Lawson E Rudge heads his own ‘dynasty’ of Potters; his elder son also called Lawson, is perhaps best known for his pigs, Dillon for his cats, Keza for her dogs. Lawson Snr. though is famous for his ‘flat cows’. They are quirky, appealing and unforgettable ! Following a herd of cows in the narrow lane the other day on the way to visit Lawson, I wished they had all had the ‘Rudge’ treatment and then I could have got through !

Lawson Rudge has developed his own process, which took several years to perfect. An original model is sculpted in clay and from this a multiple piece mould is taken. The work is slip-cast using this mould. Each cast is hand finished before being biscuit fired. The work is then glazed and ‘Raku’ fired. ‘Raku’ firing is a technique whereby the ceramic is removed from the kiln at an optimum temperature and placed in a pit where it is immersed in sawdust. The sawdust restricts the cooling of the ceramic and prevents it from breaking completely whilst burning into the unglazed areas to produce the distinguished matt-black areas. The hand finishing, glazing and firing processes ensures that each piece is an original within a set of editions, limited usually to a maximum of around 100.

We are very pleased to be able to offer Lawson’s cows (and other pieces), and indeed it is very exciting to see what new ideas he invariably comes up with.