The studio potter Trevor Corser, who has died aged 77, played an often unsung but deeply influential role at the world-renowned Leach Pottery in St Ives, Cornwall. He was the longest serving member of the pottery, starting as a consignment packer for deliveries, and went on to be one of the last three potters, along with Joanna Wason and Amanda Brier, to remain there until its closure in 2005. He worked mainly in stoneware, but sometimes in porcelain.
Never shy to declare that he was “a Leach potter” and that he had learned his craft in the workshop, he graduated from the important if ancillary tasks of kiln packing and clay mixing, through to the demanding, repetitive work making Leach domestic pots, the pottery’s standard ware. Although the pottery closed in 2015, it has now reopened as a museum and a working pottery studio, producing a new range of standard ware and training a new generation of studio potters.
Continue reading...