The Leach Pottery has submitted a planning application relating to Phase One of a major expansion project.
This comes after the pottery secured significant financial support from St Ives Town Deal and was successful in an application to the National Lottery Heritage Fund.
The project will comprise a training and production centre, providing the world-class facilities needed to enable the Leach to grow its learning programme and increase pottery production.
“This will have economic benefits in terms of employment and visitors to St Ives, and cultural benefits as more people can benefits from the pottery’s learning programme,” said a statement from the Leach. “The building will also create a sustainable future for the property.”
As it stands, the pottery is the result of ad hoc, strategic development over 100 years — the Leach celebrated its centenary in 2020. The new building will create local jobs, reduce the site’s carbon footprint, and increase biodiversity.
Founded in 1920 by Bernard Leach and Shoji Hamada, the Leach is among the most respected and influential potteries in the world. Over the last 100 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. There is a diverse variety of buildings and activities that have evolved over the past 100 years, ranging from the original pottery, dating back to the 1920s, to additions in the 1950s to 1970s and the museum reception entrance, the Cube Gallery, and the Leach Studio workshop in 2008.
