All fired up for special pottery
ROELOF Uys sits at the potter’s wheel in Bernard Leach’s studio and, as we start chatting, half-adozen raw clay bowls take shape on a wooden board by his side.
He makes working and shaping the clay look so easy. It is relaxing to watch and, as all potters will tell you, it is relaxing to do.
“I have another 25 to do today,” says Roelof. “They’re part of our special 100th-anniversary series. We’re making 100 pieces of each of the traditional Leach range. That’s 1,200 pieces altogether and already that’s been very popular.”
The popularity of the anniversary pieces can be explained not just because they replace the events which should have gone ahead this year to mark the milestone – some have been pushed back to 2021 – but because of the enduring reputation for quality, tradition and craftsmanship that Leach Pottery is known for.
Each of the 100 Japanese tea cups, mugs, bowls and plates produced as part of the anniversary series is marked with a special stamp, and all of them, like every piece of pottery made at the St Ives studio, are handmade.
“The 100th-anniversary series is very much a lockdown idea,” says Roelof. “We went into lockdown shock for a few weeks. But soon we felt we needed the studio to be open so we didn’t lose touch with our customers.
“We came back with no events to celebrate this special year in any way. I was actually worried we were going to lose our supplier too, so in the end I came up with the 100 pieces idea.
“For me, it was a great way to celebrate what we are about, which is this incredible tradition.
“The interest has been massive. I was optimistic it would sell well but I certainly did not expect this kind of demand - some of the items have sold out in an hour.
“If the series is this successful, it could actually mitigate some of the financial damage caused by the pandemic.”
For Roelof, Leach Pottery is about preserving a tradition, a heritage and skills passed down the generations.
The South African-born artist did not always want to be a potter. For him, ending up in Britain, Cornwall, St Ives and at Leach Pottery has been a succession of “happy accidents”.
“I was an arts student in South Africa,” he says. “But I didn’t know or realise the importance of this great pottery and ceramic tradition that we have at Leach. I didn’t know it came from a place like St Ives.
“But this tradition travelled everywhere around the world. It became part of the curriculum at arts schools and colleges around the world.
“It was only when I met these people who were working in this Anglo-Asian tradition, using raku techniques, that I got into pottery.
“I didn’t know it had its origins here but it was fascinating. Working with clay, fire and flames - it looked dangerous and unpredictable. There was no way of knowing how it would come out. It was like alchemy.
“You think the pot you are working on will be amazing but the likelihood is that, despite your best intentions, it will come out completely different. Working at the potter’s wheel touches your humility. It forces you to be humble.
“There are no two exact same pots. Nothing is perfect. Potters are downto-earth artists who learn through endless repetitions to let go of any arrogance they may have.
“I think that it is this part of the tradition which attracts people from all over the world to come here and train.”
Roelof started out wanting to be a photographer, but courses in South Africa in the days of Apartheid were few and difficult to get into. He went to college to enrol on a general arts course where one of his teachers was a student of Walter Battiss who had been friends with Pablo Picasso since the days when the two met in Paris in the 1950s.
“He was a renegade,” says Roelof. “South Africa in the Sixties, Seventies and Eighties was a very rigid place. Because of Apartheid, we were the pariahs of the world. But he broke all the moulds.
“My teacher was his student. He helped change my mind. I realised I would have ended up being a bad photographer, so I got into painting.
“But our next teacher was not as good. I didn’t feel the same level of dedication. I also thought, rather arrogantly, that I was a good enough painter to strike out on my own.”
Roelof had been doing a bit of pottery on and off for years and thought it could be a way to earn a living while he became a professional artist painter.
“My pots were terrible,” he says. “I’m glad they’re all back in South Africa somewhere.” In 1997, Roelof had an opportunity to come to Britain as South Africa finally opened up and its people were allowed to travel once again. He arrived in London after an encounter in Cape Town with potters and artists who told him about Bernard Leach and Shoji Hamada.
Roelof made his way west and ended up in Cornwall – where the surf is also so much better than in London – 20 years ago, first in North Cornwall then working with other studios in St Ives.
Leach Pottery employs five permanent staff but trains new potters in its tradition all the time.
It takes three years to do all the jobs involved in the creation of a ceramic pot good enough to sell in the shop or, even better, gift to VIP visitors.
It is run as a charity to preserve the tradition of Leach and Hamada, but has a commercial arm to generate funds, so even apprentice pot
ters are paid a decent wage, while other funds are reinvested into preserving the heritage and tradition.
“It’s been a series of happy accidents ending up here,” says Roelof. “Now I see it as my duty to show the way for others and keep this tradition going. It is a privilege and a responsibility.”
Fashion brand Seasalt funds the training of all apprentices as part of a partnership with Leach Pottery.
Annabelle Smith is due to complete her three-year apprenticeship at the end of the year. Had it not been for Covid-19, her role now would have been to start training the next apprentice but that has been put on hold while recruitment takes place.
“This is a such a rewarding place,” says Annabelle, 26. “Anyone who knows about pottery knows about Leach Pottery.
“It is simply the best place to train to become a potter.
“There is something special about working with clay and fire. It’s like alchemy.
“It reaches all of us in one way or another.”
To find out more about Leach Pottery, visit leachpottery.com