New clay manufacturing firm launched saving specialist craftspeople

Two former employees of historic firm Shaws of Darwen have come together to form a new clay manufacturing business Darwen Terracotta Limited (DTL).

In May this year Shaws closed its architectural terracotta and faience division to concentrate on sink manufacture, resulting in 39 redundancies. DTL founding directors Jon Wilson from Clitheroe and Steve Allen, saw this exit from the architectural ceramics market as an ideal opportunity to set up a new business, producing terracotta and faience to re-employ the very specialist craftspeople from Darwen and Blackburn.

"We were market leaders in hand-made terracotta and faience and were experiencing a very buoyant market with the largest order book in my 35 years with the company. Our reputation was outstanding, having completed some of the most prestigious buildings in both the UK and USA.

"Since starting the business the response and support from the industry has been amazing and our team cannot be praised enough for their enthusiasm in getting this up and running. We are delighted to be able to offer this skill and experience to the market once again.”