Founded in 1920 by Bernard Leach and Shoji Hamada, the Leach Pottery is among the most respected and influential potteries in the world. Over the last hundred years it has forged the shape of Studio Pottery in the UK and beyond. Scores of potters, students and apprentices, from across the world have come to the Leach Pottery to train, creating a uniquely international environment in the heart of Cornwall and maintaining the Pottery's creative principle of East/West exchange. Today, the Leach Pottery Studio, Museum and Gallery continue developing Bernard Leach's historic legacy.
Leach Standard Ware pottery is thrown on the wheel by an international team of production potters, using stoneware clay from Doble's claypit in St Agnes, Cornwall - much the same clay as was used in the original Leach Standard Ware production. Numerous established ceramic artists have taken a turn to be the lead potter at the Leach Pottery, bringing their own style and influence to the pottery’s continuing tradition of producing ‘Standard Ware’