Experimentation and Placemaking: connecting communities with the technological and innovation histories of London's early porcelain manufacturers

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This project will explore how English porcelain came to develop, focusing in particular on the work of the 18th-century Chelsea and Bow factories, the first two manufacturers in Great Britain to produce the so-called soft-paste porcelain, created at the time to replicate the highly coveted Chinese and Japanese export porcelain and to compete with European counterparts in Meissen, Du Paquier and Chantilly. Bringing together porcelain collections at the Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A), the Ashmolean Museum, and Newham Archives, the project will use the expanded capacity of the V&A's CapCo-funded Scientific Laboratory to trace London porcelain experimentation, manufacturing and trade networks, showcasing little known objects from the three collections. It will demonstrate the uses of science-led analysis to generate new understandings in heritage and cultural history research, the role of the V&A Lab as a national hub for heritage science, and will offer the general public opportunities for new ways of engaging with ceramics collections through the V&A Lab. The public engagement programme will include 'museum scientist for a day' workshops for 6th form students, ceramics making sessions in which historic porcelain recipes will be used to create new work, as well as London ceramics walks and a new Bow ceramic display at Stratford Library, showcasing Newham Archives' little-known ceramics collections.In considering Bow and Chelsea we will be bringing together two areas of London occupied by current and future V&A sites - South Kensington in West London and Stratford in East London (where a new collections Storehouse and a new V&A Museum are due to open in 2024 and 2025 respectively), both with a strong focus on craft, making and innovation. The scientific analysis of the select porcelain pieces will provide a unique opportunity to focus on the process of experimenting with, designing, making and manufacturing much-desired western white body porcelain, and explore how the creativity and ingenuity of 18th-century ceramics pioneers may provide inspiration for current and future makers and artists.