

a byword for Britishness.

And it doesn't hurt to have a Royal Seal of Approval that

stretches back to the 1760s.

Today, the Warrant is proudly displayed.

This is, after all,

the company that made the plates for the Queen's coronation banquet.

The Panther Vase is the culmination of over two centuries of

bespoke craftsmanship -

of skills honed over generations,

handed down from potter to potter,

figure maker to figure maker,

turner to turner,

but it all starts with a lump of raw clay.

When I left school, I never thought I'd be able...

I'd do something like this,

or was capable of doing something like this.

They've tried different ways of making vases and it's never worked.

This is the best way you'll ever do it.

It's the most challenging way, as well.

But handcrafted vases alone can't keep Wedgwood afloat.

Away from the artisan potters, the production line is busy

turning out Wedgwood's bread and butter -

the plates, cups and saucers for which the company is known,

destined for dining tables all over the world.

Slightly more mid-range,

slightly less handmade,

but all distinguished by a certain kind of quality.

When you say "tough", I mean, this is a relative word.

You don't really mean tough, do you?

I certainly do mean tough and I'll demonstrate it.

PLATE THUMPS

It's so tough, you can even stand on it.

Me? You mean I could, with 15 stone?

-Certainly.

-I wouldn't dare.

Be my guest.

Your risk, as well. Well, here goes.

Listen out for the crack.

No, as safe as the Rock of Gibraltar.

These were the glory days.

Back then, the whole world wanted a piece of Wedgwood,

and was willing to pay for it.

There was a lot more people here.

I think there was about 5,000 people

altogether when I started.

It was really busy.

This particular job I'm doing, there were 77 people doing this job.

There's now two of us.

For decades, this factory provided employment for thousands.

Today, things are a little quieter.

MACHINE RUMBLES

This Panther Vase is quite a big job.

There's a lot of things that can go wrong with it.

The slightest little mistake, and we've lost it, you know?

MACHINE RUMBLES

44 years I've worked for Wedgwood,

straight from school.

In them days, everybody...

Everybody who left school had a job.

MACHINE RUMBLES

Inspired by the vases of antiquity, jasperware is the product

of years of careful experimentation by Josiah Wedgwood in the 1770s.

The result is a fine-grained, unglazed stoneware,

which became the firm's trademark.

It can be made in two ways -

either coloured throughout

or, as it is today, sprayed with a surface coating.

Later, this will allow the turner to carefully reveal

the base colour beneath.

It's a process which requires years of training

and experience to master.

Painstaking and labour-intensive, these skills are becoming

increasingly rare in an industry undergoing rapid change.

We don't know how long the pottery industry here is, like,

going to last, really.

So...

I mean, it's been OK for me,

but will it be all right in another 50 years?

Nobody knows, you know?

Only a few short years ago, Wedgwood stood on the precipice.

MUSIC: BBC News Theme

Waterford Wedgwood, the company that now owns the world-famous

Wedgwood pottery brand, has called in the administrators.

The 250-year-old firm collapsed after the banks pulled out

of a financing deal,

and now more than 2,500 jobs are hanging in the balance.

But salvation was at hand.

Now under foreign ownership,

this bastion of British industry is reinventing itself

for the 21st-century.

On the other side of the factory is a very different world -

one that is less about manufacture and more about taste and luxury,

with a decidedly British flavour.

And what could be more British than afternoon tea?

Good morning.

Hi, good morning, how are you?

Under the careful eye of hospitality manager Mike Keane,

a new kind of Wedgwood is emerging -

a Wedgwood that implicitly understands

the value of its brand appeal and isn't afraid to use it.

This is our fabulous tea emporium,

where we serve a whole range of teas.

We generally have lots of groups.

Today we've got a group of 21 arriving from Japan.

Wedgwood in Japan is such a... It's such a big thing.

I mean, they love it. They adore it.

Of course, they shop.

We had a group quite recently, and they were late for lunch

because they were too busy shopping.

But that's not such a bad thing either,

cos they spend a lot of money.

It's not unusual for us to have a £2,000 or £3,000 sale

and, you know, who's going to argue against that?

It's not just teacups and saucers these tourists are buying -

it's British tradition, heritage, craftsmanship.

The reality is that much of Wedgwood's output

is now made far from home, in Indonesia.

In Stoke-on-Trent, the skills on which this company was built

are now part of an experience -

something to visit and photograph.

For the artisans and craftspeople, the job remains the same.

This is the way it has always been done -

the only way it can be done.

Once it's got another colour on it, you can't separate the colours,

so you just have to be a little bit careful with this.

Too expensive for me, these are.

You'd think the company would let me have one, really, wouldn't you?

So it's come from...

It's come from that to that,

which has took a long time but...

we got there.

MACHINE HISSES

THUMPING CONTINUES

I've done 45 years,

and I've done figure making all the time.

I roll the clay,

I knock it in,

and press it up on all the moulds.

You occasionally make mistakes

-but it's very, very rare.

-THUMPING

It's more patience than anything, because it's such a tedious job.

There has been lads doing it but they've never stuck it.

You do it for a bit and say,

"That's it. It's too much like hard work."

Cut the excess off.

Then I get the waggler and I waggle the figure out.

The waggler.

Everybody laughs at the waggler.

The process dates back to 1764.

It's still done exactly the same today as when Josiah was doing it.

I'm turning it round very slow.

What this is actually doing now is, every time it goes,

then it pulls the pot towards the tool and it'll cut.

So it's shaving away,

and eventually it will cut that down to the base.

You've got to get it just... just right.

Sometimes it'll cut where you don't want it cut,

so you have to adjust the tool a little bit, you know?

Over at the tearoom,

Mike's coach party of Japanese tourists has arrived.

Hello.

