Theaster Gates acquires Pickard China

Theaster Gates has acquired Pickard China, the last remaining manufacturer of high-end porcelain tableware in the US. A trained potter, Gates’s acquisition marks a new chapter that extends his long-standing artistic interests in the preservation of modalities of making, the reimagination of craft histories and technical knowledge embedded in materials, and the reactivation of the theatre of American manufacturing.

Speaking about the acquisition, Gates said: ‘Pickard represents something that I value deeply: the knowledge embedded in making; I’m interested in what it means to preserve that history while creating the conditions for it to become a laboratory for experimentation.’