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Using the sites and monuments of the Ironbridge Gorge Museum as inspiration for art and design is a tradition established by the likes of Turner in the 18th Century and Piper in the 20th Century.
Inspiration
All the Museums provide a safe, varied environment to inspire their work. For example, colour and texture of building materials, the unique shape of the bottle kilns at Coalport China Museum and the Ironbridge, at the centre of the Gorge.
Commercial Art
Visit the China Museum at Coalport to study the commercial possibilities of quality art and design. The displays demonstrate the way designs altered over the years from 1796 to reflect the changing tastes and fashions of society.
Across the river is the Jackfield Tile Works Museum; the worlds largest tile manufacturers when they opened in 1883. Here are some of the best Victorian floor and wall tiles with examples of work from all the major producers of decorative tiles.
Fashion and Design
Rosehill House, once the home of the Coalbrookdale Company Managers, holds a wealth of examples of Victorian style from wallpaper to furniture and tableware. The kitchen is home to a huge cast-iron cooking range, further examples of cast-iron ware, tracing the evolution of the fireplace from the simple grate to the sophisticated Aga, are on show at the Museum of Iron, a few minutes walk away. Also at the Museum of Iron pupils can examine the variety of art castings in bronze and iron, many of which were produced as examples of work to display at the Great Exhibition in 1851.
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