Emmanuel Cooper Glazes

Discover the vibrant world of one of the ceramic world’s most influential figures, revealed for the first time through his previously unseen private archive. Emmanuel Cooper (1938–2012) was a leading force in British studio pottery: founder of Ceramic Review, author of A History of World Pottery, and biographer of Bernard Leach and Lucie Rie. Renowned for his sought-after conical bowls and jugs, he helped define the development of an electric-kiln aesthetic and transformed what oxidation firing could achieve. His work appears in major museums worldwide, and his bold, colourful surfaces continue to inspire ceramicists today. Cooper pushed glaze chemistry far beyond the Leach tradition of muted, reduction-fired stoneware, creating crater and lava glazes, oxide-rich slips and vivid surfaces inspired by London’s colours and mineral forms. From turquoise and shocking pink to molten gold, his glazes were as bold as their maker. For the first time, glaze expert Linda Bloomfield, who learned from Cooper’s books, attended his talks and was later invited by his partner, David Horbury, to catalogue his archive, opens Cooper’s personal glaze notebooks. Bloomfield reveals hundreds of unpublished recipes and the techniques behind his signature effects. This book is an essential resource for potters, ceramic artists and anyone fascinated by colour, chemistry and the expressive potential of electric-kiln glaze.