Robert Wallace Martin (1843–1924) trained as a sculptor under J. B. Phillips, and took drawing lessons at the Lambeth School of Art. In the late 1860s he opened his first workshop, making terracotta sculpture, and in 1873 three of his five brothers joined him in setting up a pottery in Fulham. Walter Fraser Martin (1857–1912) and Edwin Bruce Martin (1860–1915) also had studied at the Lambeth School, and both had worked at Doultons. For the new pottery, they were employed as throwers, and brother Charles Douglas Martin (1846–1910) was the business manager in the mechanical part of the pottery decoration. In 1877 they moved to Southall where their work, known as “Martinware,” was a salt-glazed stoneware, heavily influenced by Medieval, particularly Gothic, art.

The brothers were essentially self-taught in the field of pottery. The salt glaze they favored was created using high-temperature firing methods where salt was thrown into the kiln, causing the resulting pieces to have a rough surface. They also became known for their eccentric and grotesque “Wally Birds.”

Attending the 1900 Exposition Universelle in Paris, they were greatly impressed by the work of the contemporary French artists displayed next to Japanese wares, and this changed their own output to a more Art Nouveau style upon their return to England.