The Old Potters of Leros and an Island Craft Shaped by Earth, Water and Fire

Leros, an island with deep cultural roots, was for centuries a place where natural materials were transformed into useful works of craft.

At the heart of this tradition were the island's potters. They combined local earth and water to create the famous Leros cooking pots, water jugs, beehives, bowls, koukoumares, flowerpots, pitchers, charcoal stoves and incense burners.

Until the 1950s, some of these vessels were commonly used to collect milk during milking, set yoghurt or store foods including olives and pickles.

The area known as Tsoukali, meaning cooking pot, did not receive its name by chance. It was the potters' principal source of raw material, a place rich in the clay soil needed for their work.

Craftsmen took red earth from the area, giving their vessels their characteristic resistance to fire and time. The discovery of old kilns provides clear evidence of an active local industry that once supplied both Leros and neighbouring islands.

If the earth formed the body of a pot, water was its soul. Potters searched for the best water with which to mix the earth and shape the clay on the wheel.

The springs and plentiful water of Plafoutena made the area a natural partner in this process. Carrying water from Plafoutena to the workshops was a daily ritual, essential for giving the clay the ideal consistency.

A kiln still standing there, partly hidden by time and vegetation, was the altar of the craft. After days of preparation and drying in the sun, cooking pots, jugs and storage vessels were stacked carefully inside.

The fire had to burn for hours. Potters kept watch over the flames and controlled the temperature until the clay was fired and took its final form.

Standing in front of his father's kiln, Mr Kastis recalled that his parents' lives had been hard and demanding.

Pottery continues on Leros today, using modern methods and producing excellent work. The old kiln workers and most of their kilns have disappeared, but they left behind a craft upon which the history of the island, and of Greece more broadly, was depicted.

Ancient clay vessels provide scenes and evidence of daily life in the period when they were made. In that sense, pottery carries a record of our history.

Read more from Leros News in English.