Emma Bridgewater

Emma Bridgewater is a British ceramics manufacturing company founded in 1985. The company specialises in earthenware tableware, manufactured in Stoke-on-Trent, England. The pottery is produced using traditional techniques. The company is one of the largest pottery manufacturers based entirely in the UK.

There are two Emma Bridgewater shops in London as well as two outlet stores, located at the company's factory in Hanley, Stoke-on-Trent, and in Bicester Village, Oxfordshire respectively.

The company has been certified as a B-Corporation since January 2022.

History
The company was founded by Emma Rice, née Bridgewater, in 1985 when being unable to find a suitable cup and saucer for a gift for her mother she decided to create her own. Drawing four shapes, a mug, a bowl, a jug and a dish, samples were created in Stoke-on-Trent.

In 1995, the company purchased a former Victorian factory site in Hanley, Stoke-on-Trent, and converted the site. Production began there in 1996.

During a royal visit, Bridgewater discussed the brand's launch of its biggest ever collection of Royal commemorative ware to celebrate Queen Elizabeth II's Diamond Jubilee in 2012. Catherine, Princess of Wales, made an official visit to the factory in 2015.

In its first year the company had a turnover of around £30,000. By 2009 this had increased to almost £8 million, and £11 million in 2010, employing 180 people. According to their website, in 2022 around 230 people worked their factory and produce 1.7 million pieces annually.

Products and Production
Emma Bridgewater earthenware is manufactured using "traditional techniques of manufacture and decoration", for example decoration is hand-applied using sponges, brushes and transfers. The earthenware is produced using mould casting, before being fettled and sponged, and then fired. Decoration is then applied using either sponge painting or lithographing. Sponge painted decoration was a historically common technique in the British pottery industry, but had fallen out of manufacturing practice until it was revived by the company in the 1980s. The polka dot pattern is one prominent Emma Bridgewater design created using this technique.

Emma Bridgewater also produces a range of homeware and gifts. The company's pottery designs are adapted for application onto textiles, glass, tin, stationery, and melamine.

Founder and Owners
The company is named after the founder and owner Emma Rice, née Bridgewater. Bridgewater previously ran the company with her ex-husband artist Matthew Rice, who still designs for the company.

Bridgewater was born in Cambridge, England, in 1960, and studied English Literature at the University of London. Bridgewater spent most of her childhood in north Oxford and has seven siblings, including the journalist Clover Stroud and Nell Gifford, co-founder and ringmistress of Giffords Circus.

Bridgewater married Matthew Rice in 1987 and the couple have four children together. Matthew Rice is a painter, architectural writer and illustrator and also designs for the company, and he indulges his passion for birdlife in the Birds range. The couple have since amicably divorced after 30 years of marriage however Rice still designs for the company.

Both Bridgewater and Rice are honorary graduates of Staffordshire University, in relation to their work at Emma Bridgewater. Bridgewater backed Stoke-on-Trent's bid for UK City of Culture when speaking to BBC News in 2017.

In 2013 Bridgewater was appointed a CBE by Queen Elizabeth II for services to British industry.

In 2016, Emma Bridgewater was made President of the Campaign to Protect Rural England. She is also a Patron of the Heritage Crafts Association.

Bridgewater was interviewed for TED by serial entrepreneur and TED Speaker Margaret Heffernan.

Emma Bridgewater was interviewed on BBC Radio 4's Desert Island Discs by Kirsty Young in 2016. Also on BBC Radio 4, Bridgewater has appeared on Woman's Hour, Any Questions? and Saturday Live.

"Festival in a Factory"
For the last few years, the Emma Bridgewater factory in Stoke-on-Trent has been the home to the "Festival in a Factory", a 3-day literary festival where a number of authors, politicians, artists and celebrities give public lectures. Recent speakers have included Mary Portas, Viv Groskop Elizabeth Day, Christopher Eccleston, Lauren Child, AN Wilson, historian Tom Holland, author Ben Macintyre, historian Andrew Roberts, Rachel Reeves MP, Greepeace UK's Will McCallum, biographer Jenny Uglow, the National Trust's Nino Strachey, the V&A Museum's Oriole Cullen and Claire Wilcox, and novelist Deborah Moggach.

The 2020 Festival, planned for 4–6 June, was cancelled as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The head gardener of the factory gatden is the author and broadcaster Arthur Parkinson.