Why Was Josiah Wedgewood so Successful?

Josiah Wedgewood was famous throughout the world for making pottery. He was successful for many reasons. In this essay I am going to explain why I think he was so successful. Wedgewood was extremely hard working, for example he made over 100 experiments, recording each one. This must have taken a lot of time and effort just to make one discovery so 100 must have taken a great deal more. Also, Wedgewood invented and developed products: black basalt, thermometer, and pyrometer and learned to add kaolin to glaze pottery to stop it cracking. All of these products are ingenious but to make them from scratch, especially a thermometer is remarkable and it shows a lot of effort. Another point to back up my idea that Wedgewood was hard working is that his knee never fully recovered from small pox but he still used a kick wheel for ten hours a day which must have been incredibly painful.

This shows he was hard working because he ignored the pain and carried on working. Wedgewood built his own house and his workers houses next to the factory, this shows he was hard working because he wanted complete dedication to his job and didn’t want to waste any time. A 952-piece dinner service was required in a short amount time and Wedgewood worked day and night to get it finished. Lastly, Wedgewood built a canal so all of his pottery could be shipped off to different places. Wedgewood helped build the canal and then sailed the boat himself to the different locations.

Another reason why Wedgewood was successful was because he had a lot of good advertising ideas. One of these ideas was that he made cheaper copies of really expensive pottery that only the rich people could afford. This advertised his work because lots of the poorer people would want to have what the rich had so lots of people would buy them. A second good advertising idea was that Wedgewood used travelling salesmen to promote and sell his pottery. This gave Wedgewood sales abroad and advertising in other places. Wedgewood released a pottery catalogue, which featured all of his works and his prices. This was a good idea because it promoted all of his works so people could have seen what they liked and then placed an order. Lastly, Wedgewood sent samples of his pottery to the Royal court; they loved his work and then bought from him. Wedgewood cleverly changed his company name to ‘Queens ware’. People thought that because it was good enough for the Queen, it was good enough for them.

Wedgewood had a very good team, without them I don’t think he would have been as successful as he was. Thomas Bentley was Wedgewood’s business partner, he knew the market very well and without him Wedgewood could have made amazing pottery but no one would have paid attention because it wasn’t what they were looking for. Wedgewood’s wife, Sarah, tested his products and helped him design female pottery. Again, without her I don’t think that Wedgewood would have sold half as much as he did because he had no idea what females liked. Wedgewood had a lot of networks and he used them to sell, this helped his products becomes more popular and sold in different places. The people who helped Wedgewood make pottery were experts and Wedgewood helped his craftsmen on each stage to improve their skill and speed. Wedgewood’s orders would never have been completed without them. Lastly, Wedgewood employed skilled artists to hand paint his work and they gave his pottery character.

Wedgewood had a lot of diversity in his work; he made cups, plates, teapots, vases and much more. This helped his work to sell because there was something for everyone, not just the same thing painted differently. Wedgewood’s artists painted his work with different themes that ranged from castles to waterfalls. Again, there was something for everyone. Lastly, Wedgewood used different clay so he could make different styles and features that people wanted.

Overall, I think the most important reason why Josiah Wedgewood was so successful was because he was hard working. If he didn’t make all of those discoveries or used a kick wheel for ten hours then he would have never got good pottery or a successful business. Also, if he didn’t work hard to finish the 952 piece dinner service then he would have never been able to change his name to ‘Queens Ware’ which got him most of business. Finally, if he hadn’t discovered how to make his pottery better then someone else’s pottery could have been more popular.