Wedgwood Museum forced into Administration

Press Release from The Wedgwood Museum.

"The Wedgwood Museum Trust Ltd can confirm that is has been placed into Administration, although the prize winning Wedgwood Museum will remain fully operational and open to the general public as usual.

The Administration is a necessary step to enable the Wedgwood Group Pension Plan to seek the support of the Pension Protection Fund, the body established to provide a guaranteed minimum level of pension payments to members of eligible pension funds. Five of the Wedgwood Group Pension Plan's 7000-member scheme were employees of the Museum Trust when the Wedgwood companies became insolvent last year, leaving a large deficit in the Pension Plan. As a result, the Museum Trust is now deemed to be liable for the shortfall.

The Museum's Trustees are in discussions with a wide range of stakeholders as to how the Trust's internationally renowned Designated Collections can be preserved, and are determined to ensure the survival of the Wedgwood Museum.

The Trust's Chairman, George Stonier, said: "Bob Young and Steve Currie of the Stoke-on-Trent office of Begbies Traynor, the UK's leading independent professional services firm, have been appointed Joint Administrators of the Trust.  The Museum's Trustees and their advisors are now working hard to find a solution to this extremely unfortunate situation. The Trustees are extremely grateful for the continued support of the Museum's staff and its many friends, and remain optimistic that the Collections will continue to be available to the public in our museum in Barlaston, Stoke-on-Trent."

It is open daily from 9.00am to 5.00pm (from 10.00am on Saturday and Sunday).  Admission is £6.00 for adults, £5.00 for concessions or £4.50 for children (under fives go free).  For more information, please call 01782 371900 or visitwww.wedgwoodmuseum.org.uk"

Supporters may also consider becoming a member of the museum. The Wedgwood Museum Trust is a registered charity (number 1072442) and relies on the support of everyone - especially those who belong to our membership scheme. Your support really counts.

Membership Individual membership (UK)  - £20 European Individual membership - £25 Rest of the World membership - £28 Joint membership (UK) - £35 European Joint membership - £40 Rest of the World Joint membership - £43 Family membership (up to 2 adults and up to 4 children) - £45 Overseas Family membership - £50 Corporate membership - £200 Overseas corporate membership - £300 Schools membership (Local Authority schools in Stoke and Staffordshire only)  - £150 Membership Application Form Gift Membership

Donations Another way to help the museum is through a donation. Donations are publicly acknowledged. Donations can be made in the following ways In person at the museum By post By standing order If you'd like to make a donation by post please download the donations form. All donations should be sent to: The Museum Director The Wedgwood Museum Wedgwood Drive, Barlaston, Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire. ST12 9ER. Cheques should be made payable to The Wedgwood Museum Trust Limited.

 

Tom Wedgwood writes to Staffordshire Sentinel Re: Wedgwood Museum: "Don't thank the old management".

Don't thank the old management

Tuesday, June 30, 2009.

PRAISE TRUST: Mike Wolfe's praise for the staff, building and success of the Wedgwood museum is surely appreciated by all involved.

I'd like to add one caveat, which heaps even more praise on the trust, museum team and Gaye Blake-Rogers for their extreme foresight and diligence, but decidedly less on the old Waterford Wedgwood management.

The Wedgwood Collection, the archives and artefacts were actually put into a trust before Waterford took over in 1988, so let's not thank the old board for their one kind act, this was something the Wedgwood family, who had donated many of the artefacts for safe-keeping over the last century, worked very hard to make happen.

Waterford Wedgwood and its Irish owners would certainly have sold off the contents if Josiah Wedgwood and Sons Ltd owned them, just as they have attempted with other collections. We, in the Wedgwood family, are absolutely thrilled at the success of the museum. My father Alan Wedgwood has been deeply saddened by the turn of events in Stoke and the one thing he has put his all into has been the museum. My grandfather's trust the C.T Wedgwood Trust, (although of course he was called Tom because we're not very original with names), helped fund the initial feasibility studies to attract the Heritage Lottery Funding – for this we are proud, and the museum is set to thank the family with a Tom Wedgwood reading room to honour the trust.

