About

Taena Pottery was founded in 1948 by Loo Groves in the Forest of Dean. Loo was a pupil of Margaret Leach, who had a pottery at Brockwear. Margaret had been trained at St Ives by Bernard Leach (no relation). She was an accomplished potter in the English Slipware tradition.

Margaret joined Loo at the Taena community, a group of Christian pacifists, when it moved to Upton St Leonards in 1950. By the time she left in 1955, the pottery had established its reputation as a producer of high-quality, hand-made slipware.

The pottery survived the break-up of the community in the 1960's, and Loo continued the gentle evolution of the pottery, developing the famous Taena blue glaze.

Shortly before his death in 1975 he handed the pottery on to Sean and Vici Casserley. They had trained at Cornwall College of Art in a course influenced and advised by Bernard and Janet Leach, and assisted Michael Cardew at Wenford Bridge Pottery.