Reuben Batterham

 I was born in 1967 in Dorset, England. Pottery has always been an integral part of my life. My childhood pattern of life focused around father making pots, glazing, firing, and customers and other potters visiting. My mother and father (Richard and Dinah Batterham) trained with Bernard leach in the 1950's and this has formed the basis of where my pots have developed from. I have spent most of my life using, looking at ,talking about and making pots. The family home also had many interesting visitors (Bernard Leach ,Katharine Pleydell-Bouverie,Michael Cardew,George Wingfieid Digby.Bill Ismay and others), pots, books and discussions..

During the winters of the following 4 years after studying at Bryanston School, I worked with my father and with Thiebaut Chague in the Vosges ( France) and in the summer I worked in a restaurant in France.The shape & forms of many of my pots have developed through cooking and entertaining. This continues today with my wife and five boys.

In 1992 I set up my own workshop in Ravilloles (Jura) initially firing with wood & later changing to oil. In 2002 I moved to la Mainmorte St Claude where I have built a 2 chamber oil fired kiln (1st ch glazed 2nd ch salt gaze), which I fire at the moment 3 times a year.

All the pots are stoneware, thrown on a kick wheel, working alone I use 3 clays, 4 slips and about 6 glazes, (1/3 of the pots are salt fired).

My aim is to make pots that satisfy your spirit in the same way the food satisfys your stomach, L'art de l'esthétique utilitaire.

The workshop

The workshop is about 150m and has one kick wheel, a pug mill, lots of drying racks and a two chamber kiln of about 4m3 (1st chamber glazed stoneware 2nd chamber salt glaze)