View across the exhibition

Since my last visit back in 2004 the studio ceramics galleries at the V and A have undergone a transformation. Gone are the old wooden cabinets so typical of museums in the past, in their place huge glass display cases show off the V and A's important collection of pots to great effect. The old parquet floor is still there but everything else has changed and very much for the better.

The Contemporary Ceramics gallery has a high domed ceiling from which Edmund de Wall's Signs and Wonders installation looks down onto a display of large scale ceramics.

The Twentieth Century Studio Ceramics gallery features an extensive collection demonstrating the development of the studio pottery movement. Many of the pots here have been illustrated in the literature, it was good to see them in the flesh.

The Timothy Sainsbury Gallery focuses on methods and techniques of ceramic production. It has a large working workshop and a very large exhibition space. In one corner, Lucie Rie's workshop has been recreated and a fascinating film of David Attenborough talking to Lucie in her workshop runs on a nearby monitor.