A revived pottery brand has expanded its operations at its Somerset base, creating five jobs.
Cornishware, known for its range of teapots and kitchen storage jars with a design of blue and white stripes, has opened a new slip casting unit at its site near Shepton Mallet.
The business, whose products were first created by renowned East Midlands manufacturer T.G. Green & Co in 1923, has invested £300,000 in the new unit.
The 3,000 sq ft facility will include a new 90 cubic feet kiln - 50% larger than the original two kilns it purchased in 2017 and 2020. Some of the equipment has been restored after previously being used at the original T.G. Green factory in Church Gresley, Derbyshire.
Cornishware is now owned by entrepreneur Charles Rickards, an admirer of the brand who, alongside former director Paul Burston and designer Perry Haydn Taylor, bought it out of administration when the Church Gresley site ceased production in 2007.
Mr Rickards works alongside his daughter Rebecca who now heads up marketing for the business.
The family-run firm said the expansion would allow it to meet “high demand” for its pottery. The company produced 200,000 pieces last year and is expecting to increase output by 15% this year - adding it would be “prioritising quality over mass production”.
Cornishware is returning all of its manufacturing to the UK from overseas, and it added that the investment would help bring more of its production in house, having previously outsourced some of its products to Royal Stafford in Stoke on Trent.
The firm, which uses Cornish kaolin clay sourced from St Austell, said this would allow for shorter lead times, improved quality control, as well “nimble innovation” and short production runs.
Currently employing a team of 27 people, Cornishware said as well as creating new jobs, the unit would allow the company to upskill its workforce in hand crafted techniques.
The casting unit will be managed by the company’s first graduate trainee Katie Hudson.
Cornishware supplies cooks, bakers and tea makers, and has produced collections for a client base that includes the Duchy of Cornwall.
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