It's rare that I include photos of friends on this blog, but Brent simply had to appear - we hadn't met for about 30 years, but did manage to recognise each other, even when meeting in the murky gloom - and vast expanse - of the Great Court at the British Museum, before a long chat over dinner and adjourning to a wine bar -

Brent brought, from the Moravian Pottery & Tile Works in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, these tiles, and also a quillow (made by Katie Lapp) -
and thereby introduced me to the life and work of Henry Mercer, who founded and built the pottery. He figured large in the Arts and Crafts movement in America. Trained as a lawyer, he never practised law but travelled in France and Germany for several years, then returned to Pennsylvania and became a curator of archaeology before apprenticing himself to a potter and going on to found the pottery in 1898 and run it until his death in 1930. Engineering and architecture were also part of his skills repertoire.