Wedgwood: The First TycoonBefore there was a Trump or a Rockefeller, there was Wedgwood. Wedgwood pottery, with its familiar white classical figures against a pale-blue background, has been one of the most recognizable luxury brand names in the world for more than two hundred years. In this lively, authoritative biography, Brian Dolan shows us how a crippled, disenfranchised child grew to become the first tycoon, and, as the inventor of the eponymous brand name, the father of our label-obsessed culture. His is the Enlightenment's supreme success story. Born into an impoverished potter's family in Staffordshire, England, Josiah Wedgwood began life with dim prospects. He had scant education, and a bout with smallpox left him with a lame leg. But while he was apprenticed to his hapless elder brother, his natural curiosity and ambition led him to conduct a series of rigorous chemical experiments in the hope of discovering a pure white glaze then unattainable in Europe. He moved on, and up, cleverly cultivating patronage, and early in his career won commissions from Queen Charlotte and Catherine the Great. Weathering, and, in some cases, capitalizing on the volatile political climate of the period, he built a formidable empire. He turned the dining room into an art gallery, not only for royalty, dilettanti, and diplomats from America and China, but also for the rising middle class, who clamored for his "ornamental" pieces. Wedgwood combined originality with intense investigation, setting an example for future generations (including his own grandson, Charles Darwin) and revolutionizing a model of business that is now ubiquitous. He organized skilled labor in one of the world's first factories; offered his employees health insurance and pension plans; and transformed the very notion of shopping by opening showrooms, engaging traveling salesmen, and offering money-back guarantees. Wedgwood was a convivial family man of vast imagination. A true disciple of the Enlightenment and a member of the famous Lunar Society -- which included Benjamin Franklin, James Watt, Joseph Priestley, and Erasmus Darwin -- he believed all his accomplishments were for naught if they failed to effect social improvement. This is the vivid portrait of a pioneer who used a potent combination of science, aesthetics, and marketing to change commerce forever. - Jacket flap. |
Contents
Exquisite Models | 151 |
The Creators of Beauty | 158 |
An Afflicted Heart | 167 |
Copyright | |
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