Michael Cardew

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Michael Cardew MBE, OBE (1901-1983) was a significant studio potter and ceramic stylist. He studied classics at Exeter College, Oxford University. He was taught to throw by William Fishley Holland at Braunton, North Devon, where he spent his childhood holidays.

Cardew was the first student/apprentice at the Leach Pottery, St.Ives, Cornwall in 1923. He shared an interest in slipware with Bernard Leach and was influenced by the pottery of Shoji Hamada.

In 1926 he left to re-found the derelict Winchcombe Pottery in Gloucestershire. With the help of two locals - former chief thrower Elijah Comfort, and fourteen year-old Sydney Tustin - he set about restarting the pottery. Cardew’s ambition was to make pottery in the seventeenth century English slipware tradition, functional and affordable by ordinary people. After some experimentation, production began using the on-site clay and the pots were fired in a bottle kiln. Charlie Tustin joined the team in 1935 followed in 1936 by Ray Finch.

In 1939 Cardew moved to Cornwall and established The Wenford Bridge Pottery, producing earthenware and stoneware. From 1942 to 1948, he worked in Ghana, West Africa, as an instructor, and from 1951 to 1965 he established and ran a pottery/training centre at Abuja, a small place in the Northern Region, whose name now belongs to the Nigerian capital. His trainees were mainly Hausa and Gwari men, but he spotted the pots of Ladi Kwali very early on and she joined the Training Centre in 1954, after which other women came. In turn, Cardew was deeply influenced by the native style.

He also toured America, Canada, Australia and New Zealand making pots, demonstrating, writing and teaching.

On his return to Wenford he wrote a memoir, Pioneer Potter, first published in 1969. (ISBN 978-0004122885)

At the time of his death, Cardew was due to be knighted by Queen Elizabeth II.