Making History: The Ceramic Work Of Simon Pettet – Dennis Severs’ House, London

A lovingly curated exhibition makes evident the wit and skill of Simon Pettet: gifted potter and sometime partner to Dennis Severs. Combine it with theatrical experience Simon’s Story for best effect.

Dennis Severs And Simon Pettet

If you live in London and haven’t yet visited Dennis Severs’ House, I have one question for you: why not? This Georgian townhouse in Spitalfields is a monument to one man’s passion and vision. But more than that, it functions for me as a monument to the sort of eccentricity that big city life can enable. We’re so lucky that it still exists and we can visit it, 24 years after the death of its creator. Today’s post is about Simon Pettet, but allow me a quick paragraph on Dennis Severs to set the scene.

Dennis Severs was a Californian who arrived in London in 1967 shortly after graduating high school. He tried his hand at carriage driving amongst other things, before buying in 1979 the dilapidated house which would become his life’s work. 18 Folgate Street had been converted into offices for Spitalfields Market nearby, but Severs transformed it over a number of years into a candlelit, atmospheric house that told the story of an imagined family of Huguenot silk weavers, the Jervises, over the centuries. Each room represents a different period. The furnishings are a mix of junk shop finds, salvaged materials, antiques and modern objects. He ran tours for visitors as well as entertaining friends here.

Importantly, he also lived amidst the echoes of the Jervises lives. And so after he met Simon Pettet outside Heaven nightclub in 1983, it was not long before Simon lived here too. Simon was 18 years old, about to start a ceramics degree at the Camberwell School of Art & Design. Meeting Dennis was a turning point for him in his life and art, and the objects in Dennis’s house provided one source of inspiration for his ceramics.

A Life Cut Short

In 1984, at only 19 years of age, Simon was diagnosed with HIV. At the time, there was only one outcome of such a diagnosis. Over the next few years he continued to live in Folgate Street, produce marvellous ceramics, and throw himself into Spitalfields life, friendships and relationships. His death at 28 years old on 26 December 1993 is one of so many stories of lives cut tragically short by the AIDS epidemic.

Today, numerous works made by Simon remain at 18 Folgate Street. They are often indistinguishable from the originals unless you look closely and spot the modern details. I’ve been twice before to Dennis Severs’ House, and I can’t say I had spotted them particularly. This exhibition, Making History: the Ceramic Work of Simon Pettet, is thus a revelation. Curator Rupert Thomas has chosen an approach which integrates well into the house’s atmosphere. In most rooms there are one or more yellow plinths, showcasing and signalling Simon’s ceramic works. Like the experience created by Severs, you have to spot what you’re looking for amidst the jumble. They’re not always easy to find, but a handout will guide you to them.

The star of the show has to be the Delftware-style tiles in the master bedroom fireplace. Together they are called The Gentrification Piece. Many notable residents feature including Langlands and Bell, and Gilbert and George who still live a stone’s throw away. The portraits are witty, and come with an explanatory text written by Dennis and Simon.

Telling The Story

If I sound overly familiar, referring to ‘Dennis’ and ‘Simon’, it’s partly because of how I experienced the exhibition. Over the past few years I’ve seen Dennis Severs’ House introducing various guided tours, including a curator-led one and one which recreates Dennis’s original tours. For the duration of the exhibition, Simon’s Story has been added to the mix. Part tour and part theatrical performance, it is the work of The Gentle Author, based on extensive interviews with Patrick Handscombe, Simon’s former partner and frequent visitor at the house.

The tour is a wonderful thing. It’s performed to a maximum group size of eight, several evenings a week. Actor Joel Saxon tells Simon’s story as Patrick. Just as Dennis’s tours brought the Jervis family to life, this tour brings the 1980s house to life. It’s incredibly intimate, to the extent that you will find yourself wondering how much eye contact to make. But this has the effect of bringing you into Dennis and Simon’s inner circle with Patrick as proxy. It’s almost a wrench to go from stifling tears up in the attic Poor Room, to having free time to wander the exhibition and see Simon’s work by candlelight. But it’s such a fitting tribute, and gives an insight like no other into the works themselves and the man who made them.

Simon wanted to be known as a potter rather than an artist, and he was a gifted one. His work perfectly synthesises Chinese and Dutch techniques and shapes with clever, modern details. His intelligence, humour and artist’s (potter’s?) eye are evident everywhere, as I perused a mix of works from the collection and those on loan from private individuals. I’m sure I’ll be back at Dennis Severs’ House again, and will never overlook them now I’ve truly seen them.

Salterton Arts Review’s rating: 5/5

Making History: the Ceramic Work of Simon Pettet and Simon’s Story on until 4 June 2023