Ethical Pot

The ethical pot is a style of pottery and an associated theory. The name ethical pot was first coined by Oliver Watson in his book Studio Pottery: Twentieth Century British Ceramics in the Victoria and Albert Museum for a 20th century, back-to-basics pottery movement that endorsed plainer utilitarian styles over fine art. Other names for pots in this style are the ego-less pot or utilitarian pot. The ethical pot theory was conceptualized and championed by potter Bernard Leach and a more controversial subset of the Arts and Crafts movement of post-war potters. The proponents were theoretically opposed to the expressive pots or fine art pots of other post-war potters such as William Staite Murray, Lucie Rie and Hans Coper.

The ethical pot theory and style was popularized by Bernard Leach in his book A Potter's Book published in 1940. He expanded the theories that ethical pots should be utilitarian, "naturally shaped" and originally as conceived should derive from "Oriental forms that transcended mere good looks." Leach had previously spent considerable time in Japan studying eastern crafts and mingei. His ethical pot idea was a rough interpretation of mingei for the western world; he exonerated simplicity (ideally the best pots are so quick to make that they could be "thrown before breakfast"), and pots made to look natural and hand crafted.

According to ceramic art critics of today, this pot style was intended to be modernist, useful, and "democratic in usage" as opposed to the fine art pot. and also opposed to industrial art.