Be assured that the Wedgwood family will never desert Wedgwood, its collections nor those Stoke- based employees and ex-employees.

TOM D WEDGWOOD

Cocknage

http://www.thisisstaffordshire.co.uk/letters/Don-t-thank-old-management/article-1123010-detail/article.html

"If it's not 'Made in England', it's not Wedgwood"

Following this post quoting the Sentinel article by Thomas D. and Thomas R. Wedgwood I would like to urge all readers of this blog to show your support for their stand. Insist on English Wedgwood and make your feelings known.

Write to:

Customer Service,

WWRD Ltd,

Barlaston,

Stoke-upon-Trent,

ST12 9ES

info@wedgwood.com

Know your Back-Stamps:

Products Made in Staffordshire England" will be marked "Made in England."

  

Products outsourced and produced Indonesia will just have "Wedgwood England" with no explicit country of origin. 

"Indonesian production has no Wedgwood family support"

The Sentinel: Friday, May 15, 2009, 09:20

As workers at two of the world's most famous china brands come to terms with 225 more potential redundancies, members of the Wedgwood family are angry at plans to transfer more production to Indonesia. Here, cousins Tom R Wedgwood and Tom D Wedgwood argue that the policy of Wedgwood's and Royal Doulton's new U.S.-based owners is shortsighted and damaging.We are profoundly dismayed and angry at the announcement yesterday that there could be up to a further 225 manufacturing job losses at Barlaston. This is likely to be followed up by administration job losses as well.

Pierre de Villeméjane, chief executive officer of new owners WWRD may have used a velvet tongue to talk about "significant production remaining at Barlaston" but his iron fist is crippling production and in the long term threatens to destroy Wedgwood.

Let's get this absolutely clear. We, the direct descendants of Josiah Wedgwood, do not support the production of Wedgwood in Indonesia. It is not staying true to Josiah, his legacy or the excellence of ceramics craftsmanship in Stoke-on-Trent. Or let's put it another way – if it's not made in England it's not Wedgwood.

There will now only be around 150 employed in manufacturing Wedgwood in Staffordshire, compared to more than 1,500 in Indonesia. This is purely token manufacturing. Pierre and Michael Psaros, the boss at WWRD's parent company KPS, surely do not think that producing a few tableware lines and a few Prestige pieces in Stoke will be enough to fool astute global consumers? These redundancies will involve the loss of jobs in the Prestige special skills departments as well as the long-serving potters whose skills can never be truly replaced. It is a tragedy for the Potteries and for Josiah Wedgwood's legacy.

When we carried out due diligence as part of our bid to buy the company out of administration, the financial analysis proved that in the medium and long term it makes financial sense to develop the brand as a uniquely Staffordshire luxury product. It makes commercial and financial sense because consumers expect that when they pay £25 or more for a plate that it is designed, manufactured and decorated in Stoke. That is the only way consumers can guarantee they are buying the "unrivalled heritage" that Pierre hopes to cash in on. Why else would consumers make that purchasing decision when they know they can pick up 20 plates for a fiver made in China? We had hoped KPS had realised this. We'd heard rumours that all the media attention might have had an impact on their plans.

KPS are making a major commercial mistake. Wedgwood sales have gone through the floor. Yes, there is a world-wide recession, but there is a deeper underlying reason which Pierre ignores at his peril – suddenly, thanks to the media interest, high-end consumers in these markets have suddenly woken up to the fact that Wedgwood has a factory in Indonesia producing most of its core tableware and hollow-ware. Before January, most global consumers didn't know this. They honestly thought all Wedgwood was made in Stoke, and they've shown their disapproval by walking out of stores saying: "We don't want it." The cat is now out of the bag. Our greatest fear is that Pierre and Michael actually know this but don't care. They simply want to produce tableware in Indonesia and back-stamp it with Wedgwood or Vera Wang and "grow the hell", as they put it, out of the U.S. bridal market while playing lip-service to heritage to sell the odd Prestige piece. Their fundamental belief is that luxury consumers don't care. They're wrong.

