In Fine Fettle

alignleft size-medium ...

The name Emma Bridgewater is synonymous with all that is quintessentially British. Since the ceramics brand was first established back in 1985 it's fast become the pride of the Potteries. Here, we find out more…

Located in the heart of the Potteries on the banks of the Cauldon Canal the Emma Bridgewater factory is run by Matthew Rice - aka Emma's husband. “I met Emma at a trade fair – I liked her and I liked her pottery,” he reveals. “We met in the May and we were married before Christmas. Emma had already started the company, but within a year I started working with her on designs and have been involved ever since. Then for the last three years Emma and I have swapped jobs and I now run the company.” As MD he currently splits his time between the family's Oxford and Norfolk homes and the Stoke factory. “I'm managing director but being that doesn't prevent me from being head of design and head gardener and head of what to have for lunch in the café. I am running the business at the moment, but my special skill is in design and I spend at least a day a week, either in Oxford or here, drawing.” He continues, “We have the least well evolved work/life/house balance you could imagine. We live in Oxford while we're doing a house up outside of Oxford. I spend two days a week in London in our commercial offices, two days a week here in Stoke and one day a week in Oxford. We have a house in Norfolk for holidays and half terms where we used to live full time, but the travel between all the different places was just impossible.” So would buying a property in the area make life a little easier maybe, we ask? “I have thought about a home here many times,” Matthew replies, “but the fact is I spend one or two nights a week here and I really don't relish the thought of going home to a cold, empty house. So I normally stay at The Upper House in Barlaston, where I'm very well looked after. I find getting up in the morning and walking on Barlaston Downs the perfect complement to the industry of the city.” Emma Bridgewater pottery has always been made in Stoke and Matthew tells us, “We love the city and we have the greatest admiration for the expertise of the people who work in this industry. So we've always made our pottery here from day one. We needed a larger factory to make our ware and found the Eastwood Works, in Lichfield Street.” He continues, “I don't think we had any idea of what the implications were of buying a three acre site in the middle of the city, but it has been a real blessing for the business. A few years ago we realised what a gem of a building we have – an old Victorian factory which people love to visit and which is just brimming with character. Now, it's a huge engine for growth and the most powerful way of expressing what's special about our pottery, it's a place where visitors come in their thousands to take a factory tour, shop, dine and decorate their own masterpieces.”

The factory is one of the largest employers in a city with a great ceramic heritage, something Matthew more than acknowledges: “We have about two hundred people working here at the Eastwood Works. In the grand scale of employment in the city this isn't a vast number, but I do believe it is symbolic of the fact that new jobs can be made here, using established and unique skills. We're very proud to be doing our bit to keep the city's traditional industry alive and showing that it can be successful on so many levels in the modern world.”