AboutHistory

  • The name of their company evokes the deep roots of the Johnsons’ heritage, for 1882 was the year that Johnson Brothers was founded.

    In 1882 the J.W. Pankhurst Company declared themselves bankrupt and the business was sold at a receivers' sale. The buyers were Alfred and Frederick Johnson and the partnership was called Johnson Brothers. The factory was situated in Hanley, the largest of the Six Towns which joined together to form the city of Stoke-on-Trent, lovingly known as the Potteries. As the business expanded their elder brother, Henry, joined them.

    Photography: Andrew F Wood

  • The company produced mainly white ware which was popular at the time. Within a few years they introduced under-glaze printed ware, a commodity for which, over many years, they became justly famous. The end of the Civil War in America had created a great demand for consumer goods and Johnson Brothers were not slow to take advantage of the opportunities for trade with America.

  • Because of the increased demand the factories grew and in 1889 they built Hanley Pottery and then Imperial Pottery which were situated opposite each other in Eastwood Road, Hanley.

  • 1896 also saw the opening of a new venture for the brothers, the Trent Sanitary Works. The year before they
    had opened another factory in the north of the city and named it "Alexander Pottery" in honour of the Princess of Wales at the time.

  • My father, Christopher, started at
    Hanley Pottery in 1958 working in each department to gain an understanding of the various processes before taking charge of one of the factories in 1963. In 1968 Johnson Brothers became part of the Wedgwood Group. At that time there were eight members of the family working for the Group including my grandfather, James and my father.
    When my father retired in 2002 he was the last Johnson to be connected with the Wedgwood Group.

  • In 2011 the family tradition continues
    on with the design and production of
    Bone - a series of fine bone china lights and carrying on the tradition a short distance from where it all began, nearly 140 years ago.

DesignMaking

CrockeryMaking
BoneMaking

  • "Materials of variable composition and rather doubtful purity are subjected to
    an unmeasurable thermal treatment for a period of time just long enough to allow unknown reactions to take place incompletely, yielding the heterogeneous, non stoichiometric material known by the name of ceramics" Professor Gugel

  • How can you not love a product where
    Dry Materials
    Are put into a blunger
    Made into slip
    Filter pressed
    Then either
    Put back into a blunger
    To gain more weight
    For casting slip
    Or
    Put through a pug
    And then a jigger
    To make plastic clay
    For cups and saucers.

  • These lights are hand crafted in the North Staffordshire Potteries and are made of Fine Bone China.

    Fine bone china is 52% calcined animal bone which gives it incredible strength and translucency.

    25% China Clay from Cornwall which gives it its colour.

    3% Ball Clay from Devon and Dorset which give it plasticity and a flux, either nepheline synite or felspar, which allows the china to be fired at a lower temperature.

    The lights are hand cast and then fired at 1200 degrees centigrade.

    After firing the lights are rumbled in their bisque form which gives them their smooth finish.

ProductsCeramics

CrockeryCeramics

Crockery by Max Lamb
Jug, bowl and mug in fine bone china
Made in Staffordshire, England

Crockery is a family of tableware cast in fine bone china from plaster models carved by Max Lamb. The process of slip-casting begins with a three-dimensional model of the design known as the 'master', carved by a professional model-maker, from which the production mould is cast. Crockery bypasses this process by placing the responsibility of the model-maker in the hands of Max Lamb. Using the tools of a stone mason Lamb chips and whittles a solid block of plaster to make a jug, bowl and mug, the design of each formed quite simply out of their own making.

BoneLights

Boned

B-6-27
6cms diameter
27cms high
 £275

B-6-32
6cms diameter
32cms high
£300

B-6-42
6cms diameter
42cms high
£340

B-6-52
6cms diameter
52ms high
£380

Lit by a 3 watt LED
CE Certified
VAT REGISTERED 119 6415 11 (GB)

Designers1882

Max LambCrockery

Jug, bowl and mug in fine bone china.
Made in Staffordshire, England.

London-based Max Lamb was born in Cornwall, England, an upbringing that imbued him with a love of nature and a creative spirit which have manifested in his practice as designer and maker. He graduated from the Royal College of Art, London in 2006, was named Designer of the Future at Design Miami/Basel in 2008 and continues to both produce and exhibit his work internationally.

Lamb is known for creating beautifully crafted pieces that have materials and traditional processes at their core. He looks to design products that stimulate dialogue between maker, product and user through a visual simplicity that effectively communicates the obvious.

'Crockery', a collection of fine bone china tableware cast from moulds carved by Lamb, is testament to his maxim to use materials honestly and processes transparently, to give both their own voice rather than impose his aesthetic.

Emily JohnsonBone

As the fifth generation of the pottery family that founded Johnson Brothers, Emily has an unescapable passion for ceramics and for their continued production in England. The intention is to take a very traditional material and approach it in a modern way. She is the first designer for 1882 Ltd and her first collection of lights is only just the beginning.

InstallationsExhibitions

Coming soon - ICFF2012

Jacob k Jarvits Center in New York, May 19th - 22nd

British Bone, the world launch of contemporary ceramics by British designers, curated by Suzanne Trocmé. British designers work with bone china to enliven methods developed by the great Johnson Bros factories of Stoke. Family member Em Johnson, Max Lamb and newcomer Shannon Bills, push the boundaries of traditional manufacture under the brand 1882LTD, the year the firm was founded. Highlights include bone china lights (Em Johnson) and hand carved bone tableware (Max Lamb).

www.icff.com
Scaffolding - Old Vic Tunnels2012

  • Scaffolding - Old Vic Tunnels

    Playing again with materials Em has taken weathered and worn scaffolding and combined it with Bone that matches the form of the scaffolding but not the strength. This juxtaposition is further emphasised by the warm glow of the lights that also create optical illusions from different vistas.

  • Scaffolding - Old Vic Tunnels

  • Scaffolding - Old Vic Tunnels

  • Scaffolding - Old Vic Tunnels

  • Scaffolding - Old Vic Tunnels

  • Scaffolding - Old Vic Tunnels

London Design Festival 2011 at Jamb2011

  • London Design Festival 2011 at Jamb

    Boned in England - Multiples of Light.
    A collection of repeat Fine Bone China Lights hand crafted in the North Staffordshire Potteries. Multiples of bisque and rumbled single white vessels contain diffused illumination creating a topography of light, emphasising the importance of British industry's progression and future.

    Photography: Susan Smart

  • London Design Festival 2011 at Jamb

  • London Design Festival 2011 at Jamb

  • London Design Festival 2011 at Jamb

  • London Design Festival 2011 at Jamb

Bunker Bar at Old Vic Tunnels2011

  • Bunker Bar at Old Vic Tunnels

    37 Short.
    Transforming the table lights into a 8 meter by 5 meter chandelier. The lights are hung at different levels in ever increasing clusters to create a slanting cross. The LEDs were replaced by low wattage pigmy bulbs creating a warm glow.

  • Bunker Bar at Old Vic Tunnels

    37 Short.

  • Bunker Bar at Old Vic Tunnels

    37 Short.

  • Bunker Bar at Old Vic Tunnels

    37 Short.

  • Bunker Bar at Old Vic Tunnels

    37 Short.

ContactDetails

email hello@1882ltd.com

telephone 0203 0028 023