[1] Cooper was born in Ayr, Scotland and initially studied painting at Hospitalfield School of Art during 1937 and 1938.
Subsequently, Waistel won a painting scholarship to Edinburgh College of Art, though these studies were interrupted by World War II.
Henry Rothschild (1913–2009) gave Cooper a one-man show at his craft gallery Primavera in August 1955.
Often compared to contemporary London based studio potters Hans Coper and Lucie Rie, Cooper's rural lifestyle meant that he was largely isolated from London trends.
Cooper stated, "I met Lucie Rie and Hans Coper in the fifties and felt a very strong kinship with the direction their work was taking, in so far as it was concerned, as was mine, with sculptural form and texture, and was light years away from the Japonaiserie of the Bernard Leach school of pottery.