Svend Bayer (1946 – )

Svend Bayer was born in Uganda to Danish parents. He studied Geography and Economics at the University of Exeter before joining Michael Cardew at Wenford Bridge Pottery; followed by a period working as a thrower at Brannam’s Pottery in Devon. After travelling in the Far East to look at potteries and large wood fired kilns in Japan, Korea and other parts of South East Asia, he set up the Cornwall Bridge Pottery in Connecticut, USA. Since 1975 he has worked at Duckpool Cottage, on the outskirts of a remote Devonshire village, chosen for its proximity to good ball clay and a local saw mill which provides off cuts to fire the massive kiln he has built. Bayer’s work owes much to rural French pottery and early American stoneware. All his works are wood fired and Bayer often uses fly ash to give his works colour. His work is very much in the rural tradition relying on local materials and small batch production of domestic ware and pots and planters for the garden. These works suggest an alternative to the products, values and way of life in a hectic industrialised society.