Joe’s experience and fascination with kilns started during his four year apprenticeship in 1964 training under his father Ray Finch at Winchcombe Pottery. Whilst there joe also learning the more obvious skills such as throwing, glazing and firing, he developed a natural eye for strong, functional forms. Since then he has built numerous successful kilns, for his own use and for other potters.

Joe makes pots for everyday use: dishes, bowls, jugs and plates, pots for cooking and serving food, vases for flowers. Practical, unassuming, stoneware ceramics. His pots are ‘raw-glazed’ then ‘once fired’ in a large wood burning kiln that he designed and built himself.

The Leach Pottery welcomed Joe for a mini residency, workshop and talk during June 2014. This consisted of two days where visitors could meet him and watch him at work, throwing pots in the Old Pottery, followed by a three day kiln building workshop: ‘Kiln Construction: A Brick by Brick Approach’. The new kiln was packed and fired, during which time Joe gave a free talk and demo- culminating in the kiln opening at the end of his residency.