David Leach (potter)

David Andrew Leach (7 May 1911 - 15 February 2005) was an English studio potter and the eldest son of Bernard Leach and Muriel Hoyle Leach, Bernard's first wife.

David Leach was born in Tokyo, Japan, where his father met Shoji Hamada, and came to England in 1920.^[1] He began an apprenticeship with his father at St Ives, Cornwall, in 1930 and trained as a pottery manager at the North Staffordshire Technical College, 1935-37. He subsequently managed the Leach Pottery, changing over from a wood-burning to an oil-burning kiln and modernising the workshop.^[2]

In 1955 Leach left St Ives to set up the Lowerdown Pottery at Bovey Tracey, Devon, where he became known for his porcelain.^[3] Rice and Gowing describe his work as follows: "The style was very close to that of his father, but the difference in their nature made for very different pots. A fluted, celadon bowl by David Leach looks nothing like the same thing made by his father. The Bernard Leach bowl would be thick, bold, rough, opaque with wide fluting and little difference in colour between body and glaze. David Leach's would be thin, smooth, translucent, and with precise, narrow fluting and a wide range of colour - from jade green to 'ying ch'ing' blue - on a white body.” ^[4]

He was chairman of the Craft Potters’ Association of Great Britain in 1967 and exhibited widely in the UK as well as New York, Washington, Tokyo, Istanbul, Copenhagen, Rotterdam, Düsseldorf, Heidelberg and Munich.^[5] In 1987 he was appointed OBE^[6]for his work in studio pottery and his services to education.

His three sons, John, Jeremy, and Simon, are all potters. ^[3]

See also

• Janet Leach

References

1. ^ http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/obituaries/article518442.ece
2. ^ Studio Pottery by Watson Oliver,Studio PotteryPhaidon Press Ltd.1993 p.208. ISBN 978-0714829487
3. ^ ^{a b} http://www.studiopottery.com/cgi-bin/mp.cgi?item=4
4. ^ Gowing, Christopher, and Rice, Paul, British Studio Ceramics in the 20th Century, Barrie and Jenkins, 1989, p.125. ISBN 0-7126-2042-7
5. ^ http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/obituaries/article518442.ece
6. ^ http://www.oakwoodceramics.co.uk/CatDLeach.htm

External links

• Leach Pottery

Persondata
Name	Leach, David
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	7 May 1911
Place of birth
Date of death	15 February 2005
Place of death