Chatsworth has a long history of supporting contemporary creatives, with a special focus on artists and makers born or based in Derbyshire and the Peak District. It is a legacy that the Chatsworth House Trust charity is committed to continuing. 

This year, several local artists have been commissioned to produce pieces for the displays in the house. In this short film, you can learn more about one of them, The Wirksworth Pottery Company.

From liquid clay poured into plaster moulds to glazes mixed carefully by hand, the work of The Wirksworth Pottery Company carries forward the heritage endangered craft of slip casting into a new era.

Our relationship with Hannah and her team began with the Chatsworth Christmas Market and has grown into something special: their decorations now grace our shops and appear throughout the house, lending their soft colours and handmade character to The Enchanted Garden.

You’ll find The Wirksworth Pottery Company at the Chatsworth Christmas Market until 14 December, their creations amongst the house decorations until 4 January, and in our shops year round, ready to take home.

Video Transcript

My name is Hannah and I'm the owner of The Wirksworth Pottery Company, based in Wirksworth, Derbyshire. We're a small team of three and we make handmade slip-cast ceramic pottery.

Slip casting is now classed on the heritage endangered crafts list. So rather than throwing on a wheel, we use an old traditional process using a plaster-based mould and liquid clay. Chatsworth were actually our first ever stockist. From a business point of view, we couldn’t have got a better first stockist; they believed in us and took a chance on us.

We’d been in business for four months before we applied for the Christmas Market, and we were very fortunate to get a place. Later that year, we attended the Christmas Market and had great interest from some of the buyers. Then the following September, we were invited to Chatsworth Country Fair, where we had a stall in the Visit Peak District tent. Lady Burlington and the buyers saw us and placed an order there and then for us to be in the shop.

That January, after the Christmas Market, we had a conversation with Chatsworth House Trust about our decorations being featured in the house. Our second year of trading was absolutely ludicrous in the sense that we hadn’t been established very long. We were building up to be in the shops, we were chosen to be in the house, and we attended the Christmas Market again. That Christmas was a big, big, big year for us.

Images 1-3: The Wirksworth Pottery Company stall at the Chatsworth Christmas Market; 2021, 2022, 2023

Images 4 & 5: The Wirksworth Pottery Company decorations in the house at Christmas; 2023 & 2025

Something that sets us apart is that we make all of our glazes from scratch. That comes from my background working at Denby Pottery as a glaze specialist, and that’s where I feel my strength is.

Some of our existing products have been really major sellers for us at the Christmas Market. Our bud vase has been with us from the start — it was one of the first items we ever made, and it is still absolutely loved to this day. Not only has it been a big seller in previous years, it will be returning this year again, but with some new colours.

Other items we have are our Christmas decorations, all handmade, which we make in the thousands. We’ve also got some new hand-painted premium ones that we’re bringing this year, which are in the shops and will be exhibited with us at the market.

Our volume output is pretty significant with what we call 3D pieces. For all of our homeware and tableware, we can make over 100 of each item in about six to eight weeks. With Christmas decorations, we make about 8,000 a year, and they are all handmade, hand-painted, hand-glazed, and hand-strung.

We have our meeting with Chatsworth to discuss Christmas in January every year, and then we start. Samples are delivered by March at the latest, and by March we are in full swing for Christmas... So it’s a good job that we love Christmas.