The Walker name has been synonymous with ceramics in Victoria
for more than one hundred years. When Edgar E. Walker founded and later owned
the Australian Tessellated Tile Company in Mitcham in 1885, he began a family
tradition in clay which continues today, four generations later, with Walker
Ceramics at Croydon (Victoria, Australia). The family commitment to fine quality
clay manufacture began with Edgar E. Walker, his four sons and grandson,
Geoffrey Walker. They established the tile company which was, at one time, the
largest tile producing plant in the Southern Hemisphere. Importantly, it had
also always supplied Technical Colleges and potters with fine quality clays,
glazes and ceramic materials.
The management and staff gather to welcome home
Edgar E. Walker from one of his overseas trips in 1923.
Walker Ceramics was established in 1955 by Geoffrey and
Constance Walker.
Geoffrey studied ceramics in the years before and after the Second World War
at Stoke Technical College and later worked in the UK
and USA before building the factory in Wantirna. Production began with glazed
porcelain functional ware, then specialized floor tiles, electrical and
acid-proof porcelains and salt glazed tiles. During the 1960's, Walker Ceramics
manufactured its first filter pressed white earthenware bodies for commercial potteries and art
suppliers. Despite a fire which destroyed the factory, the company went on to
produce stoneware and porcelain bodies, often to potter's own specifications.
During this time, the Walker Ceramics' factory at Wantirna had become not only a
place to source an increasing range of ceramic supplies and quality clay bodies
and glazes, but a busy and lively meeting place for potters exchanging
information.
By the mid 1970's more than 25 bodies were being
produced and the market had expanded interstate and to New Zealand. In the
1980's Walker Ceramics in association with Greg Daly, produced the first
series of instructional video tapes, detailing many different ceramic techniques
presented in Greg's workshops. In 1982 David Walker completed an Honours degree
in Ceramic Technology from North Staffordshire Polytechnic in
Stoke-on-Trent (UK) and returned to Australia to join Geoffrey and Constance in
the business.
All the current generation of Walker family members have
been involved in the Company: Geoffrey and David in manufacturing, product
research and development, machinery design and various administrative roles,
Constance, Jillian and Carolyn in administration, marketing and retail
management in both Victoria and New South Wales. They have at all times been
supported by dedicated staff. Today near the new Millennium they produce and sell in excess of 60 Ceramic bodies , 200
plus glazes , Liquid Opaque
Underglazes, Design Colour Concentrates and all the tools and equipment the
pottery market requires. As well as their own shops in Sydney and Canberra the distribution network extends to all major centre's of Australia and Singapore,
Indonesia and the United Kingdom - where the pottery community are appreciating
the specialist qualities of Australian made and developed ceramic bodies.
When Walker Ceramics moved to the Wedgwood factory
building in Croydon in 1988, we completely re-built and enlarged the clay
production facility established at Wantirna. A new laboratory was equipped and
specialist staff were trained for Research and Development and quality control.
This began at the clay pits with testing and stockpiling and continued in the
laboratory. All clays are continuously checked in the laboratory for plasticity,
colour, shrinkage and porosity by gradient furnace firing and most importantly,
the testing of bodies for expansion standards to ensure the matching of glazes.
For twenty years Walker Ceramics presented a Walker Ceramic
Award annually to Graduating Ceramics students from around Australia. This was
exhibited at the prestigious Victorian Arts Centre from December to January each
year and enabled the students to have an opportunity to exhibit their talents to
a broad range of public from throughout Australia and overseas. The Walker
Ceramic Award Collection of all the winners and carefully selected pieces from
each years exhibition are on permanent display in the Walker ceramic Gallery in
Croydon, Victoria. Extending the
appreciation of ceramic art into the wider community supports the practice of
ceramics as a profession. However, it is the collective efforts of
individuals, potters groups and organizations offering education programs,
funding exhibitions, collections and awards and producing fine publications and
magazines such as "Pottery in Australia", "Ceramic Arts and Perception" and
"Craft
Arts" which strengthen and develop the production of ceramic art in Australia.
