Mid 20th century ceramics by British potter, Alan Caiger-Smith

Alan Caiger-Smith (1930 –2020) was a British ceramicist, studio potter and writer on pottery. He was one of the leading figures in the British studio pottery movement in the mid-20th century, and was particularly known for his work with lustreware.

He was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, but his family moved to England when he was a child. He studied at the Camberwell School of Arts and Crafts and read history at King's College, Cambridge. After graduating from Cambridge, Caiger-Smith trained in pottery at the Central School of Art & Design under Dora Billington.

In 1955, Alan Caiger-Smith founded the Aldermaston Pottery in Berkshire, England. The pottery was a cooperative workshop of about seven potters making functional domestic ware and tiles, as well as individual commissions and one-off pots. Caiger-Smith was the leading figure at the pottery, and he developed a number of more... new techniques for producing lustreware. His work was highly influential, and he helped to revive the interest in lustreware in the mid-20th century. His work was exhibited in galleries all over the world, and he was awarded the MBE in 1988 for his services to pottery. He was also a prolific writer on pottery, and he published a number of books on the subject, including Lustre Pottery (1985), Tin-Glaze Pottery (1991) and The Making of Lustreware (2006).

Alan Caiger-Smith died in 2020 at the age of 90, leaving behind a legacy as one of the leading British potters of the 20th century. less...