The discovery of china clay in France and England lead to the formation of many other famous-name porcelain companies like Sevres, Limoges and Royal Worcester. Kaolin was first discovered in Cornwall in 1746. The deposits were huge and were of a much finer quality than elsewhere in Europe. A large china industry developed in England as a result, with the Royal Worcester company being one of the first in 1751. Initially, this company produced a soft-paste china (like that of Sevres), but from the 1760's bone china became the staple of the English china industry. The addition of bone ash to the porcelain mix made it harder, more durable and translucent.

The painting of china is an ancient art form and was also first developed by the Chinese. The freehand painting of china started in Europe in the early 18th century with the Meissen and Sevres companies. The great success of Meissen porcelain was due to the fine artists who decorated it and to an exquisite range of figures of people and animals.

A typical piece of Sevres had richly coloured backgrounds and white panels painted with birds, flowers, landscapes, or people. In Worcester, the art of painting on the glaze in enamel colours was also mastered and some examples that have survived from the first years are of an extremely high quality. Over the next 150 years the Worcester company built a reputation for the finest handpainted china - many rich and extensive dinner services were made during the 19th century for the British Royal Family and many wealthy clients. This company was also, however, one of the first to introduce porcelain decorated with transfer prints (as early as 1760), thereby making decorated china available to a wider audience.

The development of transfer (decal) printing and lithography opened up china to mass markets and companies inevitably found that freehand painted work began to appear very expensive by the time it arrived at the retail outlet. In modern times the overheads involved in running a large quoted company and stocking a retail outlet often mean that the final price, with sales taxes, of a freehand painted piece might be very many times the actual cost of the painting.

Hand painted china has a wonderful silky delicacy and great vibrancy. The level of detail that Steve and Terry can introduce to their designs (as seen in the image left) is quite stunning and means that these works of art will be admired and cherished for generations. The use of the inside-outside technique, which Steve developed, is at the heart of their work on china and probably makes it unique; this technique and the end result has quite probably never been seen before on china throughout its long history.

In the future, most pieces will be on exclusive shapes that Steve and Terry have designed themselves and had turned to the highest specification on modern machinery. Moulds are made from the turned shapes and very high quality white bone china blanks are produced by hand by local craftsmen in the Worcester area. The combination of their superb craftsmanship and Steve and Terry's art is likely to prove a winning combination.