Tell the world the truth: how much production will there be in Barlaston compared to Indonesia? Will WWRD still pretend it's made in Staffordshire? Why?

Wedgwood's 250th Anniversary 1759-2009

A bitter sweet day for the Wedgwood clan today (May 1st) as Wedgwood's 250th Anniversary is formally celebrated. 250 years ago today a young Josiah Wedgwood set up business for himself at the Ivy House Works, property rented from his cousins John and Thomas Wedgwood of the Big House, Burslem.

Despite the efforts of members of the family to buy the company when it went into administration in January, it was bought by Private Equity outfit KPS. Their new vision is for just the Visitor Centre and a small manufactory presence producing “Prestige Items”. Royal Worcester did the same – to no great effect.

According to the BBC, Lord Wedgwood, now apparently taking the KPS shilling, officially launched the festivities. The Award winning Wedgwood Museum, independent of the company and deserving of our continued support has set admission at a special anniversary entry price of £2.50 per person, instead of the usual £9.50, from today until Monday.

"Wedgwood legacy is under threat"

Letter to the Financial Times Published online : April 1 2009 03:00 Last updated: April 1 2009 03:00

From Mr Josiah Francis Wedgwood.

Sir, KPS Capital Partners' plan to transfer the production of Wedgwood
china to factories in Indonesia threatens to destroy the tradition and
branding of a 250-year-old company, as well as an English Midlands
community ("Waterford's new owner to accelerate shift overseas", March
27). Even as an economic matter, it will work only if the craft skills
are available abroad among poorly paid workers, and if American
consumers are willing to accept deluxe English china that is marked
"Made in Indonesia".

The use of a "Wedgwood – England" trademark may disguise the new
source of production for sales in the UK and Europe. But for sales in
the US, source of origin is more stringently regulated, and each plate
will have to admit on its verso that it was "Made in Indonesia". The
first Josiah never travelled to Asia, and neither will his company's
tradition.

Josiah Francis Wedgwood,
Potomac, MD, US

Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2009

FT Link: http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/da44c4d4-1e53-11de-830b-00144feabdc0.html?nclick_check=1

.

WEDGWOOD FAMILY PRESS RELEASE: - Wedgwood Family reject CEO claim

Issued by Alison Wedgwood

The Head of the Wedgwood Family has expressed his anger at the
comments made by the new CEO of Waterford Wedgwood Pierre de
Villeméjane who was reported in national newspapers as saying " that
the deal even had the blessing of the Wedgwood family, who had told
him that they were thankful that the brand would continue. "

The new CEO of Wedgwood has not spoken to Tom R (former Director of
Asia Pacific), Tom D Wedgwood, Sir Martin Wedgwood or Alison Wedgwood
who have been instrumental in fighting to keep the Brand's key
manufacturing base in the UK. He also has not spoken to Dr Alan
Wedgwood, a former non-executive Director of Waterford Wedgwood and
the Head of the Wedgwood Family, or his wife Janet Wedgwood.

Tom D Wedgwood said today: 'The Wedgwood family would like to make it
very clear that it does not support any plan that moves manufacturing
of Wedgwood from Barlaston to Indonesia. We are particularly hurt by
KPS's claim that their bid has "our blessing". This is fundamentally
untrue and is directly against everything we have been fighting for in
the last three months.'

Dr Alan Wedgwood said: 'The Wedgwood family would be happy to offer
support only if they could be assured that production and jobs are
secured in Barlaston and the brand remains true to the spirit and core
values of Josiah Wedgwood.'

