BOTH a comparative newcomer to the pottery industry and a good news story – that's Emma Bridgewater.

As some local firms face cutbacks and even closure, the company has gone from strength to strength, with sales climbing 17 per cent to more than £7 million in its latest full year.

Employing 160 people, 120 of them at its Hanley factory, the firm produces more than a million pieces a year, attracting a global clientele and helping the company double its profits in the past year.

Now, it is also a finalist in

The Sentinel's

Lloyds TSB Commercial Banking-sponsored Business of the Year Award.

It all started in the mid 1980s when, failing to find the 'perfect' cup and saucer as a present for her mother, Emma Bridgewater designed her own collection and found a small, quality earthenware manufacturer in Hanley to make it for her.

When that factory faced closure a decade later, she and her business partners took it over, almost overnight, along with its 35 employees.

Today, it produces 12 ranges, selling through 500 stockists in the UK and a further 1,000 around the world.

Its sales have doubled in five years, with online sales – up 25 per cent – totalling £1.5 million last year.

Director Matthew Rice, pictured, a designer, married Emma in the late 1980s and has been at the heart of the business ever since.

He said: "While embracing new developments in production technology, we are equally keen to preserve traditional local skills and are proud to employ, in several cases, two generations of the same family.

"But we are also determined that our brand remains fresh and relevant."

The company has a 10,000-member collectors' club and the brand features on tins, stationery, greetings cards and gift wrapping produced under licence.

And it is developing an exclusive range for the National Gardens Scheme, products intended to raise money for charity.