Promas Carers

Creative workshops for carers at the Leach Pottery

Promas is a CIC who provide free practical and emotional support to unpaid carers in Cornwall. The Leach Pottery has worked with Promas to offer carers workshops since 2021. We offer Promas 6 week long courses at the Leach Pottery, exploring hand-building and throwing skills. The group often taken inspiration from the story and collection of the Leach Pottery Museum. Each year the group take a special focus for a collaborate project with a maker.

Dybri (Cornish for eat)

Promas participants created a collection plates which were then decorated using slip decorative methods. The resulting plates where then used to host a celebratory meal for the participants in the Leach Pottery garden.

Eva (Cornish for drink)

Across a series workshops, the group considered the design of a drinking vessel, co-producing, designing and decorating a collection of similar pieces. This project, Eva focused on making vessels to drink from. The outcomes of Dybri and Eva were brought together for a group lunch, with participants using the plates and cups they made.

This project was part of a pilot project for the National Heritage Lottery which explores how co-production within community settings can be successful.

Made to Measure

A collection of adapted forms made by Promas Carers as they explored accessible tableware.

Promas Carers joined us for a series of workshops to co-create pottery which was then adapted to specific needs. This may have been for the participant themselves, someone they cared for, or a loved one.

Ceramic by its nature is not an ideal material for accessible tableware—heavy and breakable—so it was acknowledged that the outcomes of such a project were more conceptual and exploratory than intended for practical use! This project considered what such pieces might look like when made for someone with a specific need.

Process The group guided Lily, the Make with Leach Coordinator, to make a basic thrown shape of their liking. This shape was then adapted through carving, pushing, pulling, adding, faceting, and decorating to make it into an individual piece.

Outcomes The outcomes were fired and glazed at the Leach Pottery. The resulting pieces were telling of both the person the object was made for and the participant’s desire to facilitate the best possible objects of use for them. The pieces might have been made to mould to someone’s fingers, have two handles, slant to the perfect angle, or have textures on them that appealed to the user.