David W. Smith OBE

Ornamental Potters were the Game Developers of the Nineteenth Century.

I have met thousands of game developers. I understand the passion and the challenge of making a best-selling product. These potters, sometimes referred to as Novelty, Fancy or Art potters, created a product which was for entertainment, with a unique mixture of creativity, design and technology to make goods that were marketed and sold to all four corners of the world.

This book tells the story of relentless… Show more

Ornamental Potters were the Game Developers of the Nineteenth Century.

I have met thousands of game developers. I understand the passion and the challenge of making a best-selling product. These potters, sometimes referred to as Novelty, Fancy or Art potters, created a product which was for entertainment, with a unique mixture of creativity, design and technology to make goods that were marketed and sold to all four corners of the world.

This book tells the story of relentless, Victorian potters building a trade, industrialising in the second half of the 1900’s.

Like indie developers or today's contestants in the Great Pottery Throw Down, potters partnered in small teams, experimenting to build a creative business, innovating as technology and the opening of international trade, allowed new ideas to develop passing and enduring fashions.

Pot makers were characters. In contrast to Wedgwood, the Bevington potters grew from a fervent, political reformist from the operative class, who apprenticed at a local, world class, colour maker and enameller to produce painted porcelain. Self-made, he raised seven entrepreneurial sons who grasped the pottery trade independently and took ornamental pottery to the USA, Europe, Australia, and India.

Feel the pioneering energy. Read the story of the Bevington family of Victorian Potters and learn more about this pottery which is highly collectible today. Show less

The TIGA Guide, Recruitment and Selection: Best Practice Guide for Game Developers, gives practical and informed advice on hiring new staff. The new Guide also suggests ways of encouraging the best candidates to apply for jobs, looking at examples of modern practices from mentoring to flexible working to career break schemes. Exploring methods of motivation and retention, the Guide is essential reading for developers looking to keep employees motivated and to attract the best talent.

It… Show more

The TIGA Guide, Recruitment and Selection: Best Practice Guide for Game Developers, gives practical and informed advice on hiring new staff. The new Guide also suggests ways of encouraging the best candidates to apply for jobs, looking at examples of modern practices from mentoring to flexible working to career break schemes. Exploring methods of motivation and retention, the Guide is essential reading for developers looking to keep employees motivated and to attract the best talent.

It has been written by David Smith, the managing director of London-based global games recruiter Interactive Selection, who also founded the not-for-profit network Women in Games. Show less