Ian Reid taught himself to pot on a wheel in his parent's garage and opened his own gallery and workshop in Milton, Brisbane, at the age of 21. In 1983, he moved to the Blackall Range on the Sunshine Coast, working first at Montville Pottery then opening the Flaxton Pottery in around 1985. It was here he met his wife Christine. The couple set up a working partnership, with Ian throwing and Christine mixing the glazes and decorating the pots. After ten years at Flaxton, they moved to Dulong and built their current house and studio - the Reid Pottery - there. Work is marked with an impressed 'Ian Reid', 'Flaxton', 'Reid R' or 'Reid'.