TOUCHING tributes have been paid to a famous west Dorset potter following his death.

David Eeles, 82, founder of Eeles Family Pottery based in Mosterton, died last week following a short battle with an illness.

He leaves behind his wife of 59 years Patricia, his four children Benjamin, Simon, Caroline and Toby, and five grandchildren.

Now, his son Simon has led the tributes to his ‘passionate, caring and loving’ father, who rose to the top of the pottery world during a distinguished 60-year career.

Mr Eeles, born in London in 1933, was an incredibly artistic man who held a passion for all things arts and crafts, especially pottery.

He attended the Willesden School of Arts and Craft when he was 16, meeting his future wife Patricia. They married in 1955, the same year he joined the Shepherds Well Pottery, where he honed his skills behind the kiln before moving to west Dorset in 1962, and setting up the family business.

The family have been based in Mosterton ever since, and have grown the family firm into a very successful and well-known pottery business. Mr Eeles not only created pottery, but he also decorated his creations himself allowing him to develop extinguished pieces.

His son Simon said: “If he wasn’t ill or away on holiday he would always be in the pottery, he would spend seven days a week, 365 days a year if in there if he could.

“We would sometimes have to drag him out of there on Christmas Day. He just loved it so much.
“He was a very fair man, who had a real love and a real passion for arts and crafts. He was very single minded, he was very much driven by his craft.

“He was a very passionate man, and a very loving man and he will be missed an incredible amount.”

Mr Eeles, whose skill and ability behind the kiln and with a paintbrush was well-known around the world, was instrumental in helping set up the arts and crafts community in Dorset. Mr Eeles was among a group of committed craftsmen who set up the Dorset Craft Guild, and he subsequently became chairman of the group. He was also imperative to converting a derelict mill in Wimborne into the Dorset Craft guilds headquarters.

His work has been showcased at various international exhibitions in London and around the world, and he also went on a tour of Australia, New Zealand and Canada, delivering lectures on his craft.

Simon said that along with pottery, Mr Eeles also had a real passion for fishing and for visiting New Zealand, as he “loved” the country.

Mr Eeles suffered quite a serious fall around three years ago, breaking his neck and spine in 11 places. He had 11 metal pins installed to try and stabilise his spine, but one of the pins became infected.

However, Mr Eeles would not let this affect his love of pottery, and still worked at the family business every day. He was actually in the pottery the day before he was taken to hospital, a month before he died.

Simon added: “Not only have I lost a father, but I have lost somebody that was a guiding light for me, both as a man and for the business.

“He was always coming up with new ideas and suggestions of what we should do and where we should go, so he will definitely be missed on that front too.”