Re-creating Wedgwood's life and times and the reasons behind his success.
Speaker: Nancy F. Koehn
Associate Professor of Business Administration at the Harvard Business School.
In 1759, Josiah Wedgwood founded his own pottery workshop in the midlands of England. He had ambition, experience and imagination, but virtually no cash and very few connections. He did understand, however, that in the emerging consumer society that was born of the industrial age, marketing was as important as manufacturing. Everything that was made at Wedgwood's pottery, useful or ornamental, was impressed with his own name. When he died 36 years later, he was one of the most famous and respected potters in the world. Drawing from his diaries, correspondence and official business records, Professor Nancy Koehn re-creates Wedgwood's life and times as she discusses the reasons behind his success: his aesthetic contributions, his entrepreneurial achievements and the extraordinary brand that he created. She demonstrates that beyond being a savvy marketer, he built an institution that endures to this day.
Place: Sotheby's 1334 York Avenue, 9th Floor, New York, NY
Date: Tuesday, April 3, 2003
Time: 7:00 PM Lecture