The origins of Dartington Pottery lie in the early 1930's when Bernard Leach and, later, his son David set up the first pottery at Shinners Bridge.
    These inspirational beginnings were expanded upon when Sam Haile and his wife Marianne de Trey arrived in 1947 with Sam building two new kilns. Sadly Sam, a dynamic and innovative ceramic artist, died in a car crash in 1948. His wife Marianne, alone and pregnant, carried on. Miraculously she not only created a pottery producing desirable ware but also established an apprenticeship scheme which both echoed the earlier Leach initiative and anticipated Dartington's world-renowned training ethos of today. In 1983 the Dartington Pottery Training Workshop took over the premises and sold the enterprise to a triumvirate of potters

including Stephen Course who now co-owns the Pottery with Sue Cook. Stephen is an internationally acknowledged expert on glazes.
   The 1980's saw tremendous success utilising groundbreaking new designs from Janice Tchalenko who is currently leading a further design renaissance at Dartington. Their determination to remain a cutting edge art pottery and a centre of training excellence remains the vital motivation at Dartington and has attracted such talented designers as Petra Tilly, Avis Murray, Roger Law and Alexandra Copeland as well as developing considerable talent through the training programme.
   Today Dartington Pottery is eagerly sought both in its standard designs, in limited editions and individual artist's 'one-off' pieces.

Dartington remains one of the world's leading potteries specialising in the technically challenging but aesthetically rewarding art of reduction fired stoneware utilising outstanding reactive glaze effects.