troika pottery

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CORNISH POTTERY
kernowuk November 29 2021, 2220
Throughout the 1960s, 70s and 80s, the Pottery
industry was thriving in Cornwall and Studio
Pottery was very popular. Local artists and
ceramicists began setting up their own
businesses, creating beautiful tableware,
kitchenware and homeware items in striking
designs. We explore a few of the Cornish
potteries in this post Bolingey Pottery Bolingey
Pottery sadly closed in the 1990s. Bolingey is a
small villiage near Perranporth, Cornwall.
Perranporth has a lovely north coast beach that
is extremely popular all year round. Founded by
Norman Taylor in the sixties, he moved from
Coventry where he had worked as a travelling
salesman, and learned the skill of p ottery at a
local evening class. Clearly finding it
enjoyable and seeing an opportunity, he and his
family opened Bolingey Pottery. In the
mid-sixties he enlisted the help of the highly
skilled and experienced Mike Edwards who
previously potted for Lakes Pottery. Pottery made
by Michael Edwards generally has the word
Perranporth underlined, occasionally you will
find his initials as an accompanying
identification mark.
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Bolingey Pottery identification mark
Bolingey Pottery Ashtray
Fosters Pottery Fosters Pottery was set up by
the Foster Brothers in the late fifties, early
sixties. Originally based in Redruth, on the
site were the Tesco petrol filling station now
stands, it employed approximately fifty people
in it's hay day. The pottery was renowned for
it's distinctive brown honeycomb glaze. The
honeycomb glaze was used in a variety of colours,
on many pieces of vintage pottery, from coffee
sets and pots to collectable seal ornaments and
fish gurgle or glug glug jugs. In the
mid-nineties, it moved to Wilson Way in Pool,
near Redruth where it ran under different
management. One of the brothers, Reg Foster
opened Kernewek Pottery near Perranporth.
Kernewek sadly had a fire in the kiln room in
1995 which destroyed the facilities. They
operated as a shop until 2005 when they
closed. Nevertheless, there are avid collectors
of Fosters p ottery around the world who have
impressive collections of the now retro homeware.
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Fosters Pottery
Lakes Pottery One of the oldest working
potteries in Cornwall, Lakes Pottery was founded
in 1872 in the city of Truro as W H Lake and
Son. Truro is Cornwall's only city and known for
the rather impressive Truro Cathedral. It was
established at Chapel Hill Pottery, where the
Truro Methodist Church now stands. Lakes Pottery
served the community of Cornwall by producing
lovely earthenware for a century. It was
particularly known for it's large bowls and wide
shallow bowls known as pancheons which were used
for making bread - essential at a time where
bread was baked daily at home. Lakes Pottery was
destroyed by fire and sadly closed down after
struggling on for a few years. A very sad ending
for such a well established and popular pottery.
We are always particularly pleased to see any of
their antique pottery and v intage kitchenware
arrive with us.
Lakes Cornish Pottery Earthenware Jug
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Leach Pottery
Bernard Leach founded Leach Pottery in 1920 in St
Ives, Cornwall. From 1937 until 1979, they
produced Leach Standard Ware, a range of domestic
tableware - with Bernard's vision of engaging
with the wider local community and creating a
standard of pottery that could be used
domestically and purchased for a reasonable cost.
Production of this popular Standard Ware stopped
upon the death of Bernard Leach. His wife Janet,
worked on her own bowls until her death in 1997.
It was very much a family business with their son
David Leach managing the site from 1937 and
developed the stoneware body that was used. Over
the years there were many, many potters that
worked with Leach, resulting in a lot of
different identification marks. Vintage Leach
Pottery is still in circulation today and can
also be seen at the Pottery Cottage which is now
open as a museum, displaying great examples of
work carried out by some of the potters that have
worked there.
Original standardware Celadon glaze by Leach
Pottery
Porthleven Pottery The Porthleven Pottery was
based in the Cornish seaside town of Porthleven
near Helston, until the late 1990s/2000, when
the owners moved to New Zealand. Opening in
1967, Graham Fern and his daughter Fenella
created many fantastic pieces of pottery. The
site was also home to a couple of potters before
Graham, including Brian Jasper and Jon Cheney.
Vintage pottery made by Graham Fern himself is
marked with a 'gf' and Fenella pottery appears
to be marked with an 'f'. There is little known
about Fenella's time at the pottery, and her
work is harder to find. Although many colours and
designs were made, some of the most sought after
is a beautiful rustic red and orange. This Large
Porthleven Pottery vase measures 31cm high, and
is made by the iconic Cornish pottery.
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Large Porthleven Pottery vase by Graham Fern
Let's see your vintage Cornish pottery! We love
seeing examples of local Cornish pottery, and
we'd love you to share some of your collections
with us. You can comment on this post, or you can
post photos on our Facebook page. If you've
worked for one of the potteries mentioned, please
contact us! We'd love to hear from you. There are
many other Cornish Potteries that we
haven't explored in the blog post, including
Tremar Pottery, Tintagel Pottery, Tremaen
Pottery, Carn Pottery, Marazion Pottery, Troika
Pottery and many many more. Kernow Furniture is
online store based near Redruth, Cornwall. We
hold a large selection of furniture and
decorative items. You can find many eras and
styles of antique, retro, and vintage furniture,
homeware and gifts. We offer fast national
delivery on all items. We welcome viewings by
appointment on 01209 316220.
kernow furniture
porthleven pottery pottery vintage earth
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