The Leach Pottery. St Ives

Leach tiles and fireplace from the Bill Ismay Collection at the Centre of Ceramic Art York

Leach tiles from the Bill Ismay collection at the Centre for Ceramic Art York.

This story from the BBC Southwest might be of interest to someone.

"The Leach Pottery in St Ives has received £530,000 grant to help fund a revitalisation project".

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c9rn1qn2gvpo

Regards,

Jay.

Thank you for that link very interesting. This made me a bit whistful to
"It said phase one of the project, which has received planning permission, would see two former buildings replaced with with new pottery training and production rooms, a learning centre, offices and a storage facility."
Knocking down the older buildings seems a bit of history lost. Probably to be replaced with Modern Boring Blandness.

It's a strange comment considering how bland the front of the Existing Leach Pottery is? If this were a vets or a builders merchants you would not look at it twice as a piece of architecture, it's as dull as ditch water. It looks like my local doctor, not a world famous pottery.



I've posted this all before, I'll try posting it again in the hope that people will at least browse the Heritage, Design & Access Statement which has been put together with care and some attention to the history and importance of the location.

https://static1.squarespace.com/static/525d470ce4b00e94d089ed75/t/63dbd43b676c927e820d39c7/1675351118436/Training+and+Production+Centre_Heritage+Design+and+Access+Statement_compressed.pdf

full app including non-bland drawings and non-bland scheme.

https://www.leachpottery.com/planning-application

But it is what it is!
Buildings do NOT have to scream history just to be important It's very blandness is in stark to the vibrance of what went on inside it

Pots produced by the modern St Ives Leach Pottery. On sale at the Hepworth gallery Wakefield

Products the Modern Leach Pottery.

Products of the modern Leach pottery.

Products of the modern Leach pottery,

Products of the modern Leach pottery

Teapot from the modern Leach pottery. IT costs £100, which probably compares well with Teapot from the original standard ware range.

Products from the Modern Leach Pottery,

Following on from the fireplace in the Bill Ismay collection, here's the outside of a front garden wall in St. Ives a couple of weeks ago.

A couple of close ups of tiles on the garden wall.

Just adding a note that Bernard's 2nd wife was Laurie Cookes, 1940s-50s. According to some articles she originally joined the pottery as his pupil in 1931, although the Leach Pottery's official history page says she was employed as a shop assistant and secretary "[Bernard] then bought a caravan and toured England with Laurie Cookes in 1935. The couple settled in Dartington and built his pottery and a wooden house called 'The Cabin' in 1937." They married in 1944 and divorced in 1956 when he married Janet.

He was a one for the ladies, that Bernard. I remember Bill telling me about a Japanese woman that hung around the pottery for a while and, of course, May Scott, who became May Davis was pursued by Bernard.

If this had happened more recently, he could have made the tabloids!!

Was Bernard Leach still using the St Ives stamp at Dartington?

NaomiM wrote:Was Bernard Leach still using the St Ives stamp at Dartington?

No but I don't know how much time, if any, he spent making pots there........ better things to do.

These two are described in the Leach catalogue as Large Lidded Stewpot with lugs 3,5 pint capacity, They were £1 13 9 in the 60;s catalogue. As you can see they differ slightly in colour. Which proves that every firing was not the same. One of the rarer items nowadays I think, as they were never the most popular of items.
We have bad these for yonks. But have never really used them. Just kept them out of fascination. S'pose that is what a collector does

Copied from the Leach St Ives Facebook page, I've flipped the photo so the stamps match what you'd see on the pots. I wonder if they're also allowed to use the St Ives stamp :

"A few potter’s marks carved by last week’s Adult Throwing Course participants"

Pair of bowls. Leach standard ware. Doesn’t have the England stamp

Todays find for a couple of quid: Leach standard ware tankard and it looks like they had issues with the kiln going by the blow out on the handle.

A link to the Leach pottery standard ware range as of October 2024.

https://www.leachpottery.com/leach-standard-ware