Wedgwood Company Future

KPS Capital have succeeded in buying Wedgwood, all links with the
founding family have now been completely severed. Alison Wedgwood,
wife of Thomas D. Wedgwood who, with his cousin Thomas R. Wedgwood led
the Family Consortium which attempted to "Save Wedgwood", has asked me
to forward this message to you all with their THANKS FOR YOUR SUPPORT.

"Our Fight, Hopes and Fears for Wedgwood"
A Personal View by Alison Wedgwood – March 27th 2009

I just wanted to share with readers and the numerous employees and
ex-employees that have been in contact me my thoughts on what has
happened with regard to the Wedgwood family bidding for Waterford
Wedgwood. We made a non-binding indicative bid on 13th February. This
was co-ordinated by Wedgwood Partners Ltd, a consortium comprising the
Wedgwood family and a number of talented ex-employees, supporters and
professionals plus one regulated firm of professional advisors and one
FSA regulated fund management and corporate finance firm.

Due diligence had been taking place since the end of January, and was
ramped up in February when over a dozen legal, financial and corporate
specialists were in process of analysing all aspects of the potential
purchase. Rob Flello, MP and the union Unite have been very helpful
throughout this process.  The investors were gathered, but there were
barriers to finding all the information because certain aspects of
Waterford Wedgwood were NOT in administration and so data about these
firms, their role and their contracts with the rest of the group was
not available.

We spoke to staff in Peter Mandelson's Ministry, the Department for
Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform but they were unable to
assist in accessing this information because most of it was offshore.
The investors therefore could not proceed and make a binding offer on
large portions of the business they had not analysed and we could not
produce contracts and discuss heads of terms with the investors. I
cannot discuss any details of the contents of the bid because
non-disclosure agreements between Deloittes and bidders ensure that
everything that happens with regard to bidding stays out of the public
domain.

KPS announced they had come to a deal with Deloittes on Friday 27th
February due to "completion of overseas transactions". This has now
taken place and just as we feared it looks like KPS will move most of
the production, except prestige, to Indonesia.

Tom and Tom, the professional advisers, ex-employees, legal experts
and financiers worked weekends and through nights to try and secure a
deal that would ensure Wedgwood stayed in Stoke, producing outstanding
pottery for export around the world. We still believe passionately in
this goal and like the rest of Stoke, wait and see what an American
private equity firm working with many of the original senior managers
and Board of Waterford Wedgwood that brought Wedgwood to it's knees
can possibly do now.

For the real people in Stoke, the suppliers and sub-contractors owed
money, and the workers who signed legal contracts for enhanced
redundancy packages with the management in November last year, I feel
angry. They will be at the back of the queue when it comes to dishing
out any cash from the sale. I can only hope that we don't have even
more redundancies and, God forbid, if there are please can they be
done with dignity, not just a line of people left standing in the rain
waiting to be lead to the chamber/room.

It would seem that, just as in banking, reward for failure, a culture
of entitlement and managers who never accept responsibility is the way
of business and proves again the distorted global capitalist model
that has grown like an out of control monster these last 10 years. The
tragedy is that it's the workers who've put in 30 years of hard work,
growing a business, actually making real things out of the minerals
and clays of the area that really suffer.

The KPS business model will see many businessmen nodding their heads
in agreement: cut costs, streamlining, labour that is 85% cheaper in
Indonesia. Ironic when you consider that Deloittes admin staff are
charged out at £220 an hour and partners at £745 an hour and they've
earned over £3 million in fees over 3 months.

