Neil Ewins' study of the Staffordshire potteries in a period of great global change traces how ceramics production has been affected by globalisation in both familiar and unexpected ways.Although ...many manufacturers such as Wedgwood initially moved production to cheaper labour markets in East Asia, others remained in or returned to England once it became clear that outsourcing manufacturing was affecting the brand value and customer perception of their products. Neil Ewins explores the complex behaviour of the UK ceramics industry, using a combination of evidence from the press, trade journals, ceramic objects, and primary interview evidence of manufacturers, retailers and a ceramic designer. Ewins suggests that, although the surface designs of UK ceramics invariably reflect diverse cultural and stylistic influences, a notion of authenticity often still resides in the place and context in which the ceramic product was originally made. Overall, the book argues that UK ceramics remain culturally complex because of issues of supply and demand, and ties to heritage, imagined or otherwise. Within a context of globalization, the book highlights compelling issues which have huge ramifications on UK manufacturing futures.
The innovative output of nations is partly explained by the strengths of its innovation ecosystems. The Iranian Lalejin city has been home to a ceramics and pottery industry for at least 200 years. ...Despite showing resilience over the years and occasional success; e.g. the 2016 “World Pottery Capital” designation; the industry is facing plummeting demand for consumer artifacts and rivalry from competitors. Innovation is the key to survival and sustainability but innovation capacity is low. This study adopts the “innovation ecosystem” lens to address the problems. Interviews provide information for understanding the historical evolution of the industry, mapping the status quo, highlighting the barriers and drivers of innovation, and crafting a renewal plan. The proposed renewal process pools regional authority, expertise, and stakeholders to craft an effective and sustainable solution. While the study does not proffer a new theory of ecosystem renewal, there are important implications for research and practice. For practitioners, understanding the ecosystem evolution and the cultural underpinnings of the observations will help craft a detailed, sustainable ecosystem renewal plan. A cultural turnaround program may also be needed. For researchers, linking cultural characteristics, ecosystem evolution and outcomes is a viable and fruitful research avenue.
•Uses the innovation ecosystem concept to address the issues of a troubled ceramics and pottery industry.•Evolutionary history, status quo, and barriers and drivers of innovation are documented through interviews.•Proposes a renewal plan for the ecosystem that combines authority, expertise and stakeholder participation.•Training; research and learning; business consulting services; proactive adjustment; and creating synergies are emphasized.•Many issues may have cultural roots. A cultural turnaround program may be needed.
Roman Ceramic and Glass Manufactures: Production and trade in
the Adriatic region and beyond presents thirty-one papers read
at the 4th International Archaeological Colloquium held in
Crikvenica, ...Croatia, 8-9 November 2017. The papers deal with issues
of pottery production in relation to landscape and communication
features, ceramic building materials, as well as general studies on
ceramic production, pottery and glass finds. Additionally, an
invited contribution explores finds relating to clothing from the
Roman pottery workshop at Crikvenica. Several papers are devoted to
restoration and archaeological experimentation. Although the
majority of papers tackle research conducted in the wider Adriatic
area, several contributions deal with other provinces of the Roman
world.
The pottery industry stands as a revered traditional handicraft, bearing both social and economic significance as a sustainable source of revenue within Sri Lanka. This study aims to unravel the ...elaborate factors that influence small and medium-scale enterprises (SMEs) within this industry. The study targeted small and medium-scale pottery producers in Udukiriwala, Hambantota District of Sri Lanka, with a sample size of 75 participants. The sampling technique employed was a simple random selection method. Data accumulation was coordinated via a precise pre-tested questionnaire, designed to encapsulate demographic particulars and inquiries connect to various constructs using a five-point Likert scale. Comprehensive statistical analysis ensued, encompassing mean calculations, standard deviations, correlation assessments, and regression analyses. Environmental factors exhibit a significant positive correlation, underlining their intense influence on the pottery industry's development. In absolute contrast, economic factors showcase a notable negative correlation. Meanwhile, sociological factors and government influence factors exhibit no statistically significant correlations with the pottery industry's evolution. The recognition of pivotal factors shaping the pottery industry sets the stage for well-informed actions, providing a solid basis for fostering its sustained expansion and advancement within the Sri Lankan context.
This book presents interdisciplinary research carried out on the Roman sites of pottery workshops active within the coastal area of the province of Dalmatia as well as on material recovered during ...the excavations.
