William Edwards, the man who built up a tableware brand which has become synonymous with bespoke luxury, is stepping away from his namesake enterprise. Leaving behind a thriving company, William speaks with Tableware International’s Mairead Wilmot about his time in the industry…
William, thank you for speaking with Tableware International. Are the rumours true?! Are you retiring from your position with William Edwards brand, which is of course owned by Steelite?
The rumours are true, five dynamic years since Steelite International acquired my business, the time is now right to hand over to a great, younger team.
This must be a bittersweet moment for you. How are you feeling about stepping away from the brand you’ve so successfully created? What sparked your decision?
It’s been a huge decision to step away from my life’s work. I started out by myself as a designer leaving the Royal College of Art to where we are today, globally the fastest growing bone china tableware supplier to the luxury hospitality market. The hospitality business is all about relationship building, my colleagues around the world have been hugely supportive, although the real wrench is leaving my longstanding factory colleagues. My plan was always to step back to a part time role after five years post-acquisition, but anyone who knows me will realise that William ‘doesn’t do part time’, therefore late last year I decided to give the business plenty of notice to retire in March.
William Edwards continues an upwards trajectory under the Steelite umbrella. Give us a flavour of some of the establishments you are currently in and how the brand works with them?
The William Edwards (WE) brand under the Steelite umbrella has grown hugely – over 300 per cent since purchase and is one of their best acquisitions to date. And it is worth noting, two out of the five years we encountered Covid!
WE work with most of the luxury hospitality brands you might expect; Rosewood London, Mandarin Oriental, Fairmont, Langham, Caprice Group, Maybourne and more. Our approach has always been very consultative, we have never looked for easy options, if you do then price is the driving element. When there is an opening or refurbishment of a property there is always a need to purchase tableware, however with our design expertise and knowledge, our clients want to buy tableware from WE.
We start our approach as early as possible, market intelligence is very important to engage with the right people. Bespoke /custom is vital to our success, although Steelite’s global showrooms and our ability to stock our own Signature collections is key to our global growth, shipping from both our UK and Asian factory worldwide.
The creative input for the WE brand will be forever located in the UK, that is our unique DNA which we will fiercely protect and promote.
I’d love to learn about some collections which resonated with you over the years.
It is almost impossible choose! It also comes down to who you design for and how they respond to our work. I am very proud of our British design heritage – we continue to be a very creative nation and some of our best projects have been with British brands. Our world class printing capabilities have opened up so many opportunities to allow us to participate in fabulous projects such as with Aston Martin on the Carbon Collection, Liberty with a retail collection, and Rosewood London with the Mirror Room Afternoon Tea range.
You must have some memorable moments from your long career, does any one in particular stick out for a special reason?
There are many memorial moments, both good and bad! One of the best was probably winning the British Airways First Class contract, followed closely with being recently awarded the china contract for Cunard cruise ship fleet.
Likewise, do you look back over the course of your career and think “oh I got that decision wrong”? Anything you might like to have done differently?
Having built up a print supply business to the local industry in a very challenging market with many business closures, I was asked by Historic Royal Palaces (who we were already designing and supplying print to) to help supply the actual finished product, to buy kilns and start decorating bone china. They were having horrendous problems with local suppliers and we stepped in – very quickly. It was hugely risky as this would upset my print customer base, but we needed to change our business and quickly. I have always embraced change!
You’ve been very much at the coalface of the industry for so many years. Tell us how you see the current state of affairs for the tabletop sector.
If you are running a successful/dynamic business, mistakes will happen constantly. You always move forward with absolute determination and refine your processes. I have very few regrets, we suffered business closures and bad debts locally in the early days, this just made me ever more determined to get out of what we were doing and to expand our horizons, indeed to only deal with people that have money!
What, if anything, needs to change to keep the tabletop industry buoyant?
The industry has been challenged throughout my career, building a business in a declining market has been very difficult. WE has chosen not to engage heavily in the retail market, we are very focused on the luxury hospitality tableware supply business. All my industry colleagues accept the current industry status is poor, the global distribution of products has never been more accessible and this is reality, ignore it at your peril. I think our industry has not invested in marketing tabletop to its true potential, this is not just celebrity endorsement but educating both the retail and hospitality industries what a difference and how much tableware can enhance both interiors and the eating experience.
What next for William Edwards? Surely you will not leave the tableware industry?
For now I need a break, keeping the factory full of work for all these years, and the factory never stopping production throughout all this time has been very challenging, and exhausting, at times. I leave the business with February 2025 posting record results and full order books, this is a terrific testament to my team. I have real passion for helping people out in their careers – just because it is difficult does not mean it cannot be done. We must remain determined and ultimately passionate about what we can create and achieve, this has always been my mantra. Age is a number – it’s attitude that matters! Leaving tableware? Who knows? Never say never!
Read the latest issue of Tableware International below:
