Leach Pottery ⭐ Top pick

The meeting of Japanese and English ceramics, initiated by Leach and Hamada in 1920. Each piece is hand-thrown, reduction fired, and designed for daily use.

Bernard Leach was born in Hong Kong in 1887. His mother died in childbirth, his maternal grandparents took him to Kyoto. He spent his early years in Japan before returning to England at the age of ten. After an unhappy stint at HSBC bank (a promise made to his dying father), he studied art in London under Frank Brangwyn. In 1909, he returned to Japan to teach engraving.

In 1911, at a raku party in Tokyo, Leach discovered ceramics. He later wrote: "By this miracle I was transported to a new world." He studied for two years under Urano Shigekichi, known as Kenzan VI, learning turning, brush decoration and traditional cooking. He meets Shoji Hamada and Yanagi Soetsu, future founder of the Mingei movement.

In 1920, Leach and Hamada moved to St Ives, Cornwall, into a converted cowshed. In 1922, Tsuronosuke Matsubayashi came from Japan to build a three-chamber noborigama kiln, the first Japanese climbing kiln in the Western world. Bernard's son, David Leach, took over management in 1937, abandoned earthenware in favor of stoneware and launched the apprenticeship program. Michael Cardew, Katherine Pleydell-Bouverie, Warren MacKenzie: the biggest names in world studio pottery pass through St Ives.

In 1946, Standard Ware was launched: a range of hand-turned stoneware tableware, three basic glazes (celadon, tenmoku, oatmeal), designed for everyday use. The Victoria and Albert Museum preserves pieces of it. After Bernard's death in 1979, his wife Janet stopped Standard Ware to devote herself to her own creations. Janet died in 1997. The site was bought by Penwith Council, restored for £1.7 million using the Heritage Lottery Fund, and reopened in 2008 as a working pottery, museum and training centre. Standard Ware is again produced by apprentices and resident potters, using clay from Doble's in St Agnes, Cornwall.