We are delighted to announce that

Moorcroft Pottery has been Saved!

The following was reported by the BBC

The company has been bought by Will Moorcroft, whose grandfather William Moorcroft built the factory on Sandbach Road in Cobridge in 1913, with support from London department store Liberty. The firm had remained in the family until 2006 when Mr Moorcroft's father retired.

Mr Moorcroft said he would like to see "as many of the staff as we can bring back" but that he was unable to guarantee all 57 workers would be able to return.

"We'll do our best to make it work and get everybody back who wants to come back doing what they do best, which is producing beautiful Moorcroft," he said.

He added that they were considering moving production away from the site in Burslem, moving the firm solely to the original factory on Sandbach Road.

The brand was popular with US presidents and British Prime Ministers and has a following among collectors around the world.

After winning several prestigious international awards, Moorcroft was appointed as potter to Queen Mary in 1928.

The firm's royal patronage continued when the late Queen Elizabeth II added Moorcroft designs into the Royal Collection.

The company's local roots are also an integral part of its heritage, he said.

"It's made in Stoke-on-Trent, it's got the backstamp to show that, all the staff are local, it stays local and for the city it's fantastic news for it to be continuing."

He said his plan was to resume production, ensuring the brand and its products continued to be made along with the potential for new designs and new products.

"It's all handmade, it's an iconic brand that over time has reached every corner of the world," he said.

Please stay tuned for further updates!

MOORCROFT ART POTTERY

Founder, William Moorcroft, first started creating fine art pottery in 1897. Ultimately the company gained the title of ‘Potters to the HM The Queen’ in 1928 and was established worldwide as a leading light in the British Arts and Crafts movement.

However, by 1986, England’s once great art pottery had dwindled to a handful of employees who had not worked on a new design for more than ten years. Only twenty-four hours before Moorcroft’s proud tradition might have succumbed to the fate of contemporaries, William’s youngest son, Managing Director, John Moorcroft, rang his bank who in turn reached out to Hugh Edwards, a successful commercial lawyer in London and lifelong Moorcroft collector, in a final bid to save his heritage. With the minutes ticking away, Hugh, his wife Maureen, a solicitor in general practice, and their two friends, Richard Dennis and Sally Tuffin, mounted a last-minute rescue, putting into operation their plan for the company’s revival.

To start the recovery new designs were created and the Moorcroft Museum was built, with pieces housed in 1924 Liberty cabinets. Maureen mortgaged the freehold of her office building, while Hugh pacified the company’s creditors. New design and a reinvigorated salesforce were soon paying dividends, and orders burgeoned. In 1992 Richard and Sally left the company, now facing the new year with a design void. Rachel Bishop, a ceramics graduate from the New Forest was soon uppermost in everyone’s mind to take over the design mantel. The rest, they say, is history.

The helm of the Moorcroft ship is still guided by Maureen and Hugh. Moorcroft’s course has been wide and varied. Her presence is very much felt in Australia, New Zealand, Canada and the USA. Several vases have found their homes in the various houses and castles of the Royal Family in the intervening years. Today Moorcroft designers create work for leading charities including the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds and the Royal Horticultural Society, to name just two. Moorcroft has featured on radio and television, in numerous magazines, worldwide auctions and various books. Glistening pottery graces the shelves of Liberty & Co., London as well as numerous independent retailers the world over. The fine art pottery is still made by hand in the original 1913 factory based in the World Capital of Ceramics, Stoke-on-Trent. In the wake of the global COVID-19 pandemic Moorcroft continues to sail through unchartered waters, changing and adapting to modern times as she does so.

The experience of more than half a working lifetime as well as the proceeds of sale of their unique collection of old Moorcroft, were all freely given by Maureen and Hugh to save Moorcroft from extinction and to rebuild the world-famous name that is Moorcroft today.