Brunyfire’s Cardew Connection.

A recent visit to catch up with family in the UK circa June 2018 saw Brunyfire catching up with an old school buddy of her Beloveds’ (aka John Smith) – Ian Morris.

Morris is an antiques dealer in books, furniture, jewellery, clocks and ceramics – his shop is based in Chesterfield, Derbyshire above Libby’s cafe.Amongst the figurines, jelly moulds, glasses, silverware, paintings, cups and saucers, Toby jugs and tobacco jars……… …….were a couple of standout pieces. The first was a Pearsons sgraffito vase designed by John Spencer during the late 1940s. Comprising of a white body with what looks and feels like a vitreous slip – the decoration consists of a band of crisp sgraffito marks around the neck and middle of the piece done when the clay is leather hard. These pieces would most likely have been of a limited edition run, and this one in particular, as a family heirloom, Morris was definitely hanging onto. Brunyfire has been collecting Pearson pottery from Chesterfield for many years – the ever growing collection of casseroles, jugs and storage pots housed at The Boathouse on Bruny Island testimony to a more a sentimental journey than a collection of value.

The second piece was of even greater interest with this intriguing stamp…….……..that resonates with links to the British studio pottery scene of the 1900s.British potter of renown, Michael Cardew (his stamp above) had trained with Bernard Leach at St Ives, Cornwall until 1926 when he left to take over a disused pottery near Winchcombe in Gloucestershire, five miles from Cheltenham. At Winchcombe Pottery over the years, Cardew was joined by Elijah Comfort, Sidney Tustin, and in the following few pre-war years by Charlie Tustin and Ray Finch.

In 1939 Cardew left Winchcombe in the capable hands of Ray Finch and set up a new pottery at Wenford Bridge, on the edge of Bodmin Moor in Cornwall. It was here that Danlami Aliyu from Nigeria worked from 1976-1977 as a student of Cardews. Danlami Aliyu, (died 2012) was a gifted Nigerian potter whose life was radically shaped through encounters with the British studio pottery movement.

So it is a privilege that this piece…………..now finds its way into Brunyfire’s collection.