Originally founded as a studio in 1897 within a large ceramic company.
James Macintyre & Co. Moorcroft pottery soon made its mark on the world.
Designs came from 24 year old William Moorcroft who personalised each piece
of pottery produced with his own signature or initials. This did little
for James Mcintyre’s name and reputation, and in 1912 the inevitable split
occurred. William marched his workforce across Cobridge Park to a new
factory in Sandbach Road where Moorcroft pottery is still made today.
Money came from Liberty, the famous London store and Liberty continued to
control Moorcroft until 1962.
In 1904, Moorcroft won a gold medal at the St Louis International
Exhibition and followed up the achievement with further medals and
commendations, culminating in the appointment of the Moorcroft company
as Potter to HM The Queen in 1928.
On the death of William Moorcroft in 1945, his elder son, Walter,
took over management and design. In 1962, the Moorcroft family bought
out Liberty, but Moorcroft seldom prospered. Finally, in 1984, the
family sold the bulk of their shares on the open market. After several
material shareholder changes in the mid-1980’s and early 1990’s,
Moorcroft is now controlled by the Edwards family, and has been since 1993.
Over the past nine years the world profile of Moorcroft has grown
internationally, both in quality and in perceived value. Auctioneers
Christies hold a dedicated Moorcroft sale each year. In 2001, Sotheby’s
NewYork hold a major sale comprising many pieces of Moorcroft pottery.
The Victoria & Albert museum has joined many other national museums with
significant pieces of Moorcroft pottery in their permanent collections.
In 1993, Rachel Bishop joined Moorcroft as only its fourth designer in
almost a hundred years. Just 24 years old, she was soon to see sales of
her work flourish. With that success came the Moorcroft centenary in 1997,
and in the same year the Moorcroft Design Studio
was formed, originally comprising no less than eight designers with Rachel
at their head.
A brief and colourful interlude saw the arrival of Moorcroft Enamels
in August 1998, a company which Moorcroft closed down in March 2006 as
a result of clashes in design style.
Today, Moorcroft leads the world of art pottery with its own distinctive
design style. With added value coming from the skills and craftsmanship of
a dedicated workforce, Moorcroft is selling more of its magnificent ware
all over the world today, than it did even in its previous heyday in the
mid-1920’s.
