James Tower is associated with the 'Institute of Education' group of the 1950s along with William Newland, Margaret Hine and Nicholas Vergette, all contemporaries at London University after World War II. Collectively and dismissively dubbed the 'Picassiettes' by Bernard Leach, the group developed their own distinctive method of tin-glaze decoration. Before turning to ceramics, Tower trained as a painter at the Royal Academy schools and the Slade School of Art. He did not think of his work as functional and described himself as 'an artist who happens to work in clay'.