The Grantchester Pottery
Studio Wares
David Dale Gallery & Studios, Glasgow

The Grantchester Pottery is a decorative arts company set up by artists Phil Root & Giles Round who met during residencies at Wysing in early 2011 and who continue to work  from Wysing's ceramics studio.

The Grantchester Pottery is a decorative arts company set up by artists Phil Root & Giles Round. Drawing historical precedent from Roger Fry’s Omega Workshops as well as other artists’ decorative arts studios like the Rebel Arts Centre, Hammer Prints & Atelier Martine, The Grantchester Pottery seeks to produce a series of utilitarian ceramics together with other decorative household items such as printed & woven textiles, wallpaper, painted furniture and hand painted murals. The Grantchester Pottery aims to substitute, wherever possible the directly expressive quality of the artist’s handling for the deadness of mechanical reproduction.

Working somewhere within the confines of exhibition, trade showroom, studio and workshop, Studio Wares concentrates on presenting functional products for the artist. Drawing inspiration from the studios directly above the gallery, the collection examines the art school and studio block as a point of departure, source material & as theoretical commissioner. The forms produced in turn become a series of blanks that form part of the portfolio to be used in further works.

By appropriating historical examples, such as the art school’s antiques room, the exhibition becomes a constructed environment in which the works exist to enable artistic production – albeit to prescribed forms. This tautology serves to delineate the gallery from the studios within the building, offering up what is exhibited to be used as a learning tool.

For Studio Wares The Grantchester Pottery has worked with Michael Fullerton, Sophie von Hellerman, Anne Low, Maria Loboda and Edwin Pickstone over various aspects of the exhibition; which comprises of monochromatic ceramics, printed textiles, room dividers, wall murals and found objects as mise en scène. Consumed under the auspices of The Grantchester Pottery, marked only with the GP emblem, all works remain unattributed.