So who is Emma Bridgewater? (yes she is a real person!) Emma is our founder and designer, who, together with her husband Matthew, has been running the business and designing our wares since the beginning, in 1985.
Welcome to the wonderful world of Emma Bridgewater! Our hand-decorated pottery is the simplest shortcut we know to making any kitchen feel like home. All of our patterns are designed to compliment each other, so now that you’ve begun your collection we’d like to inspire you to take a further look around.
And in the mean time, if we may, we’d like to tell you a little bit more about what makes Emma Bridgewater so special.
We’re a British company selling a British product, which is made and hand-decorated in our factory in Stoke-on-Trent.
So, we’re British through and through; we’re family both in outlook and make-up; but more importantly than both of these things we make unique and beautiful pottery that will make you smile every day and will work hard in your kitchen for years to come. Emma Bridgewater: feels like home.
Our pottery is made from warm, cream-coloured earthenware (which is a quintessential Staffordshire product); it’s hand-decorated in our factory in Stoke-on-Trent and we’re the sixth largest employer of potters in the area. We’re fully committed to making our wares in Stoke (the traditional home of British pottery manufacture since the 17th century); in fact it’s something of a mission of ours to put Stoke firmly back on the map.
That we are a family company?
Emma set up the business in 1985, with her husband Matthew (Rice) joining a couple of years later. To this day Emma Bridgewater Ltd is still owned and run by Emma and Matthew with them both contributing designs (Emma is responsible for the majority of the spongeware patterns such as Polka Dot, Starry Skies, Hellebore and Sampler, whilst, for example, Black Toast, Birds and Dogs all feature Matthew’s artwork).
The early family life which inspired the Emma Bridgewater business took place round the kitchen table, and that is still the focus of Emma and Matthew’s life with their four children today.
