Manhattan is a long way from the pottery kilns of Stoke-on-Trent, but the high-end China cups and saucers made by Richard Brendon look at home in New York’s famous Saks Fifth Avenue department store.
The United States is now the eponymous tableware brand’s fastest-growing and largest retail market, with the entrepreneur, who received the 2024 King’s Award for Enterprise, broadly unfazed by the rumblings of a recession amid America’s slowing economy, with soaring unemployment and interest rates.
“In the UK we’re at the top end of the luxury market,” Brendon said of a range that also includes crystal glassware that is stocked in Harrods, Fortnum & Mason, and Liberty London. “In the US there’s more independent tableware retailers with a much higher average customer spend,