Janet Leach

Janet Leach (1918–1997) worked with Bernard Leach at the Leach Pottery and, alongside making her own pots, became his business manager. She was Bernard Leach’s third wife, marrying him in 1956.

Janet trained as a sculptor in New York before studying ceramics at the Inwood Pottery and Alfred University. In 1947, she established her first pottery at Threefold Farm, 25 miles north of New York. She first met Bernard Leach, Shōji Hamada, and Sōetsu Yanagi during their tour of America in 1952, later studying with Hamada in Japan for two years and travelling widely in the country visiting folk craft potteries.

Her style was distinct from Bernard’s, strongly influenced by Japanese Bizen pottery and inspired by the stones, textures, and granite walls of Cornwall. She maintained a clear separation between sculpture and pottery, believing that “each has its own standard.”