Two of the greatest tile companies the world has ever seen were situated a few hundred yards from each other on the bank of the River Severn in Shropshire. Maw & Co. was the greatest tile maker in the world ever and Craven Dunnill in the top five yet nowadays their names are known to few outside of tile enthusiasts. Jackfield could well be described as the centre of the late 19thC and early 20thC tile industry with Stoke to the east, Hereford to the west, Pilkingtons in Manchester to the north and Carter and the London companies to the south.

Maw made tiles, especially the more technically demanding tiles, for better known names like Doulton of Lambeth, W. B. Simpson, and Carter of Poole and smaller companies such as J. C. Edwards and C. P. Surcliffe. More…

 

 

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	Set of 10, Maw for C. P. Suctliffe	Set of 10, Maw
Group of 72+ Maw Ruby Lustre 3x3 Patent Texture Tiles
Maw & Co., double this quantity available, numerous arrangements possible

Whilst my first love is art nouveau in the process of trawling antique fairs and markets and in trading the appeal of other styles and techniques not usually represented in the art nouveau style is undeniable. After a while I noticed that I had very few art nouveau tiles but more of what I may call my 'none core' collection from Jackfield.

My first were lustres from Maw and I wondered why de Morgan prices were so high when Maw's are better, later I discovered Craven Dunnill's wonderful lustres and wondered all the more. The applied encaustic method from Maw with three clay colours and the most brilliant turquoise or olive green glazes, rare and standout tiles, the method also used by Craven Dunnill and Wm Godwin, Maw's printing, surely one of the acknowledged tile printers should have produced better tiles but Maw's blue is so crisp and unequalled by others. After a while a few Jackfield art nouveaus came along, they too are excellent and equal the best of the Stoke on Trent companies.

Maw & Co for the last decade or so of the 19thC were the world's largest tile maker, to produce such excellent art amidst such high volume is testament to the skill and dedication of the company and especially George Maw. Craven Dunnill are uncharacteristic tilemakers in so far as they were a smaller company who made a lot of floor tiles but also fine quality decorative tiles, quite possibly the proportion of superb decorative tiles in their production is greater than any other decorated tile maker and similar to Maw a great variety of techniques. Just one of these companies would have put Jackfield on the tile map but to be situated a few hundred yards from each other gave us the greatest concentration of great tiles in a small area.