The Leach Pottery was founded in 1920 by

Bernard Leach Bernard Howell Leach (5 January 1887 – 6 May 1979), was a British studio potter and art teacher. He is regarded as the "Father of British studio pottery". Biography Early years (Japan) Leach was born in Hong Kong. His mother Eleanor (née ...

and

Shoji Hamada A is a door, window or room divider used in traditional Japanese architecture, consisting of Transparency and translucency, translucent (or transparent) sheets on a lattice frame. Where light transmission is not needed, the similar but opaqu ...

St Ives, Cornwall St Ives ( kw, Porth Ia, meaning "Ia of Cornwall, St Ia's cove") is a seaside town, civil parish and port in Cornwall, England. The town lies north of Penzance and west of Camborne on the coast of the Celtic Sea. In former times it was commerci ...

, in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

. The buildings grew from an old cow / tin-ore shed in the 19th century to a pottery in the 1920s with the addition of a two-storey cottage added on to the lower end of the pottery, followed by a completely separate cottage at the top of the site added by Leach in 1927. In 1922 Tsuronosuke Matsubayashi came from Japan to rebuild an unsuccessful

climbing kiln The ''anagama'' kiln (Japanese Kanji: 穴窯/ Hiragana: あながま) is an ancient type of pottery kiln brought to Japan from China via Korea in the 5th century. It is a version of the climbing dragon kiln of south China, whose further deve ...

for the pottery. Matsubayashi built a three chambered traditional Japanese Noborigama, the first Japanese climbing kiln in the western world, and this was used until the 1970s. Bernard's son David Leach who trained at the North Staffordshire Technical College, became manager in 1937 abandoning production of earthenware, developing a new stoneware body and taking on local apprentices.

Michael Cardew Michael Ambrose Cardew (1901–1983), was an English studio potter who worked in West Africa for twenty years. Early life Cardew was born in Wimbledon, London, the fourth child of Arthur Cardew, a civil servant, and Alexandra Kitchin, the elde ...

was an early student and William Marshall an apprentice. Katherine Pleydell-Bouverie became an apprentice in 1924

Warren MacKenzie Warren MacKenzie (February 16, 1924 – December 31, 2018) was an American craft potter. He grew up in Wilmette, Illinois the second oldest of five children including his brothers, Fred and Gordon and sisters, Marge (Peppy) and Marilyn. His hi ...

from the US,

Charmian Johnson Charmian Johnson (1939 – July 20, 2020) was a Canadian artist and potter based in Vancouver, British Columbia. Life and career Charmian Johnson was born in Pouce Coupe, BC in 1939. She attended Delta Central School in Delta, BC then the U ...

from Canada and

Len Castle Leonard Ramsay Castle (23 December 1924 – 29 September 2011) was a New Zealand Pottery, potter. Early life and family Born in Auckland on 23 December 1924, Castle was educated at Mount Albert Grammar School. He went on to study at Univer ...

from New Zealand also worked here. The pottery's Standard Ware was first issued in 1946 and can be found in the V&A collection. Mail order catalogues were distributed and the range was produced until 1979. Three basic glazes were used for the ware:

Celadon ''Celadon'' () is a term for pottery denoting both wares glazed in the jade green celadon color, also known as greenware or "green ware" (the term specialists now tend to use), and a type of transparent glaze, often with small cracks, that was ...

Tenmoku ''Tenmoku'' (天目, also spelled "temmoku" and "temoku") is a type of Japanese pottery and porcelain that originates in imitating Chinese stoneware Jian ware (建盏) of the southern Song dynasty (1127–1279), original examples of which are al ...

and oatmeal with overpainting in brown and blue. After Bernard's death in 1979, his wife

Janet Leach Janet Darnell Leach (15 March 1918 – 12 September 1997), was an American studio potter working in later life at the Leach Pottery in St Ives, Cornwall in England. After studying pottery at Black Mountain, North Carolina under Shoji Hamada, ...

stopped production of standard ware to concentrate on her own pots until her death in 1997, after which the pottery was purchased by Alan Gillam. The property was acquired by

Penwith District Council Penwith (; kw, Pennwydh) is an area of Cornwall, England, United Kingdom, located on the peninsula of the same name. It is also the name of a former local government district, whose council was based in Penzance. The area is named after o ...

as part of the Leach Restoration Project The site was renovated and restored in 2005-08 before being reopened to the public in March 2008 as a working studio pottery, museum and gallery. The restoration cost £1.7 million which preserved the original buildings whilst adding an exhibition space and shop. It is now managed by the Bernard Leach (St Ives) Trust Limited, a registered UK charity founded in 2005. There are two exhibition areas, the Entrance Gallery with work by Bernard Leach, Janet Leach, David Leach, Shoji Hamada, William Marshall, Michael Cardew, and Kenneth Quick and the Cube Gallery with a changing exhibition. The Leach Pottery's director is Libby Buckley and the lead potter is Roelof Uys.

References

External links

Leach Pottery Studio & Museum

Standard Ware in the V&A Collection
{{Coord missing, Cornwall Museums in Cornwall Art museums and galleries in St Ives, Cornwall Cornish pottery Ceramics manufacturers of England Companies based in Cornwall Decorative arts museums in England Studio pottery Ceramics museums in the United Kingdom