Mason Color Works

Mason Color Works was founded in 1842 as Bleak Place Color Works in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England by James and Mary Skerratt Mason. Mary was a well-known color chemist who developed many of the inorganic pigments which are still used in the whiteware industry today. Together they operated the plant until James' death in 1865. Their only child, Augustus Frederick Mason, with his wife, Keziah Jones, took ownership and continued producing pigments at Bleak Place. Their son, Fortunatus Quartus, (or F.Q. as he was widely known) took an interest in the family business and started his apprenticeship under his parents. He also earned degrees in both inorganic chemistry and analysis from the Wedgwood Institute. In 1902, F .Q. Mason, with formulas in hand, sailed to the United States with a vision of continuing his family's legacy. He settled in the small town of East Liverpool, Ohio, which was known as the Pottery Capital of the World. There he established Mason Color and Chemical Works. Through perseverance and hard work, The Great Depression and three wars, he managed to maintain his business and sold colors to potteries locally and throughout the U.S.