Katharine Pleydell-Bouverie ( 1895 - 1985)

Katharine Pleydell-Bouverie in her studio, 1982 © Ben Boswell

'... I want my pots to make people think, not of the Chinese, but of things like pebbles and shels and birds' eggs and the stones over which moss grows. Flowers stand out of them more plesantly, so it seems to me. And that seems to matter most'.

Katharine Pleydell-Bouverie in a letter to Bernard Leach, 29 June 1930.
These lines written by Katharine Pleydell-Bouverie near the begining of her career contain the essence of what she strove to achieve in her work. Rejecting what she described as 'all the mutton fat and glitter', simplcity and naturalness were qualities she preferred. When she first started potting in the 1920s studio potters were few and far between, but despite the odds, not lerast her own self depreciation, Katharine Pleydell-Bouverie can now ber recognised as a pioneer in her field having devoted most of her long and active life to the study of glazes.

Barley Roscoe

From the introduction of Katharine Pleydell-Bouverie: A Potter's Life 1895 - 1985.

Crafts Council, in association with the Craft Study Centre, 1986.
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'Beano [as she beacme known] demanded nothing from her material, nor told them what to do, but played with them, and accepted and used what they had to offer, weeding out what she did not enjoy, and all the time relishing in the making and in the finding out'.

Richard Batterham on Katharine Pleydell-Bouverie

Page 24 of Katharine Pleydell-Bouverie: A Potter's Life 1895 - 1985.

Crafts Council in association with the Crfats Study Centre, 1986.
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