100 YEARS OF
LEACH POTTERY As 2020 marks the Leach Pottery’s 100th anniversary, we take a brief look at the history behind this world renowned and innovative studio pottery. At the heart of Leach’s provenance are its founders, Bernard Leach and Shoji Hamada. Leach’s long journey to Cornwall began when he was brought to England by his great uncle to attend school in Old Windsor. Originally born in Hong Kong in 1887, his mother, Eleanor, sadly died in childbirth. For the first three years of his life, he lived in Kyoto, Japan with his father, Andrew Leach, until moving back to Hong Kong in 1890 when his father remarried. Leach left Old Windsor at aged 16, his achievements lying only in drawing, elocution and cricket. A young man, he enrolled at the Slade School of Fine Art, but found himself departing early when his father became gravely ill. In November 1904, Andrew Leach died of liver cancer. Leach moved to Manchester at aged 18, with hopes of entering the world of finances, staying with an uncle and aunt in the process. It was there Leach met and fell for his cousin, Muriel. The relationship was forbidden, and Leach soon became disenchanted with the idea of a career in finances after a brief role as a junior bank clerk. At 21, he used his inheritance to enrol at the London School of Art in Kensington, where he studied etching. During his time there, he became interested in Japan and Japanese culture as well as rekindling his romance with Muriel in 1908. In 1909, Leach returned to Japan with Muriel, where they were married shortly after. Leach was first introduced to ceramics at a Raku-yaki pottery party in 1911. Enamoured by the skill involved, Leach began learning under Urano Shigekichi, a renowned Japanese potter known by his title of Kenzan VI. Leach spent two days a week for two years studying under Kenzan VI, learning ancient and traditional ceramic skills. As he rose in the ranks of Japan’s ceramic colony, he welcomed two sons with Muriel, his second born in 1913. In 1914, Leach struck up a close friendship with Dr Alfred Westharp, a Prussian writer, and spent over a year under his influence in Peking, China. The connection caused friction between Leach and his family, especially during the birth of his daughter Eleanor in 1915. At one point, Leach moved the family to Peking in an attempt to bring his two worlds together, but his families presence caused further problems between he and Westharp. Eventually, it was fellow potter and friend Yanagi Soetsu, who would visit Leach and persuade him to return to Japan in 1916. Leach rediscovered his passion for ceramics and a renewed sense of direction with the craft. During one of Bernard Leach’s ceramic art exhibitions in Tokyo, a young Shoji Hamada, a fellow Japanese potter born in Kawasaki, was impressed by Leach’s skill and wrote to him with the hope of an introduction. By then, Bernard Leach had grown significantly in his ceramic skills and when the two met, they soon formed a good friendship. In 1919, Leach was invited by Frances Horne to return to England. Horne, a wealthy philanthropist based in Carbis Bay, was in the process of establishing a guild of crafters within the already existing art colony of St Ives and on recommendation, invited Leach to become the potter within this group. Leach, Muriel and Shoji Hamada journeyed together to St Ives, Cornwall, where they identified a suitable site where they could establish a pottery. By 1922, Leach was now a father of five, Muriel having welcomed twin daughters Ruth Jessamine and Elizabeth ‘Betty’ Massey in 1920. Shoji Hamada returned to Japan in 1923 and would go on to spend much of his life in Mashiko, which he turned into a world-renowned pottery and tourist destination. By 1924, Leach’s presence and charm saw him gain worldly and wealthy friends, such as American social activist and publisher Dorothy Payne Whitney Elmhirst, who had come to reside at Dartington Hall in Devon. The association would be vital, as Dorothy’s wealth vastly helped with developments at the pottery. Shares were issued out in 1928 and Leach went on to publish several works on the craft. After travelling during 1934, Leach left Muriel for Laurie Cookes, the pottery’s secretary and assistant hired by Leach in 1930. In 1935 they settled together in Dartington to build a new pottery. Here,
