On the 13th June 1769, Josiah Wedgwood celebrated the opening of his new Etruria factory in Stoke-on-Trent by hand throwing six First Day Vases.
Over 250 years later, two of these vases sit at the heart of the World of Wedgwood, on display in the galleries of the V&A Wedgwood Collection.
In partnership, the site now celebrates the story and legacy of this great innovator.
On relocating to Barlaston in 1938 Josiah V stated, ‘The Wedgwood tradition prescribes a duty to the future as well as the past’.
It is this duty to the future that underpins our development today, through the preservation of environment, heritage and craft.
The home of the Wedgwood factory and ambassadors of a global luxury brand turned to SomeOne to create a new visual identity to roll out across its entire portfolio.
There are a multitude of reasons to visit.
From seeing behind the scenes at the Wedgwood factory, where you can meet the craftspeople making the intricate pottery ready for sale around the world. To savouring world class cuisine at Lunar, home to multi-Michelin starred chef, Nial Keating.
There’s a wide selection of shops, a stunning contemporary tearoom (resplendent in full Wedgwood, naturally) — even a gin distillery.
It all adds up to represent what the Wedgwood brand stands for. Respect for the past, excitement about the present and inventing for the future.
Which is how we arrived at the uniting strategic position that the site is Everything Wedgwood — on a plate.
Jasper, the most famous of Josiah’s inventions, first appeared in 1774 after thousands of experiments.
An unglazed vitreous fine stoneware, it was made in blue, green, lilac, yellow, black or white; sometimes one piece combined three or more of these colours.
Upon these delicately coloured grounds would be applied the classical and contemporary reliefs which are still made today from moulds reproduced from the originals.
The iconic light blue jasper gave rise to the expression “Wedgwood Blue” and remains a recognisable Wedgwood signature worldwide.
It was clear that this blue needed to form the basis of the colour system for the brand — complimented with a palette of seasonal and year-round choices to enable applications to work well across print, pixel, on and offline.
To celebrate the idea of craft and the process of creation, a library of textures associated with the Wedgwood factory and creative studios were created. Covering clay, powder, paint, bone China and slip, they have been beautifully photographed to help with storytelling and add visual interest to designs. They can be the hero image or become a recessive background. Each comes with a wealth of detail, they can be cropped into and rotated to best find a composition that works for any design.
I’m a big fan of brands that open their doors, enabling audiences to see behind brand facades. Here we’ve literally taken the raw materials found on the factory floor. It was time to put them to work to extend the invitation to a wider visiting public.
Inspired by the lines formed in clay on the potters wheel, the brand illustrations depict what’s on offer around the destination. The illustrations can be used on their own or combined together to form a group. These can be used as both small details or as hero graphics. A system was developed to enable the illustrations to depict any of Wedgwood’s thousands of products.
A new messaging system was created to invigorate such a well loved brand. With a brand established for over 250 years — there is more licence to play with preconceptions. Josiah Wedgwood was a radical and progressive figure, so there is no reason for the written brand to languish in the past.
The team at SomeOne continued to raise the bar throughout the entire rebrand process. I can honestly say that they have over delivered in every aspect. What started out as a cup of tea in our tearooms grew into an entirely new way of presenting ourselves to the visiting public and beyond. The entire team is to be sincerely congratulated on navigating such a complex series of challenges and a myriad of stakeholders with such apparent ease.
Josiah Wedgwood was the Steve Jobs of the 1700’s. A radical thinker who made seemingly impossible things come to life. He even invented and made his own fire engine — to operate INSIDE the factory. We’ve created an intelligent operating system that looks to open up the Wedgwood world to a new generation
Huge thanks to the entire team at Wedgwood & Fiskars.
ECD / Strategy: Simon Manchipp
Creative Director: Mark Smith
Designer: Luca Portik
Senior Account Management: Ellie Knight
Photography: Caroline Leeming
Stylist: Johanne Mills