Students are given a key role in honouring the city’s rich history, vibrant culture and unique identity as part of the Centenary celebrations
Students at University of Staffordshire will create designs for the new mace
This is a fantastic opportunity for our students to collaborate on a live brief and become part of the City’s history. I look forward to working with them to think through Fenton’s past to create something that encapsulates value and meaning for today.
A new partnership project has been launched with Stoke-on-Trent City Council to create a ceremonial mace for Fenton, which will form part of the civic regalia.
Fenton is currently not represented as no chain of office or mace came to the council when the six towns united as the Stoke-on-Trent Federation in 1910 (the forerunner to city status being granted in 1925).
Stoke-on-Trent’s Lord Mayor, Councillor Lyn Sharpe, said: “I am absolutely thrilled that Fenton will finally be getting a mace. What makes it even more special is having young adults on board from the university, who will really get a feel for the passion and pride us Fentonians have. I can’t wait to see the final design.”
The project will provide BA (Hons) Product Furniture and Ceramics and MA Ceramics students with an opportunity to reinterpret the traditional format of the ceremonial mace to represent Fenton in time for the city’s Centenary celebrations. They will work together to develop a series of concepts that will be presented for review by an expert panel who will decide which design will become part of the city’s civic regalia for the next 100 years and beyond.
Fenton has historic ties with the early development of the ceramic industry in the city so the students are being tasked with thinking about how ceramics as a material can play a part in the construction of the mace.
The panel will include:
- Professor Neil Brownsword of University of Staffordshire – an expert in clay and ceramic material knowledge and process.
- Hannah Ault of Valentines Clay, a family-run ceramic material manufacturer based in the city since 1979, which has its headquarters in Fenton.
Professor Neil Brownsword, from University of Staffordshire, said: “This is a fantastic opportunity for our students to collaborate on a live brief and become part of the City’s history. I look forward to working with them to think through Fenton’s past to create something that encapsulates value and meaning for today.”
Materials and expertise will be provided by sponsors, including, Valentines Clay, KMF, AJ Philpott and CJ Skelhorne Jewellers.
The designs will be judged in early 2025 and an event will be hosted in April, where Fenton will officially receive its new regalia.