Burleigh was founded in 1851; at the time simply another pottery firm in a city made famous by giants such as Wedgwood and Spode. Today those giants are gone, but Burleigh soldiers on in the Victorian factory the firm built for themselves in 1888. In fact, it is believed to be the nation's last operating Victorian factory period! Over the years the firm produced every imaginable type of pottery; covering every style and fashion over the decades, from coronation souvenirs to hospital ware.
Today Burleigh focuses exclusively on the production of transfer ware. Invented in the 18th century, transfer ware was created as a "poor man's" version of Chinese Export porcelain. Designs that mimicked the hand painted originals, were printed on tissue paper, and while the ink was still damp, rubbed onto plain white pottery (a process not much different from cheap Cracker Jack tattoos )
Though the final product could fool no one, especially as the designs often blurred and showed the seems and creases from the original tissue, it's these very hand made quirks and naivete that has made vintage transfer ware so widely collected today.
Which brings us back to why Burliegh is so extraordinary. Although advances have been made in the production of transfer ware since 1851, Burliegh has rarely adopted them. In fact, it is now believed to be the only pottery in the world producing transfer ware just as it was invented over 200 years ago. In essence, the Burliegh piece you buy today is made no differently from an antique piece made in, say 1820.
After taking the factory tour I was amazed at just how little of the modern world was present at the factory. Most markedly was just how many hands went into this hand-made process. It seems as though just about every worker at the factory touches every piece made at least once. Nothing here is automated. Every piece gets the royal treatment. Each one is carried as they were a century or two ago, on long wooden planks from room to room. Most heartening of all, all of this labor is done, not by immigrant labor working below minimum wage at jobs no one else is willing to do, but by the same local British workers of Statfordshire who for many, many generations have been proudly supplying the world with wonderful china.
It seems impossible to visit Burliegh and not fall in love. Not just with the product, but with the process.
Now, about the photos. 1. A worker individually applies the tiny knobs on the teapot lids, which are formed separately. 2. In the vast attic storehouse, a collection of Toby jug molds representing various British heroes of WWII. 3. These pieces have just been hand washed to remove the transfer tissue, and are now headed to the glazing process. 4. A coal fireplace warms a small corner of the factory shop. 5. In this room, freshly printed sheets of transfer tissue are sent down a central cloths line to be applied at various workstations. 6. Just a small view of the massive attic storehouse piled high with 150 years worth of master molds and designs. 7. A worker applying sections of transfer. 8. The entrance of the factory built in 1888.
