THE CERAMICIST

IN AN ART DECO BLOCK IN THE HEART OF CAPE TOWN'S CITY CENTRE, RENOWNED CERAMICIST MERVYN GERS HAS RENOVATED AN APARTMENT TO REFLECT HIS OWN TASTES AND HIS LOVE FOR FIRED AND GLAZED CLAY.

- STEVE SMITH

THERE ARE CERAMICS EVERYWHERE. On one wall, colourful plates feature designs by quirky South African artist Walter Battiss; on another, a mosaic of plates plays home to a school of koi; next to that, on five shelves, a collection of vases shows a range of colour from earth tones to turquoise. And that's just the main living area.

It's hardly surprising the apartment does, after all, belong to Mervyn Gers, whose company Mervyn Gers Ceramics is renowned for dinnerware ranges that are much loved by high-end restaurants, luxury lodges and private homes, both here and abroad. Despite his obvious talent, you may be surprised to know that Mervyn only began working as a ceramicist in 2008 after a successful radio career as the station manager for KFM - he sold his shares in that business when it was sold to the SABC. "I played around with renovating flats and houses, and then started thinking about something concrete to do," he recalls. For this lifelong collector of ceramics, what was initially a hobby slowly developed into something more. One of his houses had space for a studio, so he installed a couple of kilns, and taught himself firing techniques, as well as how to make different glazes.