Combining Digital Print Technologies with 18th Century Underglaze Ceramic Printing to Retain an Industrial Heritage Process

This bid seeks to build upon previous research undertaken by Hoskins into the combination of the digital capabilities of flexographic printing technology and the earliest printing process first developed for the ceramic industry in the 1780s. In order to achieve this it seeks to collaborate with Burgess Dorling & Leigh (Burleigh), the last company to print underglaze tissue commercially, based at its Grade II listed Middleport pottery in Stoke on Trent.

The Princes' Regeneration Trust acquired the pottery in June 2011 saving it from imminent closure. The Trust's involvement has already saved 50 jobs, is maintaining the traditional manufacturing skills unique to Middleport, and preserving the historic buildings, collection of moulds and machinery. The Princes' Trust has specified that pottery production should remain at Middleport for the next 25 years. However there is a long-term issue with both the maintenance and production of printing rollers and plates, which in the past have been hand engraved.

This bid seeks to redress that issue by introducing the potential of printing traditional potters underglaze tissue, both printing and applying it in the same way as the 18th Century process, but creating the plate from a digital file. Thus reducing the time taken to engrave a roller from one month to less than a day to create a digital equivalent roller, whilst retaining the integrity of the final product. Burleigh requested the collaboration with the Centre for Fine Print Research (CFPR) at the University of the West of England, due to our expertise in the practical application and marriage of 19th Century printing processes, with digital technology.

CFPR aim to investigate the recreation of underglaze intaglio printing rollers and plates using the flexographic process. Our previous research indicated it was possible to create an intaglio plate for research demonstration purposes and some practice based creative uses. This project seeks to create a visual taxonomy of existing underglaze tissue printed examples from museum collections in order to create a benchmark against which the major part of this new research can be undertaken empirically. It aims to recreate the qualities and visual aesthetic of underglaze tissue using contemporary digital technology whilst retaining all of the craft and artisan skills inherent in the application of underglaze tissue printing . It will do this by creating a methodology for the creation of practical examples using flexographic rollers and printing plates. The physical results can then be compared and tested against the benchmark. The methodology will ensure that the results are both of a commercial standard and commensurate with the 18th and 19th Century examples highlighted within the visual taxonomy. In parallel and as a further benchmark standard, an investigation will take place into the potential of recreating hand engraved rollers.

This project offers the potential to retain important skills within the pottery industry and make sure that an extant and working Victorian Pottery remains a viable part of the community and the nation's industrial heritage. Academically this project seeks to capitalise on a unique research opportunity to retain, in full working order, an important part of Britain's industrial heritage concurrent to bringing that heritage in-line with the 21st Century. The project needs to be sensitive to the historic context of Burleigh's process in order for future historians to gain tacit understanding of an industrial process as it was practiced in the 19th Century.

By building on earlier research by the applicants through the previous award and by collaborating with an industrial partner, we will contribute to improving the UK's economic competitiveness by creating a new, innovative process that has application to wider domestic and commercial sectors beyond the purely academic. The project will help to sustain a UK company and major employer in the ceramic industry by providing a high quality process that shortens lead times and adds competitive edge, whilst retaining historic skills that form the backbone of the UK's ceramic heritage. The UK ceramic industry needs regeneration due to the threat of competition from the Far East, the UK's heritage and specialist product sells into these markets and cannot be easily replicated.

In addition, the project will create innovative new artefacts, such as limited edition one off designer ceramics, thus creating a further product that is difficult to replicate and expanding into a new market. Its success will improve the competitiveness of Burleigh, increase their efficiency, create and retain new skills and jobs, develop increased capacity and reliability through the ability to make printing plates in-house, which will also decrease their lead times and make them much more responsive to market demands.

This project will contribute to the UK economy, Burleigh have always had a strong export market for their range as customers are aware of the English heritage of their products. However they have been unable to respond quickly to international market demands and pressures. The new process will allow Burleigh to quickly respond and be able to produce short-run, specialist items for the international market, thus increasing their export market. At the moment Burliegh does not have these capabilities and it currently takes them three months to produce a new roller for which they have to be sure of extensive market penetration before making investment into new technologies.

This project has the potential to create new jobs. Part of Burleigh's remit with the Princes' Trust is to create new apprenticeships but the company do not have the expertise in this particular area. Therefore jobs will be created by introducing this new process and these skills will be transferable to other companies.

The project will serve to enable the retention of the last working example of an early industrial process still extant in a completely original 19th Century factory, that only ceased using steam power in the 21st Century. The Middleport site is central to the regeneration of its immediate environs in Stoke-on-Trent, the City Council is committed to refurbishing and regenerating the surrounding area as a condition of the Princes' Trust Investment. Therefore the impact of retaining the 19th Century processes and the required skill base is crucial not only to Burleigh, but the future of this area of Stoke-on-Trent. Without this practice-led research, there is a real potential threat that the skills, the pottery and its commercial future will just die with the current generation, leaving an important area of the historic potteries without the current lifeline for future generations and the nation's industrial heritage, offered by the partnership of Burleigh, The Princes Trust and Stoke-on-Trent City Council.

This project will make a valuable and as yet unknown resource available to scholars and industry - the online exhibtion and documentation of the project will be highly accessible via the CFPR website.