The Wedgwood Museum

The 18th century was an era of enquiry, discovery and experiment dominated by the Industrial Revolution. It was an age when a group of enlightened men of science met together in Birmingham to discuss the latest theories and assist each other in various aspects of research and the development of factory practices. The Lunar Society, as this group was known, was to have an enormous influence on industrial processes and thinking.

The Staffordshire potteries changed during the 18th century from a small rural craft supplying a local demand into an international industry by the end of the century. It had new equipment, modernised works and an accurate method of measuring the temperature inside the kilns - removing an element of chance in the firing of wares.

The 18th century was also a century of change in decorative styles - from the flamboyant rococo movement to the pure lines of neo-classical fashion.