During the 1890s Reginald Wells trained as a sculptor at the Royal College of Art, and later studied ceramics at Camberwell School of Art (both in London). Around 1900 he set up his own pottery at Coldrum, near Wrotham in Kent, before later moving it to London. Wells was one of the first true studio potters (i.e., a non-factory potter), working on an entirely independent basis. His interests lay in exactly those areas that were to preoccupy studio potters in later decades, namely English slipwares and Chinese stonewares. Wells's work has a somewhat amateur and experimental look when compared to that of the next generation (Bernard Leach, Michael Cardew, William Staite Murray) who were to follow in his path.