Back in February we spent the morning at Leach Pottery, in St Ives. In the depths of winter their simple, elegant style points towards the textural details in big skies and long expanses of storm-smooth sand. If you need cheering up on a gloomy day Leach have a way of making you appreciate the ways low light picks up texture and glides over the gloss of a sea green glaze. Step outside their studio and the world seems a more interesting and beautiful place. Winter is best at its quietest, stillest.
Saying all that, it is also an annual event, reliably coming to an end at some point around about now. I have never looked back over my shoulder at winter and felt anything but joy. Looking at these pictures will mean i'm not so apprehensive about next year.
Today winter feels truly like it is behind us, and in a way I think we will miss it.
The other thing that happened that day in February was that we helped to design a vase, or several, to use this coming season. They will be ready in the next few weeks and we can't wait. Working with other artisans with similar values is a life enhancing experience and each arrangement we make will nod towards the history and culture of the place in which we live and work. Watch this space for more...
Oh. and after a long wait, the Tate St Ives opens today too with an exhibition devoted to ceramics: http://www.tate.org.uk/whats-on/tate-st-ives/exhibition/studio-and-sea
If we don't get back to you right away, you'll know where we will be!