But will the KPS model work? I know that consumers in Japan are
dismayed to find out that the Indonesian factory even exists; I know
of an American who smashed his purchased item in the showroom when he
found out it was made in Indonesia. I know the owner of the only
Indonesian showroom didn't want to stock Wedgwood sourced from the
factory just down the road from her.  I know that Steelite and Dudson
produce outstanding ware in Stoke competing head on with low cost
producers overseas and winning outright. I know that the real pottery
craftsmen and women and their commitment is only found in Stoke. The
clay and bone ash is sourced around Stoke, and it has to be
transported to Indonesia. The skilled craftsmen are not expensive; the
pound is low. Anyway, the labour costs have not been part of the
problem, the supply chain and distribution networks organised by the
senior management are more to blame.  Tom D spent a month on the
production line in 2005 and knows full well where the wastage and
inefficiencies are.

I'm sure KPS know all this as well, and they are hoping that less
discerning buyers won't care about country of origin, won't care about
the 250 years of heritage, excellence, design and Josiah's legacy as a
marketing pioneer.  They're not proud of the Wedgwood history in
Staffordshire how it is intertwined with the Darwin's, the industrial
revolution, the Lunar Society, the strong Wedgwood women who were
instrumental in the abolitionist fight and the daughter of Josiah who
gave birth to one of the world's greatest scientists Charles Darwin.
But they should care, because they may find out that the Wedgwood
Collectors Societies and all the discerning consumers who aspire to
purchase exquisite china that represents 250 year of this heritage -
they really do care. Then what happens to global sales?"

-------- End-----

REMEMBER to continue to support the Wedgwood Museum, managed by an
independent trust. They have just re-opened a state-of-the art museum
at Barlaston. It contains one of the finest collections of Wedgwood in
the world, new research facilities and 85,000 archival items -the
Wedgwood Manuscript collection dating from the sixteenth century.

http://www.wedgwoodmuseum.org.uk/

The End of a 350 year Family Tradition

Despite the efforts of Thomas D. and Thomas R. Wedgwood to save Wedgwood as a Staffordshire based Pottery, Private Equity concern KPS Capital have succeeded in purchasing certain principal Waterford Wedgwood assets from the bankrupt group. The Wedgwood cousins had pledged to save local jobs – now many Wedgwood employees face a very uncertain futuire. The whole region's future is bleak – most ceramic production has now moved overseas. Only a handful of Staffordshire firms remain.

This marks a sad end to a venerable family tradition. Josiah Wedgwood & Sons was founded in 1759, however the potting tradition stretches back to Josiah Wedgwood's great-great-grandfather, Gilbert Wedgwood (1588-1678) who moved from Biddulph to Burslem upon his marriage to heiress Margaret Burslem, and took up the trade. Since that time, from father-to-son, in an unbroken line – until the resignations of Dr Alan Wedgwood and Thomas R Wedgwood from the firm; "No other family business is recorded as surviving in unbroken succession for so long"

Now, according to reports: "KPS will expand Waterford Wedgwood into emerging markets, transfer production overseas and cut costs" – oh dear, what would Josiah have said? I suspect his would have exclaimed his oft spoken retort "This will not do for Josiah Wedgwood". Your family agreed and they tried, there is no dishonour in that.

Or, is there still hope?

KPS Capital have been slippery from the start – they initially began negotiations to invest in Waterford Wedgwood at the end of 2008, they surveyed the scene and then stood back to let the group fail so they could buy it on the cheap from the administrators. Still, it would seem that nothing is straight forward; they are still only saying that they will "first purchase certain overseas assets belonging to the group, before completing the purchase of its UK and Ireland assets, which is conditional on the satisfactory conclusion of the overseas transactions."

Meanwhile Staffordshire jobs and loyal customers are still non the wiser. Lobby your MP and pile on the political pressure and back the family's bid for the company the only one with:

• A guarantee to save and create British jobs
  
• Commitment to investing in valuable skills in North Staffordshire;
  

Only the family bid, led by people truly committed to Wedgwood and what it stands for supports the interests of Wedgwood's loyal workforce.

