Portmeirion Pottery Chelsea porcelain factory's "botanical" designs of the 1750s. It was launched in 1972 and, with new designs added periodically, is still made today, the most successful ceramics series of botanical subjects. More recent designs have included Sophie Conran's "Crazy Daisy" and "Dawn Chorus". On 23 April 2009, Portmeirion Potteries Ltd purchased the Royal Worcester and Spode brands, after they had been placed into administration the previous November. Portmeirion Potteries has since changed its company name to Portmeirion Group to reflect this acquisition. The purchase did not include the manufacturing facilities of Royal Worcester or Spode. The manufacture of much of
Spode under Richard Champion's patent, were producing hard paste similar to Oriental porcelain. The technique was developed by adding calcined bone to this glassy frit, for example in the productions of Bow porcelain and Chelsea porcelain, and this was carried on from at least the 1750s onwards. Soapstone porcelains further added steatite, known as French chalk, for instance at Worcester and Caughley factories. The bone porcelains, especially those of Spode, Minton, Davenport and Coalport, eventually established the standards for soft-paste porcelain which were later (after 1800) maintained widely. Although the Bow porcelain factory, Chelsea porcelain factory, Royal Worcester and Royal Crown