Mintons Ltd
| Industry | Pottery |
|---|---|
| Fate | Merged with Royal Doulton Tableware Ltd in 1968 |
| Founded | 1793 |
| Founder | Thomas Minton partner Joseph Poulson (died 1808) |
| Defunct | Factory on London Road, Stoke-on-Trent demolished in 1990s |
| Headquarters | Stoke-upon-Trent, England |
|
Key people
|
Herbert Minton, Michael Hollins, Colin Minton Campbell, Leon Arnoux |
| Products | Earthenware, Bone china, Porcelain, Parian, Encaustic tiles, Azulejos, Mosaic, Della Robbia ware, Majolica, Palissy ware, Secessionist ware |
Mintons was a major ceramics manufacturing company, originated with Thomas Minton (1765–1836) the founder of "Thomas Minton and Sons", who established his pottery factory in Stoke-upon-Trent, Staffordshire, England, in 1793, producing earthenware. He formed a partnership, Minton & Poulson, c.1796, with Joseph Poulson who made bone china from c.1798 in his new near-by china pottery. When Poulson died in 1808, Minton carried on alone, using Poulson's pottery for china until 1816. He built a new china pottery in 1824. The products are more often referred to as "Minton", as in Minton china.
Early Mintons products were mostly standard domestic tableware in blue transfer printed or painted earthenware, including the ever popular Willow pattern. From c1798 production included bone china from his partner Joseph Poulson's near-by china pottery. China production ceased c1816 following Joseph Poulson's death in 1808, recommencing in a new pottery in 1824.
On his death, Minton was succeeded by his son Herbert Minton (1793–1858) who developed new production techniques and took the business into new fields, notably including decorative encaustic tile making, through his association with leading architects and designers including Augustus Pugin and, it is said, Prince Albert.
Minton entered into partnership with Michael Hollins in 1845 and formed the tile making firm of Minton, Hollins & Company, which was at the forefront of a large newly developing market as suppliers of durable decorative finishes for walls and floors in churches, public buildings, grand palaces and simple domestic houses. The firm exhibited widely at trade exhibitions throughout the world and examples of its exhibition displays are held at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. where the company gained many prestigious contracts including tiled flooring for the United States Capitol.
Hard white unglazed "statuary porcelain", later called Parian ware due to its resemblance to Parian marble, was first introduced by Spode in the 1840s. It was further developed by Minton who employed John Bell, Hiram Powers and other famous sculptors to produce figures for reproduction.
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