An Emma Bridgewater Experience

So it’s my mum’s fiftieth birthday next month (sssh, don’t tell her I told you!) and she’s been thinking of fun, exciting things to do to celebrate. And she decided that one of the things she would do was an ‘Emma Bridgewater Experience’. She booked it for her group of friends from college, but unfortunately one of them couldn’t make it on the day. For me, this wasn’t so unfortunate, because I was invited in her place! After a quick dash back from Bath the night before, we were on our way to Stoke-on-Trent the next day.

Ever since I discovered Emma Bridgewater, I have really loved the brand. I adore the quirky, bold patterns, and the fact that they are all so different yet look so beautiful when mixed and matched. I only own a couple of mugs (which I got from the Bicester Village outlet shop) because I’m on a student budget, but they are my favourite. So obviously I was excited about the trip to say the least!

We arrived at the Emma Bridgewater factory by late morning, just in time for a drink and a quick slice of cake. I had a hot chocolate and a piece of red velvet cake (which was delicious). Then it was time for our factory tour to begin! 

A lovely lady called Jan took us round. We saw the molds for all the different products being made, the machines which the clay is mixed in, the clay being placed and smoothed into the molds and the products coming out of the molds and being dried. We saw the ladies who smooth down all the products and get rid of any lines and joins- this is called ‘fettling’. We saw the kiln where all the products are fired ready to be decorated. Then we saw the ladies using soldering irons to hand cut the sponges used to print on the products (they actually use upholstery sponge for this).

And then my favourite part – the decoration. There were a team of ladies working on decorating a variety of different products. They get new ones every day to decorate, so they have something different to work on each day. I loved seeing how each design and pattern in built up, bit by bit, and how no two Emma Bridgewater products are every exactly the same. Seeing all the different prints and patterns on such a variety of products was a real treat, and so beautiful and impressive. We then saw the products being dipped in glaze – every single product is hand dipped – before they are fired and then inspected for quality control before being sent out to shops!

I found the factory tour so interesting. I have always felt that even without the student budget that I am on, Emma Bridgewater products are a little on the pricey side. However, having seen all of the work which goes into making them, and how much time and how many people work on just one product, I have changed my mind. I now think they are actually very good value for money!

I loved that all the components used to make the pottery are locally sourced. All of the clay comes from around the UK; even the upholstery sponge used to decorate the products is locally sourced near Stoke-on-Trent. I was also impressed by how much recycling goes on in the factory- even the excess heat from the kiln is directed to the greenhouses where produce is grown to use for the food in the café! Something else I learned is that every year, there is a new picture on the base of an Emma Bridgewater product, and you can date a product by looking at this picture. For instance, 2014 is a chicken!

Once we’d looked round the factory, we popped into the seconds shop for a quick look (still a bit pricey for me, even with the reductions!) It was then our turn in the decorating studio. After a quick demonstration of how to paint our chosen items, we began. We all went for the standard Emma Bridgewater classic mug. To decorate, you could use the paint brushes provided and go free style. Or, there was a huge range of different sponge stamps you could use to create your design, including spots, stars, hearts, flowers, animals, letters, numbers, vehicles – I even saw a Dalek in there! I thought this was a fantastic idea, because I have been to pottery painting places before, and if you are not the best artist or are just not feeling especially creative at the time, it can be hard to come up with a design you are happy with in the time limit. Having the different sponges there meant that you could easily choose a design and produce something lovely.

There was also a massive selection of paint colours, and everyone was provided with a rubber which you could use to rub off the paint if you made a mistake or changed your mind about something. I wanted to use the sponges, but I also wanted to get creative and do something different. I eventually decided to use one of my favourite flowers, the sunflower, as inspiration. I used a sponge to stamp brown spots over my mug, and then used a paintbrush and yellow paint to paint in petals around the edge of the spots. I was very pleased with the final effect, but I also wanted to try the union flag stamp they had. So I put a little union flag on the base of the mug.

As it was a fiftieth birthday celebration, my mum and her friends each stamped a ‘50’ on theirs, in amongst their other decoration. I think we all left feeling that it hadn’t been too hard to make something that we were all really proud of. It was also a lot of fun too! Finally, we had lunch before we left. I had a delicious chicken club sandwich, a glass of lovely lemonade, and another piece of red velvet cake for pudding (yes, it really was THAT good).

Overall, it was a brilliant day out. We had booked an ‘Experience Day’ which I thought that it was excellent value for money, and it was very interesting, fun and exciting, so I would highly recommend it. I already want to go again, so I’m planning my next visit (and coming up with some design ideas for my next mug too!)     

Emma J