Ceramics with Amelia

Amelia is an award-winning ceramicist and teacher living in Cape Town with over 30 years of experience. Her journey with clay began at a very young age, growing up in a home where the dinnerware and other functional vessels were made by eminent South African potters such as Hymie Rabinowitz, Bryan Hyden, and Esias Bosch. In her late teens, she took pottery and furniture restoration classes and discovered the close relationship between wood and ceramics. Today she incorporates wood into her work in the form of handles, stoppers, and even lids for vessels.

She apprenticed under Steve Shapiro, a master South African potter, relearning all kinds of things, like making spouts that can pour, pulling handles for jugs that are functional and fit into your hands, and most importantly, the aesthetics and motivation behind making pots. For Steve, pottery is not an art or a craft, or God forbid, a hobby – it is a way of life. Later she worked with Anthony Shapiro, another master South African potter, learning how to work with porcelain and pull the most incredibly fine and delicate bowls. Her long journey with pottery has led to awards, exhibitions, teaching, and collaborations with the finest chefs.

Amelia lives with Table Mountain at her doorstep and it provides an abundance of diverse species as inspiration during morning walks. She believes that when you have a ball of clay in hand, you lose your inhibitions and let your inner person out. It is a never-ending journey with something new to learn every day. She says that once you have a good grip on the basics, it is not a matter of how, but what you want to make.