Whiting (1919–1998) was born in Stocksfield, Northumberland and trained to be an architect. On a visit to India he stayed with a family of potters and it was from them that he learnt his craft. On his return to England he set up a pottery in Worcestershire, later moving to Canterbury in 1972. Teapots are extraordinarily difficult to make: every component is made separately (as potters say ‘thrown in bits’) then assembled and fired in the kiln; the glaze is subsequently painted on and the whole placed in the kiln again. This teapot, with its flattened yet sleek shape, dispels the idea that a rural pottery had no design connections with the 20th century.

My Yard, British Council 2009