In the nineteenth century the Staffordshire pottery industry was in its heyday. Despite global interest in the Staffordshire potteries and associated collieries, very little research has explored the ...lives of children that worked in these industries. This research aims to redress the balance. Testimonies of workers, teachers, doctors and government officials, alongside clinical and census data will be used to gain an insight into juvenile well-being. This research has found that children worked in perilous environments which consequently affected their health and development. Furthermore, juveniles were at risk of physical abuse from their carers at home and in the workplace. Long working hours, poverty and domestic responsibilities prevented children from attending school and enjoying leisurely pursuits. However, the well-being of children gradually improved over the course of the century due to the implementation of new legislation.
How and why do ceramics and their production change through time? Social Change and the Evolution of Ceramic Production and Distribution in a Maya Community is a unique ethno-archaeological study ...that attempts to answer these questions by tracing social change among potters and changes in the production and distribution of their pottery in a single Mexican community between 1965 and 1997. Dean E. Arnold made ten visits to Ticul, Yucatan, Mexico, witnessing the changes in transportation infrastructure, the use of piped water, and the development of tourist resorts. Even in this context of social change and changes in the demand for pottery, most of the potters in 1997 came from the families that had made pottery in 1965. This book traces changes and continuities in that population of potters, in the demand and distribution of pottery, and in the procurement of clay and temper, paste composition, forming, and firing. In this volume, Arnold bridges the gap between archaeology and ethnography, using his analysis of contemporary ceramic production and distribution to generate new theoretical explanations for archaeologists working with pottery from antiquity. When the descriptions and explanations of Arnold's findings in Ticul are placed in the context of the literature on craft specialization, a number of insights can be applied to the archaeological record that confirm, contradict, and nuance generalizations concerning the evolution of ceramic specialization. This book will be of special interest to anthropologists, archaeologists, and ethnographers.
Highhays, Kilkenny Devine, Emma; Ó Drisceoil, Cóilín
2022, 2022-09-30
eBook
This richly illustrated book presents the first comprehensive study of the making and marketing of pottery in medieval Ireland. Focusing on a well-preserved 14th-century pottery production center ...which was excavated in 2006 at Highhays, outside the walls of the renowned Anglo-Norman town of Kilkenny in south-east Ireland, the authors describe its kiln, workshops and working areas, as well as its 'Highhays Ware' products: jugs, jars, cooking-pots, money-boxes and ridge tiles.Foremost amongst the outputs from the kiln site were high-quality, wheel-thrown, green-glazed jugs that were closely modeled on French Saintonge and Bristol Redcliffe archetypes and the volume describes the distinctive processes, kiln-firing technology and raw materials that were employed to produce these, and the other wares, represented on the site. The book also presents the results of an innovative plasma spectrometry and petrological analysis of Highhays Ware, which facilitated identification of the source for the raw potting clays areas - located at a considerable distance from Highhays in north county Kilkenny - used in its production, in addition to allowing for a study of the uncharacteristically broad distribution of the ware throughout the south-east of Ireland. The authors also place the production of pottery at Highhays in its broader context by presenting an overall review of the archaeological and historical evidence for pottery making and consumption in medieval Ireland, as well as by exploring the cultural background and social status of potters in the Anglo-Norman colony. Supporting the analysis and interpretation of the Highhays site and its assemblage are specialist and scientific contributions on the pottery, tiles, ceramic production material, metal finds, coins and archaeobotanical and animal bone remains from the site, archaeomagnetic and radiocarbon dating and plasma spectrometry and petrological analysis.
In The Evolution of Production Organization in a Maya Community, Dean E. Arnold continues his unique approach to ceramic ethnoarchaeology, tracing the history of potters in Ticul, Yucatn, and their ...production space over a period of more than four decades. This follow-up to his 2008 work Social Change and the Evolution of Ceramic Production and Distribution uses narrative to trace the changes in production personnel and their spatial organization through the changes in production organization in Ticul.Although several kinds of production units developed, households were the most persistent units of production in spite of massive social change and the reorientation of pottery production to the tourist market. Entrepreneurial workshops, government-sponsored workshops, and workshops attached to tourist hotels developed more recently but were short-lived, whereas pottery-making households extended deep into the nineteenth century. Through this continuity and change, intermittent crafting, multi-crafting, and potters' increased management of economic risk also factored into the development of the production organization in Ticul.Illustrated with more than 100 images of production units, The Evolution of Production Organization in a Maya Community is an important contribution to the understanding of ceramic production. Scholars with interests in craft specialization, craft production, and demography, as well as specialists in Mesoamerican archaeology, anthropology, history, and economy, will find this volume especially useful.
This book examines a contemporary pottery tradition in Mesoamerica, but also looks back to the earliest examples of cultural development in this area. By means of ethnographic analogy and ceramic ...ecology, this study seeks to shed light on a modern indigenous community and on the theory, method and practice of ethnoarchaeology.
