Stoke on Trent ceramics brand BURLEIGH are preserving their provenance, heritage craft, redefining luxury and gaining global business as a result.
There are only 12 tissue transfer printers in the world, a skill dating back 250 years, and they all work at Burleigh. Seeking out this authenticity and provenance International brands Ralph Lauren and Soho House have collaborated with Burleigh bringing a modern relevance and commercial return to this Stoke on Trent based company.
Burleigh’s ALL MADE HERE Campaign reframes ‘luxury’
For years ‘luxury’ has been synonymous with extravagance and great expense. Burleigh, the heritage pottery brand handcrafting its wares in England since 1851, disrupts this landscape by reframing ‘luxury’ from indulgence and excess to provenance, authenticity, and quality.
Some recent Burleigh growth sales stats:
- Burleigh have seen 42% growth in sales value over the last 5 years (2018 – 2022)
- International sales have been the driver of Burleigh’s growth delivering 103% growth over the same period. This is excluding Ralph Lauren which grew by 189%.
MD Jim Norman initiated the ALL MADE HERE campaign which aims to “redefine luxury” highlighting British heritage craft at BURLEIGH.
- In 2010, HM the King, when as patron of the Princes Regeneration Trust, bought together £9 million in funding to restore Middleport Pottery, the home of Burleigh.
- Built in 1888, Middleport Pottery stood out amongst the factories buildings which remain in the area.
- Burgess & Leigh Ltd which trades as ‘Burleigh’ is the very last company to ‘underglaze tissue transfer print,’ a once ubiquitous technique in Staffordshire. Burleigh continues to preserve and protect this as well as a number of other historical techniques.
- One of the companies most popular patterns is Regal Peacock, a Royal favourite since 1913 when Queen Mary became a fan following a visit to Harrods. HM the King owns a number of pieces decorated in this pattern. It’s still a best seller.
Jim Norman, Burleigh’s Managing Director explains: “Consumers have become much more interested in where and how products are made, and they’re also more astute at spotting when a brand isn’t authentic.
As a result, authenticity and provenance are the new defining factors of luxury because these are qualities that can’t be faked or bought. ‘All Made Here’ are words that I’ve often heard when visitors at Middleport Pottery ask where Burleigh is actually made.
It seems consumers have become suspicious that brands are made ‘somewhere else’. In response, we feel it’s more important than ever to emphasize that Burleigh is indeed All Made Here, and always has been.”
Norman continues, “How many luxury brands are truly willing to be transparent about the provenance of their products? Since it was founded in 1851, Burgess & Leigh has been making fine earthenware, known as Burleigh, in a town called Burslem, in Stoke-on-Trent. Since 1889 we’ve been making Burleigh in Middleport Pottery, in that very same town. Every single piece. For over 130 years.”
Last season Burleigh collaborated with ex Vogue interiors editor Vanessa Barneby and co founder of Barneby Gates x Burleigh a 100% British crafted wallpaper collection.
Burleigh’s more celebrated customers who include Royal families, Oscar winning actors and Grammy winning musicians.
Jim Norman MD of Burleigh says, “Without doubt every Burleigh customer is important to us because we feel that the bond goes deeper than a simple transaction.
Burleigh’s connection with the British Royal family dates back to 1913 when Queen Mary purchased our Blue Regal Peacock range from Harrods. More recently, in 2010, HM King Charles raised the funds required to purchase and restore Middleport Pottery and in doing so save Burleigh’s unique craft skills. King Charles has visited Middleport Pottery fives times since 2010. With each visit he has built an ever stronger relationship with us and our craftsmen and women.When a customer buys Burleigh it comes with a mutual understanding and appreciation of the value of hand-crafted product that has unrivalled provenance and authenticity. Everyone of our customers has the opportunity to visit our iconic home of Middleport Pottery and see where their Burleigh was made, how it was made and who it was made by.
Of course, it’s unlikely that every customer will make the pilgrimage to Middleport Pottery, but to have the confidence to know that they can is priceless.
Since its earliest years Burleigh has had a strong export market in north America and since 2018 this has been fuelled in part by our celebrated collaboration with Ralph Lauren. Mr Lauren’s admiration of Burleigh’s unique heritage, provenance and craft skills was one of the catalysts for the range we developed together and the partnership has gone from strength to strength. In 2018 Ralph Lauren celebrated 50 years in a star studded Central Park party, using Burleigh’s core range. The Ralph Lauren x Burleigh range is favourite in various hospitality events including Wimbledon.
Brit-washing and craft-washing are unwelcome developments in the homeware industry and Burleigh has played a part in countering these with its ‘All Made Here’ campaign. It seeks to remove any doubt that Burleigh is always and has always been made in England, All Made Here is also a challenge to those brands that make ambiguous references to their provenance.”
Burgess & Leigh have been based at Middleport Pottery since 1889. It was designed and built for Frederick Rathbone Burgess and William Leigh and has been Burleigh’s home ever since. No other British ceramics brand can claim to have manufactured on one site for this long.
Since 1851 Burgess & Leigh has adapted its range constantly in order to remain successful. Whilst the iconic Asiatic Pheasants range has been a favourite since 1862, our ranges of bar ware and hospital ware where once critical to the business but are now forgotten my many.
Burleigh’s ‘All Made Here’ guarantee redefines luxury by championing the conscious consumer’s desire to know the origins and journey its products have been on. This is Burleigh’s continued promise to unwaveringly uphold British craft skills, cementing its commitment to provenance, authenticity, and quality.
Since it was founded in 1851, Burgess & Leigh has been making fine earthenware, known as Burleigh, in a town called Burslem, in Stoke-on-Trent. Since 1889, the brand has been producing Burleigh in Middleport Pottery, in that same town. Every single piece, for over 130 years.
From start to finish, Burleigh ware is made here, with its craftspeople turning raw malleable clay into vibrant ceramics. Using crafted skills that have been passed down through generations of potters who also worked at Middleport Pottery, Burleigh’s unique craftsmanship continues to be protected and celebrated by its enthusiastic team.
The last of its kind, Burleigh has become a global icon of British design and manufacture which continues to practice the time-honoured art of tissue transfer printing from hand-engraved copper rollers. A method dating back over 250 years, there are now just 12 craftspeople in the world who have this precise skill, and they are all craftspeople at Burleigh – based at Middleport Pottery in Stoke-on-Trent, England.
Notes to editors:
Burleigh Pottery is a British brand that has been handcrafting pottery in the town of Burslem, England, since 1851. With the launch of its ‘All Made Here’ campaign and new website, the brand continues to champion British craft skills, cementing its commitment to provenance, authenticity, and quality. Located in Stoke-on-Trent, the home of English pottery, every piece of Burleigh ware is meticulously handcrafted in Middleport Pottery, its home since 1889. A brand that prides itself on a sustained use of time-honoured manufacturing processes, Burleigh is the only pottery in the world to decorate its wares using tissue transfer printing, a method dating back over 250 years. There are now just 12 craftspeople in the world who have the precise skills needed to continue Burleigh’s decorative lineage. Producing authentic, individual and timeless pieces, Burleigh is the last pottery of its kind, where the best of British ceramic design and craft manufacturing is protected and celebrated.
Burleigh’s iconic ware is stocked in Bloomingdales, Soho House, One Kings Lane, Harrods, Fortnum & Mason and Mitsukoshi, and it can be found in some of the world’s most prestigious hospitality venues including The Ned hotels, Chiltern Firehouse and Bibendum. Burleigh has also collaborated on a collection of pottery with Ralph Lauren and tile collection with Craven Dunnill Jackfield. Its iconic patterns are recognised all over the world.