Are you having afternoon tea?

Yeah, would you like to come on through?

Hi, it's just through here.

This way here.

'More often than not, they've only got about an hour with us,

'so we want to make sure that, for that hour,

'they're sat down and able to enjoy the time with us.

'Usually, when they arrive, the cameras are out, sort of,

'immediately, and they're taking photographs.

'So, yeah, it's big for them.'

I often get referred to as "the flamboyant man",

which, I'm not sure if that's a compliment or not,

but I kind of take it as a compliment.

Hi. Is everything OK for you? Yeah? All good? Good.

I worked in theatre for about 15 years,

yeah, which I enjoyed immensely,

but I think, instinctively, I felt a need for change.

You would like more tea? Certainly. Yeah, absolutely.

Would you like any more tea?

'It's certainly a touch of theatre. You're here on show.

'I think we're like swans. I think, on the top,'

erm, we just keep smiling,

but underneath we're paddling away like billyo.

The concept of afternoon tea is... It waned at one point.

You know, coffee shops became very, very popular

and the world of tea has, sort of, declined slightly.

But afternoon tea's become very, very popular again,

because it is high-end.

It is luxury. It is quite special and quite unique.

We have a tearoom in India, and Far Eastern countries,

but this is the only one actually in the UK.

The aspiration is to expand on that, though.

Selling the Wedgwood tea experience around the world

is just the beginning.

In 2015, the company was bought

by the Finnish luxury giant, Fiskars,

and, in its gleaming new offices, a new Wedgwood has been crafted.

This quintessentially British institution is becoming

a 21st-century superbrand,

drawing on its past to create a bright new future.

Its new president, Ulrik Garde Due,

is the man heritage brands turn to when they need a modern makeover.

He's already worked his magic at Burberry and Louis Vuitton.

Now it's Wedgwood's turn.

Well, what you are seeing is the jasper range in

more contemporary shapes,

and elaborating on our iconic blue colour or blue colours.

And taking those into, also, other colour schemes,

where you really mix and match,

and you even have a moving colour target within one item,

which already, there, gives it a much more modern feel.

What we do need now is to probably get a bit of the dust

away from the Wedgwood image.

Make sure that, also, the younger audience understand

the craftsmanship that we do.

I see this brand very much going into

more of an English or British lifestyle brand.

Come on in, Marcus. Have a seat.

This new Wedgwood will be about more than just cups and saucers.

It will be a lifestyle experience.

Scarves.

-OK.

-These ones here.

-Those are amazing.

-Have we looked at the logo placement, here?

-Not yet.

Have you seen this?

What is this?

Chocolate.

Chocolate, OK.

Beautiful. Wedgwood chocolate.

-Yeah, but, of course, life is sweet.

-Yeah.

A new chapter is beginning in the Wedgwood story -

one that repackages generations of craft and tradition

for a newer, younger customer.

But, for the workers on the factory floor, the question is,

how long can this craft last?

Children today, they don't seem to want, like, hands-on.

They more like working with computers these days

and things like that.

We've asked for trainees but they come for a couple of weeks,

and then they say, "No, I don't want it."

They'll have to bring somebody in before long to train up.

We're all getting on.

If Wedgwood wants to keep its heritage at the heart of the brand,

it will need to create a new generation of artisan potters,

otherwise, the exacting skills needed to make this vase

could be lost forever.

You've just got to concentrate on getting the right shape,

all the right sizes,

because, of course, everything's got to fit together,

so it's got to be really spot-on.

MACHINE WHIRS

DISTANT LAUGHTER

You've got about ten seconds to get it level,

and then it's stuck.

HE BLOWS AIR

HE BLOWS AIR

THUMPING

You've got to be spot-on, cos you can't leave any fringe,

nor creases or whatever, in them.

There's 160 leaves on one Panther Vase,

and I put them on a damp mat,

and that's where they'll stay till the ornamenter uses them.

It's something that you've got to have a lot of concentration for,

cos every piece... every piece is slightly different.

If the ornaments are a bit drier than the piece of ware

or vice versa,

when it dries out completely, it'll crack and come off.

The vase is nearing completion.

The panther figurines that give the piece its name

are cast in liquid clay and attached.

For Josiah Wedgwood,

this was the neoclassical design that would become his hallmark -

a touch of antiquity for those who couldn't quite afford

the real thing.

Then, as now, the final stage of the process was the most risky -

firing.

It was done in the bottle ovens in the old days,

with the coal and straw and everything.

They'd fire it up,

maybe for a lot longer in those days,

until they thought it was ready, and then pull it out.

It'll fire at 1,180 degrees for 18 hours,

and then it'll cool down for about 12-14 hours,

and it'll change colour as it's firing.

GAS HISSES

FLAME ROARS

You never know until it's fired, until you open the kiln door,

whether it's all right or it isn't all right.

When it's right, it's a very good feeling.

Josiah Wedgwood may have helped design this vase,

but he probably wouldn't recognise the company he founded

over 250 years ago.

As this national institution attempts to reinvent itself,

the Panther Vase might begin to seem a touch out of place -

quaintly old-fashioned -

but the heritage it represents is part of Wedgwood's DNA.

It's a physical link between the past and the present -

perfect for the kind of customer who wants some British prestige

on their well-appointed mantelpiece.

For the artisan potters,

continuing a tradition that goes back centuries,

it represents something else -

the simple knowledge of a job well done.

There's no room for error. Everything's got to be perfect.

It is a good achievement when you see them on the shelf.

I always think, you know, "I did that."

It's nice when you actually see the piece go from here,

through all the different stages,

and end up over at the other side there when it's finished.

I think it's the end product, when you know what you've done to it.

You know, them are my figures on there,

and it's going to be sold anywhere in the world.