 

Wedgwood Lost

 

US firm Private Equity firm KPS have taken over Wedgwood – many will now fear for their jobs and production is set to move overseas. What a shame that the local social and political preference for the Wedgwood family bid failed to secure their goal of saving Wedgwood for England, and keeping jobs in Staffordshire. Thomas D and Thomas R Wedgwood have worked tirelessly heading up a consortium to buy Wedgwood, they are to be congratulated for their efforts – I commiserate with them this evening.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7915669.stm

The Wedgwood Spirit

Text from a piece by Alison Wedgwood for The Staffordshire Sentinel:

 

Darwin's and Stoke – Our Heritage

 

A wonderful new book  Darwin's Sacred Cause (Adrian Desmond and James Moore) gives a fascinating incite into the relationship between the Darwin's and the Wedgwood's.  The book reveals that the Wedgwood/Darwin family played an enormous role over 70 years, fighting for the abolition of slavery and suggests that this had a profound influence on Charles Darwin's thinking. The Wedgwood/Darwin grandparents, aunts, uncles and his wife were his "moral anchorage". Charles Darwin, Josiah's grandson, spent many happy years growing up with the Wedgwood cousins at Maer Hall.   He watched Uncle Jos Wedgwood sell the London Wedgwood showroom and give the proceeds to the abolition cause; he knew that Aunty Sarah Wedgwood gave more to anti-slavery causes than any other female. He grew up within an anti-slavery axis stretching from Shrewsbury to the Wedgwood's in Staffordshire"

 

Darwin's thesis on evolution traced all life to one common ancestor. Darwin detested slavery, the slavers desire to "make the black man sub-human", he believed in racial unity and brotherhood. Josiah Wedgwood was one of the first on the Committee for the Society for Effecting the Abolition of the Slave Trade founded in 1787. He produced the iconic slave medallion, "Am I not a Man and a Brother". It was produced in its thousands at Josiah's expense, it wasn't for sale, but became a must have item, worn as hair pins, broaches, mounted on snuff boxes. The medallions are generally seen as instrumental in the swing of popular feeling against slavery and in favour of the Abolition movement. They were an 18^th century version of the campaign bracelets worn today, Josiah funded the leaflets which led to the global consumer boycott of slave plantation sugar.  Josiah funded Thomas Clarkson and worked closely with Wilberforce who described the Wedgwood's as "a fine, sensible, spirited family, intelligent and manly in behaviour". Interesting.

 

As suggested in the many book reviews of "Darwin's Sacred Cause" the Darwin's and the Wedgwood's did spend generations interbreeding. I am happy to report that although I come from Stoke on Trent, my meeting and subsequent marriage to Tom Wedgwood (direct descendant) was purely coincidental, we were not related, although I believe my husband was related to his Grandmother Sally Wedgwood in three different ways. We met at University and our shared passion for skiing was the starting point. We also share a passion for pottery and for ensuring manufacturing of the iconic and ethical brand stays in Stoke On Trent, England. We are working hard to save Wedgwood from those who believe it can be produced in Indonesia and back-stamped with Wedgwood. Consumers in Asia, the US and Europe are not gullible. They will only buy Wedgwood fine bone china if it's made in England. Wedgwood cannot continue it's slow death,  lost in the reaches of Indonesia, to inept design, manufacturing and marketing by people who are not passionate about the original values set out by its founder.

 

The Wedgwood family come from a long line of freethinking, spirited, individuals and we're not giving up – it's a David and Goliath battle against big US private equity firms – but our sense of passion for a cause that drove the Wedgwood's to fight for 70 years against slavery is the driving force behind our battle to keep Wedgwood alive.  Tom hasn't had a day off since the 5^th January. Wedgwood must be made in England, it must represent exquisite design, exemplary manufacturing and a modern ethical brand that consumers aspire to. Something that will last another 250 years.

 

Alison Wedgwood

Stoke on Trent

 

BBC NEWS: Family members bid for Wedgwood

BBC NEWS Business Family members bid for Wedgwood

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7864731.stm

Screen clipping taken: 02/02/2009, 12:19