My name is Louis and I'm studying the Bronze Arts Award. For my award I went to the Emma Bridgewater factory in Stoke-on-Trent.
It is a pottery factory that's in an old building. When I walked in the building it was welcoming with a café, shop and big art pieces of the Potteries.
First, I went on a tour around the factory, with a guide. The guide was kind and welcoming and she explained everything in detail.
I saw employees working on making the pottery and kilns which fired the pottery.
All the pottery is made by hand using moulds, then dried, then it is smoothed and fired, then decorated and glazed and fired again.
There were about three or four big rooms in the factory. The rooms that the employees were working at were cosy and bright. They had their own workstation, decorating the pottery.
It wasn’t that busy but there were quite a few people working around the place.
There were some nice pottery pieces around. I liked the chicken but I am not often into pottery.
After the tour, we made our own plates using stamps and paint.
I created a plate with duck, flowers and stars. They gave us a bunch of different coloured paints and sponges. They said we could freestyle a plate or use stamps for perfect ones. I just used the stamps. They glazed it for us, fired it and sent it around a week later. It was a nice environment to work in and I learnt how stamps work with the decorating pottery. You have to make sure the stamp is fully on and carefully taken off. It is good to make a nice plate. You can make a plate if you want to have it in your own house.
After painting the plates, we went to the café. It was nice and cosy, and I had a nice soup. The food was nice. The shop sold everything they make in the factory.
I would recommend the tour.
It was interesting to know that all the pottery was handmade because I didn’t know that.
The decorating bit was my favourite part of the tour because it was interesting to see how they did it using stamps. If you get two pieces of the same pottery it will be slightly out.
It impacted me as I saw how creative everything is done as everything is made by hand. I appreciate how hard the employees work on the pottery. It is amazing.
I didn’t like travelling there because it was far away and we hit a lot of traffic on the M6, but I enjoyed the experience of being at the factory.
Thank you for reading. As part of my Arts Award, please can you leave me some feedback using the comments so I can show evidence in my award.
It sounds like you had a very interesting day out at the Emma Bridgewater factory. What a wonderful description of your day! It must have been fascinating to see each process involved in making and designing the pottery. I really liked your design on the plate, something to treasure from a wonderful day out.
That’s a very detailed description of your tour Louis and has made me want to visit myself. I didn’t realise that it was all handmade either. Well done and thank you!
Thank you Louis for such a great description of what goes on at the factory. I always wondered how they produce such lovely pottery, and now I know! Your plate is fantastic too!
What a lovely experience Louis! I love Emma Bridgwater pottery, the colours and designs are beautiful, especially the mugs and plates with flowers. I’ve never been to the factory but your blog has made me want to go. Your plate turned out very well, I expect you’ll be using it often & every time you use it you’ll remember your trip to the factory!
You have made me want to go Louis ! I had no idea how it was all made and that you can go and just use stamps and have it glazed . Your plate looked great I love the design and colours . I will look forward to going and making my own , thanks for describing it so well Louis .