Creamware master potter Thomas Whieldon with coloured stains under the glaze. It served as an inexpensive substitute for the soft-paste porcelains being developed by contemporary English manufactories, initially in competition with Chinese export porcelains. It was often made in the same fashionable and refined styles as porcelain. The most notable producer of creamware was Josiah Wedgwood, who perfected the ware, beginning during his partnership with Thomas Whieldon. Around 1779, he was able to lighten the cream colour to a bluish white by using cobalt in the lead overglaze. Wedgwood sold this more desirable product under the name "pearl ware". Wedgwood supplied
American art pottery Arthur Dovey, who worked at Niloak, is often credited with inventing this swirl, but it may have been invented earlier in a different pottery altogether. There is no question that Niloak popularized the style, however, and apart from a three-year hiatus in the late 1910s, Niloak was successful until the Great Depression put sales into a slump. It struggled on for some years and went out of business in 1947. The J. B. Owens Pottery Company was founded in Roseville, Ohio, in 1885 by J. B. Owens. After moving to Zanesville, it produced art pottery from 1896 to around 1910,