By Porter Lang
The pottery at St Ives was built by an Englishman and a Japanese potter in 1920, and its best-known kiln came from Japan two years later.
Wikipedia places St Ives on the Celtic Sea coast of Cornwall, north of Penzance and west of Camborne, with a parish population of 10,748 at the 2021 census. The town was, it says, one of the most important fishing ports on the north Cornish coast from medieval times, with a record catch in 1868 and seine fishing ending in 1924. The same article lists an art-colony history that runs from the arrival of J. M. W. Turner in 1811 to the founding of the St Ives School in 1928, and says Tate St Ives opened in 1993 and the Barbara Hepworth Museum has belonged to Tate since 1980. We have not checked those dates against a museum source.
Leach Pottery
Wikipedia’s article on the pottery says it was established in 1920 by Bernard Leach and Shoji Hamada. It says that in 1922 Tsuronosuke Matsubayashi arrived from Japan to build a three-chambered traditional Japanese climbing kiln, a noborigama, which it calls the first Japanese climbing kiln in the western world and says stayed operational until the 1970s. The article on Leach himself gives a slightly different year for the kiln. It says the kiln was reconstructed in 1923 by Matsubayashi Tsurunosuke. We cannot tell whether that is a rebuild or a second date for the same work, and we are showing both.
What Leach believed
The Leach article says his book A Potter’s Book was published in 1940 by Faber and Faber and defined his craft philosophy and techniques. It says he promoted simple, utilitarian forms and advocated combining Western and Eastern arts and philosophies, and that he drew a line between “ethical pots”, meaning functional ones, and “fine art pots”. He also made standard ware for general buyers. That article says production continued until 1972. The article on the pottery says Standard Ware was first issued in 1946 and ran until 1979, with three basic glazes: celadon, tenmoku and oatmeal. Two sources, two end dates, and 1979 is also the year Leach died. We are not choosing.
Who learned there
The Leach article names early students and apprentices, among them Michael Cardew, Katherine Pleydell-Bouverie, his son David Leach and Warren MacKenzie, and says four Canadian apprentices worked there too. The pottery article says Janet Leach, Bernard’s wife, continued the pottery after his death in 1979 and produced her own work until 1997. We are naming these people as history, not as recommendations.
The pottery today
Wikipedia says the site was renovated between 2005 and 2008 and reopened to the public in March 2008 as a working studio pottery, museum and gallery, now managed by the Bernard Leach (St Ives) Trust, established in 2005. We have not confirmed current opening hours, what is on show or whether the studio sells its own work. We are not quoting the renovation’s cost.
What a visit asks of you
Our sources say nothing about visiting seasons or how the pottery’s schedule changes through the year, so ask the pottery directly before you plan a trip.
Questions for a potter
Ask who made the piece and where it was fired. Ask what the glaze is and whether it is one of the Leach-lineage glazes or a modern one. Ask whether the clay is local. Ask whether the work is made to be used, and how it should be washed. If a piece claims to be Leach standard ware, ask for the date and the paperwork.
We are not naming a workshop beyond the historical pottery itself. We have not sourced a current maker for this piece.
Roam first. Shop later.
St Ives makers can find out what’s involved at /sell-with-sephari/