Whatever the truth of this, Planch\u00e9 had a talent for creating little toy figures; a steady stream of cats, dogs and sheep left his kiln to delight the people of Derby. By then he had teamed up with brilliant porcelain decorator William Duesbury and local banker John Heath to start a brand new factory.<\/p>\n
![\"""\"](\""https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/19\/2022\/04\/KNHJ68-KL_preview-fdf7547.jpg?quality=90&resize=619%2C295"\" "\\"\"\"\\"\/")
<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div> Planch\u00e9 quickly disappeared from the scene (possibly something to do with an entry of an illegitimate son in the local church register) and Heath was bankrupted, leaving Duesbury to shape the new factory alone.<\/p>\n
Duesbury was a man of many talents. An accomplished porcelain artist with a knowledge of both the process and the artistic demands of porcelain manufacture, he also had a keen eye for business and the growing competition. Duesbury ran a tight ship; his workers signed documents to protect company secrets, and the quality and cost of their work was monitored.<\/p>\n
Some cringeworthy notices survive, stating workers\u2019 names and potential fines if they were found wandering from their workstations. But Duesbury\u2019s business acumen resulted in a strong factory that was constantly able to increase and improve production.<\/p>\n
Derby produced many different items in this early \u2018Golden\u2019 period, but the figures are what we are most familiar with today. That doesn\u2019t mean tableware was not produced but, as the porcelain body was not sufficiently resistant to hot water, much of it did not survive: historical archives contain customers\u2019 letters complaining about their burst teapots!<\/p>\n
![\"""\"](\""https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/19\/2022\/04\/Figures-of-Mars-and-Minerva-from-the-^22Golden-Years^22-c1765-KL_preview-bd69391.jpg?quality=90&resize=620%2C620"\" "\\"\"\"\\"\/")
<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>Unlike the tableware, the Derby figures wholly deserve their fame. In the early years you can see Planch\u00e9\u2019s extraordinary talent; each figure has a unique sense of motion, seemingly swirling around and lifting its feet off the ground.<\/p>\n
In later years, Duesbury was able to steadily improve the porcelain body and decoration, designing hundreds of different figure shapes: mythical Roman gods, amorous shepherds and shepherdesses, famous contemporary actors (yes, they had celebrity culture in the 18th century!), and, of course, animals. Today, Derby figures can still be found everywhere in the world in museums<\/a>, homes and auction houses.<\/p>\n As porcelain became all the rage, stiff competition emerged: as well as imports from China, Germany and France, and the London factories at Chelsea, Bow<\/a> and Vauxhall, there was an emerging factory in Worcester, and powerful decorating studios like James Giles (another son of Huguenots) in Kentish Town in London.<\/p>\n However, many of these enterprises suffered from an over-reliance on the skill of a talented individual \u2013 both Chelsea and Bow were unable to survive beyond the genius of their founders. James Giles lacked financial acumen and the Vauxhall factory suffered financial misfortune.<\/p>\n Duesbury at Derby chose a different path; he reckoned that competition could be turned into opportunity. Between 1764 and 1776, every time a competitor failed, he bought them up. Sometimes this was to make them harmless by closing them down, at other times it was to extend his own business by adding their workers, skills and moulds to his own operations.<\/p>\n