{"id":850,"count":11,"description":"

Moorcroft Pottery Bio \/ Information<\/h2>\r\nHe was born in Burslem, Staffordshire.\r\n\r\nHe studied art at Burslem then in London and Paris. In 1897 Staffordshire pottery manufacturers James Macintyre & Co Ltd employed the 24-year-old William Moorcroft as a designer, and within a year he was put in full charge of the company\u2019s art pottery studio.\r\n\r\nEarly in his employment at Macintyre\u2019s, William Moorcroft created designs for the company\u2019s Aurelian Ware range of high-Victorian pottery, which had transfer-printed and enamelled decoration in bold red, blue and gold colours. Moorcroft developed highly lustred glazes and used oriental shapes and decorations.\r\n\r\nSome of his techniques were closely guarded trade secrets. He then developed his famous Florian Ware, with heavy slip and a translucent glaze which produces brilliance of colour. Florian Ware was influenced by art nouveau It was decorated entirely by hand, with the design outlined in trailed slip using a technique known as tubelining. Florian Ware was a great success and won him a gold medal at the World\u2019s fair, the St. Louis International Exhibition in 1904.\r\n\r\nUnusually at that time, he adopted the practice of signing his name, or his initials, on nearly all the pottery he designed, the production of which he personally oversaw. In due course the extent to which his success had overshadowed Macintyre\u2019s other manufacturing activities resulted in resentment on the part of his employers, culminating in their decision in 1912 to close down his studio.\r\n\r\nIn 1913, William Moorcroft then set up his own factory at Cobridge with staff from Macintyre\u2019s, and backed by a financial arrangement with Liberty & Co of London, The business succeeded. Much of the output was sold through Liberty & Co and Tiffany in New York City. In 1928 Queen Mary made him \u201cPotter to the Queen\u201d through a Royal Warrant, which was stamped on the pottery.\r\n\r\nHis son, Walter joined the company when he was twenty, and took over the management of the pottery in 1945 just before William\u2019s death.\r\n\r\nLiberty had collaborated financially with the company between its founding and Walter Moorcroft\u2019s leadership. The Liberty store\u2019s interest was bought out by Moorcroft in 1962. Rising fuel and labour costs brought Moorcroft, with its highly labour-intensive techniques, into financial difficulties in the attempt to mass-produce Moorcroft, as a result part of the company was sold to the Roper Brothers in 1984.\r\n\r\nThe Roper Brothers\u2019 share of the company was sold to business partners Hugh Edwards and Richard Dennis in 1986. In 1992, Dennis and his wife Sally Tuffin left the company, leaving the Edwards family as sole owners. They remained so in 2008.\r\n\r\nWalter Moorcroft retired in 1987, but continued to contribute until his last design was launched in 1999 \u201cRock Of Ages\u201d.\r\n\r\nIn 1993, 24-year-old Rachel Bishop joined the company as its senior designer.\r\n\r\nIn 1997, Moorcroft celebrated its centennial. This was the same year that it was founded under William Moorcroft in 1897 when the Macintyre studio was established.\r\n\r\nDuring 1998, the Moorcroft Design Studio was established and several designers were hired in order to extend the range of products.\r\n\r\n ","link":"https:\/\/themccorrycollection.com\/m\/shop\/product-category\/tmc-emporium\/pottery-ceramics\/moorcroft\/","name":"Moorcroft","slug":"moorcroft","taxonomy":"product_cat","parent":837,"meta":{"slim_seo":[]},"menu_order":0,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/themccorrycollection.com\/m\/shop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product_cat\/850","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/themccorrycollection.com\/m\/shop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product_cat"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/themccorrycollection.com\/m\/shop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/taxonomies\/product_cat"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/themccorrycollection.com\/m\/shop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product_cat\/837"}],"wp:post_type":[{"href":"https:\/\/themccorrycollection.com\/m\/shop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product?product_cat=850"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}