![]() ![]() One characteristic of the international marketplace was a love of novelty. ![]() ![]() Although men like Wedgwood did not receive outside investments to underwrite their experiments or to pay fine artists to help with their designs, they did enjoy an advantage that would eventually help some of them compete against Continental producers: They had to focus intensely on the needs of an international marketplace, not those of a few patrons. Youths who could not afford to become apprentices joined the larger ranks of unskilled or semi-skilled pottery workers performing a broad range of simpler duties.Įnjoying no patronage, English potters personally financed their experiments to create new or improved ceramic bodies and glazes, competing fiercely to gain an advantage in the domestic market. Boys with parents of some means were apprenticed to learn the craft, with the hope that they would eventually become master potters who would specialize in one aspect of their art, usually throwing or firing. Most potteries in the early 1700s were small, family-based enterprises. More important, however, Staffordshire had clay, in variety and large quantities. Nearby counties provided lead, salt, and fine sand. It contained long-flame coal, necessary to fire ovens, and fireclays, from which pottery-making equipment and facilities could be constructed. The West Midlands was uniquely suited for the task. ![]()
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