After spending time as a German POW during World War II, Heinz Laffin immigrated to Canada, settling in Vancouver. He studied ceramics at the Vancouver School of Art, potting there first before establishing a rural pottery with Wayne Ngan on Hornby Island. Like Ngan, Laffin became a fixture of the island, potting at the same studio for over 60 years.

Like other potters of the region and his generation, Laffin benefited from the wave of St Ives apprentices who brought back to Vancouver the ethos and aesthetic of Bernard Leach and Shoji Hamada. He studied with John Reeve at the University of British Columbia and absorbed and translated a mingei spirit via a West Coast studio practice. 

Perhaps more than any of his contemporaries, Laffin produced his own standard ware which was sold to his customers directly from his studio. Mugs, bowls, plates, pitchers were made for daily use. This charger is quintessentially Laffin: the simple, thrown form is without any embellishment - it is purely functional yet maintains the trace of the hand and wheel that made it. 

The glazing is Laffin’s standard tenmoku, over which he added additional ash glaze, similar to a nuka. But before this second glazing he decorated the centre with a quick calligraphic flourish, probably with a wax resist. This way the underglaze comes through, highlighting Laffin's simple and energetic brushstroke.