Pilkington exhibited at
the 1900 Paris Exhibition.
This was probably the most influential
event in its development of artistic products.
William Burton took a
small party of artists to show off products that include floor tiles,
wall decorations, fireplaces with hearths both with low relief,
raised outline and printed form.
Designs by Walter
Crane, Frederick Shields, Lewis F. Day, C.F.A. Voysey, F.A. Steele
and John Chambers made up the valuable cargo that crossed the
channel.
Wall mosaics were also shown as was pottery with glazes by
William and Joseph Burton.
Its stand proudly
proclaimed;
PILKINGTONS Tile and
Pottery Co. Clifton Junction MANCHESTER.
The floors of the stand
were tiled and the quatrafoiled columns that held up shallow Norman
Arches were adorned with architectural exterior tiles. These were
holding aloft corbels that were decorated with the Pilkingtons emblem
proudly emblazoned in lustre, below a ceramic cornice.
The Senses, a series of
panels by Walter Crane which were painted in slips by John chambers
and were set, framed within architectural ceramic Ionic pilasters,
and with its ceramic apron and cornice was a work of art within
itself.
This enabled them not
only to show their work but to compare themselves to competitors, and
to get themselves acquainted with developments and trends in other
parts of Europe.
The main development
that came from this journey south into Europe was that they acquired
the right of use for designs by Alphonse Mucha.
The Paris office of
Pilkingtons revealed that they had the use of 20 designs a year but
it is not clear just how many of Mucha's designs were in fact used.
At the 1901 Glasgow Exhibition four panels entitled Les Fleurs were shown.
A set of these also
decorated the hall way of the Pilkington factory, they must have been
highly prized until the 1940's when the factory was redesigned.
In Liverpool a massive tile panel was conceived by Pilkingtons own artists made up of five large murals depicting pottery through the ages and photographic evidence remains at the factory and at the Walker Art gallery where it was installed. During World War II the building was badly damaged, though the tiles themselves remained intact they were destroyed when the remains of the building were demolished, no doubt to make way for a cafe.
Pilkingtons tiles were
on the ill fated Titanic.
