Whilst at school, Edmund de Waal studied potting under Geoffrey Whiting (see lot 55). After leaving school he spent time in Japan before taking up a two-year apprenticeship with Whiting, followed by a degree at Cambridge University. Following graduation, with the intention of making functional stoneware pots in the Leach tradition, he moved to the Welsh borders and built a kiln. However, this did not prove successful and he moved into central Sheffield and began to work with porcelain, for which he is now renowned.

De Waal then studied Japanese at Sheffield University, followed by a year of language study in Japan. Whilst there, he also spent time in the archive room of the Japanese Folk Crafts Museum, researching Leach's papers and journals. Since returning to the UK, he has gone on to make installations at Chatsworth House, Kettle's Yard, Cambridge, Tate Britain, London and the Victoria and Albert Museum, London.