I discovered Nico Masemula’s charming ceramics on the wonderful Wolf Eyebrows blog the other day. I’ve battled a bit to find out more about Nico, but what I have found, thanks to the Clementia Ceramics blog, is that he’s based in Calitzdorp in the Karoo and that his mentor is the well-known SA ceramicist Hylton Nel.
I’ve also found an Afrikaans article in Die Burger about how Nico, as a young Sotho lad, serendipitously landed up in Hylton’s household in Bethulie when he accompanied a man who worked in Hylton’s garden. Hylton took Nico under his wing and when he moved to Calizdorp, Nico went with. Hylton sent him to Môrester High School in Calitzdorp and when he finished matric Hylton built him a house in the yard and took him on as his apprentice.
What a success story, because today Nico Masemula sells his ceramics on the Anthropologie site where I found these images. His work is also available at the Old Biscuit Mill in Cape Town.
