The Master Ceramicists

We are proud to be working in consultation with award-winning gallery Southern Guild to create a bespoke assemblage of pieces, each one hand-made by the most globally recognised design names from Africa. Here, we meet the Xigera ceramicists and discover the pieces that they are designing for the Lodge… 

Andile Dyalvane

One of South Africa’s foremost ceramic artists. Guided by a deep spiritual connection to his Xhosa ancestors, Andile’s complex, large-scale ceramic artworks are a metaphorical vessel through which he seeks to honour his cultural traditions and share his journey of healing.
He is creating four ceramic stools from his Idladla series (meaning ‘grain silo’) - a study and exploration of scope, scale and texture. Gently rounded terracota forms, marked with precise incisions, hand imprints and motifs, follow a strong architectural impulse inspired by the parallels Andile noticed in structures as distant from each other as upstate New York and Mali.

Atang Tshikare

A multidisciplinary creative based in Cape Town, who specialises in sculptural furniture. A self-taught artist in a wide range of media, he was influenced by the visual storytelling and graphic style of his father – an anti-Apartheid activist who illustrated for various pan-African publications. Atang is working on two hand-carved ceramic stools, named Ngwedi and Ngwana. 

Chuma Maweni

A master of hand-thrown ceramics, Chuma Maweni’s distinctive approach combines contemporary hand-coiled shapes marked with precisely patterned incisions. From his studio in Woodstock, Cape Town, he makes exquisitely crafted ceramic vessels and furniture, the latter finding their largest form to date in his sought-after Imbizo series of tables, side-tables and stool. These will be proudly showcased at Xigera.

Madoda Fani

Bold and emblazoned with character, the ceramic work of Madoda Fani carries a dramatically unique sensibility. Inspired by his African heritage, Madoda makes hand-coiled, burnished and smoke-fired pieces that are a contemporary evolution of the traditional ceramics indigenous to Southern Africa.

Madoda’s totemic, intricately hand-carved ceramic sculptures, standing over a metre tall, will greet guests at Xigera.