Josiah Wedgwood
Josiah Wedgwood (1730–1795) was an English potter and entrepreneur who founded the Wedgwood pottery company.
He revolutionized ceramic manufacturing, developing jasperware and other distinctive styles that made fine pottery accessible beyond the aristocracy.
A member of the Lunar Society and grandfather of Charles Darwin, Wedgwood was also an outspoken abolitionist whose "Am I Not a Man and a Brother?" medallion became an iconic antislavery image.
Major manufacturing business owner
- entrepreneurOne who starts businesses
- ceramicistMaker of fired clayware
- potterMaker of clay vessels
- manufacturerOne who produces goods
Englishman · abolitionist · Unitarian · Enlightenment · philanthropist · founder · Staffordshire · Darwin
Hardened clay objects
- kilnOven for hardening clay
- clayMoldable earth for ceramics
- glazeThin lustrous coating
- firingTerminating employment
creamware · porcelain · wheel · throwing · slip · pyrometer · bone china · vitrify
Dense ceramic fired hot
- cameoBrief guest appearance
- bas-reliefSculpture projecting slightly
- medallionLarge decorative disk pendant
- plaqueInscribed memorial tablet
neoclassicism · biscuit · urn · vase · dip · mythology · ornamentation · antiquity
Reviving ancient aesthetic principles
- jasperOpaque colored quartz
- pale blueLight, desaturated azure
- cameoBrief guest appearance
- eleganceRefined, graceful quality
refinement · classical motifs · ornamental · decorative arts · taste · style · design · Roman
Transition to factory-based economy
- mass-productionLarge-scale standardized fabrication
- mechanizationConverting to machine operation
- efficiencyProductive without waste
- pioneeringFirst to explore territory
division of labor · standardization · catalogue · showroom · marketing · patents · technology · breakthrough
industrialist
Major manufacturing business owner
- entrepreneurOne who starts businesses
- ceramicistMaker of fired clayware
- potterMaker of clay vessels
manufacturer · Englishman · abolitionist · Unitarian · Enlightenment · philanthropist · founder · Staffordshire · Darwin · Bentley
ceramics
Hardened clay objects
firing · creamware · porcelain · wheel · throwing · slip · pyrometer · bone china · vitrify · bisque
stoneware
Dense ceramic fired hot
- cameoBrief guest appearance
- bas-reliefSculpture projecting slightly
- medallionLarge decorative disk pendant
plaque · neoclassicism · biscuit · urn · vase · dip · mythology · ornamentation · antiquity · relief
neoclassical
Reviving ancient aesthetic principles
elegance · refinement · classical motifs · ornamental · decorative arts · taste · style · design · Roman · iconic
industrialization
Transition to factory-based economy
- mass-productionLarge-scale standardized fabrication
- mechanizationConverting to machine operation
- efficiencyProductive without waste
pioneering · division of labor · standardization · catalogue · showroom · marketing · patents · technology · breakthrough · entrepreneur
- Business IconsRockefeller, Carnegie, John D. Rockefeller, Andrew Carnegie, J.P. Morgan
- Georgian BritonsJane Austen, Lord Byron, Percy Shelley, John Keats, William Blake
- Midlands HistoryBirmingham, Norman Conquest, Coventry, Roman occupation, Leicester
- 18th Century FiguresNapoleon, Washington, Jefferson, Franklin, George Washington
- AbolitionistsFrederick Douglass, Harriet Tubman, Sojourner Truth, Harriet Beecher Stowe, John Brown
- British InnovatorsJames Watt, George Stephenson, Michael Faraday, Thomas Telford, Charles Babbage
Josiah Wedgwoodslave traders
Merchants of human beings