Emma Bridgewater (businesswoman)

Bridgewater was born in Cambridgeshire, the eldest of three siblings. Her parents, Charlotte and Adrian Bridgewater, separated when she was seven, and she moved to North Oxford with her mother and siblings. Her mother remarried, and Bridgewater has two half-siblings. She attended Oxford High School. She graduated from the University of London with a degree in English Literature. == Career ==

Bridgewater began designing pottery in 1985 from her flat in South London. She had been searching for an idea for a business, and when she was unable to find a cup and saucer she liked for a gift for her mother, she decided to start a pottery business. She created a spongeware design for a mug, jug, dish, and bowl in earthenware, found a model maker in Stoke-on-Trent to make molds, and had 100 of each design manufactured. She set up a kiln and taught herself to glaze and fire pottery. In her first year in business, she sold about . In 1996 she bought Eastwood Works in Hanley in Stoke-on-Trent, which as of 2023 produces all of the company's pottery. The Daily Telegraph said she "single-handedly revived the country’s earthenware industry". Staffordshire University awarded her an Honorary Doctorate for her work revitalizing the region and the Stoke-on-Trent pottery industry. == Book ==

Bridgewater's memoir was first published in 2014 as Toast & Marmalade and Other Stories by Saltyard Books, Hodder & Stoughton, and republished in 2015 as Toast & Marmalade: Stories from the kitchen dresser, a memoir. ==Personal life==

Bridgewater married Matthew Rice in 1987. In 2025 she was made a Dame. == References ==