Emma Bridgewater

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Associate: Eli Keren

Books

Emma Bridgewater is a British company owned and run by Emma (née Bridgewater) and husband Matthew Rice. The core of the business is pottery, with motifs drawing on expertise and traditional techniques stretching back over 200 years. Many Emma Bridgewater designs are also adapted for application onto textiles, glass, tin, stationery, and melamine. Her designs include patterns such as Black Toast, Polka Dot, Union Jack, Starry Skies, Pink Hearts and Figs. The Emma Bridgewater factory lies in the heart of the historic Stoke Potteries region, in a sunny Victorian factory on the banks of the Caldon Canal.

 
Current publication

 

PATTERN -  Saltyard Books - February 2016

Creativity, collaboration, inspiration

Emma Bridgewater's patterns are as quintessentially British as marmalade on toast - and they have made her distinctive homewares best sellers across the world.

Her inspiration is often deeply personal - a plate of her mother's, a favourite children's book - and as she tells the stories of each pattern's creation, she reveals the intricate processes of research and collaboration behind the familiar designs she has stamped on our kitchenware - and our hearts - for the past thirty years.

Each pattern comes with a 'serving suggestion': a favourite recipe from Emma's family cookbook that will look deliciously at home on your Polka Dot plate or in your Dancing Mouse bowl.

And collectors and students of design will revel in the complete, illustrated Emma Bridgewater Pattern Index.

Both an entrancing trip down memory lane and a behind-the-scenes look at a thriving creative business, Emma Bridgewater's Pattern is essential reading for anyone who has ever turned over their mug after draining their tea and wondered about the human story behind that proud declaration: Made in Stoke-on-Trent, England...

 

Praise for PATTERN - Saltyard Books - February 2016

"Emma's recollections about the geneses of her iconic spongeware patterns - from multi-coloured polka dots to leaping rabbits - are well written, revealing and charming... the patterns in this book are largely Emma's own, hence her meandering reveries, which elevate this book from a mere catalogue of designs to something of a memoir." (House & Garden)

"No one understands pattern and design quite like Emma. This gem of a book celebrates her passion for British ceramics, her beautiful design and joyful patterns." (Kirstie Allsopp)

"Beautiful... Emma would modestly describe herself, not as a master potter, but as a 'grubby industrialist with a factory making useful everyday ware'. But really, that self-effacing description fails to capture the delight and charm of the uniquely British brand celebrated in Pattern, and the simple joy her designs have brought to millions." (The Lady)

Non-Fiction

Publication DetailsNotes
2014

Saltyard Books

Plunge into the world of pottery, family, childhood, work, motorway service stations, holidays, beaches, markets, recipes, dressing-up boxes, patchworking, country & western music, picnics, camping and the lost world of telephone calls costing 2p. Emma Bridgewater looks back on her life and work, with a wonderful patchwork of stories that show the inspirations behind the Bridgewater business and how it all started after a failed attempt to find the perfect birthday present...