£15,000 raised for porcelain making to restart at Nantgarw China Works

The production of porcelain using a 200-year-old method is to restart at Nantgarw China Works after a crowdfunding campaign raised £15,000.

Said by experts to be the finest porcelain ever made, Nantgarw porcelain was known for its exceptionally fine, pure white grain and for having the most translucent body.

Crockery and decorative items made at the china works were fired in bottle kilns before being sold to royalty and aristocracy.

But the porcelain was very difficult to fire, leading to losses of up to 90% and the eventual closure of the works in 1821.

Experts now believe they are able to recreate the porcelain’s recipe and production method having researched coded documents unearthed in museum archives.

The project marks 200 years since the famous artist and potter William Billingsley returned in 1817 to Nantgarw – which is the only surviving early 19th Century porcelain works in the UK.

The crowdfunding campaign was backed by national charity Art Fund, and raised £15,410 from 119 supporters, with work due to begin in the autumn.

A team including current resident artists at Nantgarw, manufacturers of clays, mould makers, chemists and experts in porcelain and bone china will work together to recreate and improve the original porcelain body and glaze.

Charles Fountain, project manager at Nantgarw China Works, told BBC Wales that work to produce the rewards for donors would begin in autumn with production on new pieces expected to start next year.

He said: “We have a starting point for a recipe we feel is pretty close, [but] until we start making it and testing it, we won’t know how accurate it is.

“The long-term objective is not to be reproducing original pieces but to commission contemporary artists to make new works.

“Because of its attributes, such as its translucency, it lends itself to a lot of contemporary designs such as lighting.

“We are very, very grateful for all the support that we have had from the public.”