ACANTHUS GALLERY - Jonathan Garrat

Jonathan Garrat

Jonathan Garratt was born in London in 1954 and educated at Eton College where he studied ceramics under Gordon Baldwin. He gained a BA in Archaeology from Clare College, Cambridge and became assistant to Seamus O’Brien (Cardew’s colleague) in 1978.He has exhibited widely and been featured in numerous publications. He describes his work as follows:

I make terracotta garden pots by hand on the eastern edge of Cranborne Chase in Dorset, using clay from a local pit and firing the big round wood kiln I built in 1986, eight times a year.

Woodfiring earthenware was once common all over Europe, but is now extremely rare. Beautiful effects are produced on the finished ware.

A typical kiln load will hold pots ranging from orange, through warm red to brown and purple/black, depending on the heat.

All the terracotta is guaranteed against frost damage, and many customers are still using pots I made 20 years ago. This is due to two important factors: an adequate firing temperature and the quality of the clay.