WEDGWOOD &
THE SOCIETY OF DILETTANTI
VICTORIA & ALBERT MUSEUM, LONDON
THURSDAY, MARCH 20, 2025
The ECC is delighted to confirm that we are running a seminar at the V&A Museum on Thursday 20 March, 2025, devoted to Wedgwood and the Society of Dilettanti. The Society was founded in c1734 for noblemen and scholars that sponsored the study of ancient Greek and Roman art. While the Society is in existence today, the seminar will focus on the eighteenth century.
WILLIAM MOORCROFT, POTTER
INDIVIDUALITY BY DESIGN
William Moorcroft, Potter: Individuality by Design is a pioneering study by Jonathan Mallinson, Emeritus Fellow of Trinity College, Oxford. It follows the career of William Moorcroft through a wealth of private papers, letters and diaries, business correspondence and published reviews in newspapers, trade magazines and art journals. Richly illustrated with examples of his pottery, it explores what lay behind the unique impact of work sought by museums and treasured in homes the world over.
XIAO ZHAN
Xiao Zhan is both charming and professional, with an elegance and confidence that perfectly resonates with our brand values of heritage, craftsmanship and innovation. Xiao Zhan’s passion, love and dedication made him the perfect fit to be the first ever Global Brand Ambassador in Wedgwood’s history.
WEDGWOOD BRINGS DARWIN'S ADVENTURES TO FINE BONE CHINA
Wedgwood has introduced a new teaware collection that beautifully captures famed naturalist Charles Darwin’s journey to far-flung climes on the HMS Beagle. The collection, Darwin Voyage of the Beagle, has been produced with Wedgwood working closely with Cambridge University Library, original drawings from Darwin’s trip (created by the ship’s artist Conrad Martens and Darwin himself) have been carefully styled on to teacups and saucers, and coupe plates by the Wedgwood design team. The use of original drawings from the journey fills this collection with an authentic story full of history.
THE WOMAN WHO SAVED WEDGWOOD
In 1909, Daisy Makeig-Jones was hired by the Wedgwood firm in Staffordshire, England, to decorate pottery. She would go on to develop the “Fairyland” luster pattern, which combined dazzling iridescent glazes with motifs from fairytales and would serve to revitalize the Wedgwood brand.
ARTIST IN RESIDENCE:
MAGDALENE ODUNDO
Wedgwood’s Artist in Residence programme invites creatives to work alongside the craftspeople within our factory in Stoke-on-Trent, England, allowing them to express their creative vision through new manufacturing techniques and ceramic materials.
Magdalene Odundo’s residency explores the abolition of slave trade and Josiah Wedgwood’s contribution as a ceramicist, but also a humanist.