Wedgwood and JW Anderson are working in pairs for their second collaboration, giving each stoneware form a counterpart in another shade. Across Volume II’s matte, ribbed surfaces, familiar Wedgwood blues meet earthy terracotta and muted greens, with differences in tone drawing attention to the grooves and the shadows they hold.
“Wedgwood has always had an incredibly nuanced relationship with colour - it’s never simply about a single shade, but how colours sit alongside and respond to one another,” says Wedgwood Creative Director Emma Glynn.
That thinking shapes the collection’s four color pairings, with Mercury Blue and Jasper Blue drawing on Wedgwood’s original Portland and Jasper colors, while Dark Brown and Terracotta bring the palette closer to the clay itself. Each combination connects the finished pieces to a different aspect of the house, from its archives to the material its artisans work with.
The landscape around Wedgwood’s Barlaston home informs Marsh Green and Sage Green, extending that connection to the natural world. Meadow Green and Shadow Grey, exclusive to Harrods, brings together the retailer’s familiar green and shades found in Wedgwood’s Jasper archives.
The forms reach further back in time, taking their cues once again from the fifth-century Greek mugs in Jonathan Anderson’s personal ceramics collection. That reference, carried over from the first collaboration, finds a new expression in the paired colors and matte, biscuit-like finish.
Handcrafted in Barlaston, England, each limited-edition piece also carries a more specific connection to Wedgwood’s history through its distinctive ribbing. The engine-turning technique was adapted for ceramics by Wedgwood in 1763, and its precise grooves give the new palette another dimension, catching light along each ridge and holding shadow in the recesses.
