Powell's Whitefriars glassworks produced collectable hand made glass which was exported throughout the world and had led the way in the renascence of stained glass during the nineteenth century. However it was in 1875 when Henry Powell took over the factory on the death of his grandfather, James, that the company's operations expanded and developed into mosaics and opus sectile work.

Henry had noticed that glass was becoming contaminated with clay dissolving from the glassmaking crucibles. Through experimentation with this waste glass he discovered that if it was ground to a powder and baked it could be turned into a solid material which in turn could be coloured. This then formed the process of what was then known as opaque glass, the term opus sectile being coined much later.