Bernard Howell Leach, CBE, CH (5 January 1887 – 6 May 1979), was a British studio potter and art teacher. He is regarded as the "Father of British studio pottery"
Leach was born in Hong Kong and brought up in the Far East. His father was a colonial judge in Hong Kong and his maternal grandparents were missionaries in Japan. As a young man he studied etching at the London School of Art before settling in Japan where he became fascinated with potte...
More
Bernard Howell Leach, CBE, CH (5 January 1887 – 6 May 1979), was a British studio potter and art teacher. He is regarded as the "Father of British studio pottery"
Leach was born in Hong Kong and brought up in the Far East. His father was a colonial judge in Hong Kong and his maternal grandparents were missionaries in Japan. As a young man he studied etching at the London School of Art before settling in Japan where he became fascinated with pottery and studied under the great master Kenzan.
Leach was born in Hong Kong, but spent his young adult years in Japan where he came into contact with a group of young Japanese art lovers who called themselves Shirakaba (白樺). Through them he learned about William Morris and the Arts and Crafts Movement.
It was in Japan that Leach began potting under the direction of Shigekichi Urano (Kenzan VI) and befriended a young potter named Shoji Hamada. With Hamada, he set up the Leach Pottery at St. Ives, Cornwall in 1920, including the construction of a...
Less
