In an unusual pairing of heritage and AI, digital agency XXII Studio has teamed up with English fine china brand Wedgwood to create a generative tool that allows users to 'design' their own piece of Jasperware – the brand’s signature unglazed, fine-grained stoneware.
Called Jasper 250, the tool launches next week (10 April 2025) to mark 250 years of Jasperware, first developed by Josiah Wedgwood in the 1770s after more than 5,000 painstaking experiments. The familiar, pale blue stoneware is still produced in Stoke-on-Trent today, known for its biscuit-like texture and distinctive relief decoration.
The design generated by the AI tool, named Jasper 250, yields totally bonkers results, from surreal reimaginings of classical motifs to unexpected colour clashes
The designs created using the tool – which, if early experiments are anything to go by, promise to be totally bonkers, from surreal reimaginings of classical motifs to unexpected colour clashes and forms Josiah Wedgwood could never have dreamed of – will be submitted as part of a public competition. A 3D-printed version of the winning entry will be acquired by the V&A Wedgwood Collection, where it will join holdings of more than 175,000 objects. It will also go on show in a free display this June, titled ‘Unpacking the V&A Wedgwood Collection: Jasper 250’, which celebrates the anniversary.
The designs created using the tool will be submitted as part of a public competition and a 3D-printed version of the winning entry will be acquired by the V&A Wedgwood Collection
Interestingly, this isn’t the first time Wedgwood has marked a milestone with an international design competition. In 1930, to honour the bicentennial of its founder’s birth, the company launched a global call-out – ultimately awarding the top prize to Danish glass artist Emmanuel Tjerne, who created an eau de nil vase with off-white ornamentation and fine gilding. His name is now part of Wedgwood’s history.
Wedgwood believes its founder, Josiah Wedgwood – who constantly sought to disrupt and challenge traditional thinking – would have approved of the groundbreaking nature of the competition
The use of AI in design remains a contentious issue, as governments and creatives alike grapple with how to regulate the rapidly developing technology. Japanese artist Hayao Miyazaki has called AI-generated art 'an insult to life itself', while just this week, a group of leading UK designers – including Jasper Morrison and Tom Dixon – wrote an open letter opposing government plans to allow AI models to be trained on copyrighted work without consent. But Wedgwood, keen to channel its founder’s pioneering spirit, is keeping an open mind. 'The Jasper 250 tool, while designed for enjoyment and expression, also empowers Wedgwood to – in true innovative Josiah style – lead the conversation around cutting-edge AI technologies in the design space,' the brand said in a statement.
'Wedgwood is keen to investigate how AI could augment and improve traditional techniques, and to evaluate the impact of AI on the design and production process.' Jasper 250, it says, is just the first step for the Stoke-on-Trent-based brand – opening the door to deeper and more detailed exploration in the future.
wedgwood.com
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