The evolution of Portmeirion Tableware acts as a lesson to those of us wanting to learn about how to succeed in launching and running a successful enterprise in a difficult and declining market. There is passion, vision, flair, hard work, luck and good genes all playing their part. Read on below for the story ....
Portmeirion Tableware - Founded 1960 Staffordshire, England by Susan Williams-Ellis.
Susan's hobby was decorating pottery. So what exactly were the vital ingredients that made a person's hobby grow into one of the most significant china manufacturers in the illustrious history of Stoke-On-Trent?
There are always vital ingredients when you the beginnings of a successful firm, but there always has to a 'master chef' to put all those ingredients together.
Here are the circumstances:
A person with a gift for design and a passion for pottery decoration. A husband with a degree in Maths and Statistics from Cambridge. An insprirational designer/architect father who was a not only a war hero in the Welsh guards, earning a Military Cross, but also built his own village in Snowdonia which became a world famous tourist destination (Portmerion). These are smart, fearless and heroic people. In launching a pottery company there was a cycle of expectation - the expectation of success.
So what did these smart people do exactly? What processes did they put into operation that those of us less smart may learn from?
Firstly, they thought outside the normal sphere, they lived self-sufficiently on a farm long before anyone else had thought of "the Good Life", organic food or carbon footprints.
They learned about pottery decoration (or at least Susan Williams-Ellis did).
They purchased a pot-bank, the A.E. Gray Company in Stoke.
They started out just decorating white-ware, not making it.
They retailed their designs in the gift shop of the village of her father.
They purchased a second pottery facility. Kirkham’s Ltd allowed for the making to commence in-house.
They came up with a stunning design success with 'Totem' in 1961.
They trumped that success with an even bigger design success - by releasing 'Botanic Garden' in 1972. Susan Williams-Ellis came across a 19th century botanic guide and used it to put together a series of china based on the illustrations which now, amazingly, accounts for half of Portmeirion Potteries revenue.
They didn't sit on their laurels, unlike some well known china firms who subsequently died a quiet death, they put everything into developing new designs. Portmeirion Tableware were lucky enough to have the family design talent gene go down to a third generation when their eldest daughter, Anwyl Cooper-Willis, designed another of Portmeirion Pottery popular designs, The Holy and the Ivy. Anwyl succeeded Susan as design director and the legacy goes on.
For me, Portmerian china represents a visual treat when I see them presented in a nicely laid out and fashionable store. There seems to be a riot of some sort going on - happily, a visual, floral riot.
There is something charmingly chaotic about the collection that hints at a slightly subversive streak in the person responsible. If I’m wrong, anyone knowing Susan Williams-Ellis can shoot me down in flames! In the meantime, thanks for cheering me up on those rainy days.
The evolution of Portmeirion Tableware acts as a lesson to those of us wanting to learn about how to succeed in launching and running a successful enterprise in a difficult and declining market. There is passion, vision, flair, hard work, luck and good genes all playing their part. Read on below for the story ....
They came up with a stunning design success with 'Totem' in 1961.
