Martin Vorster and Colin Braye are not the most likely candidates for founders of a ceramic studio. An accountant and engineer respectively by training and profession, the partners started Vorster and Braye out of a genuine interest in the process of pottery, having decided to take some throwing classes themselves.
As well as an interest in the medium, it was a vehicle to create items they would like to have in their homes but couldn't source. So it often seems that the best or most coherent brands come out of creative individuals filling a design niche and a desire to create something they themselves want in their lives.
"The initial designs were conceptualised by thinking about what would appeal to us," says Martin. Underpinning the entire range, from collection to collection, is a sense of refinement and restraint. Using traditional techniques - throwing, slip casting and jigging - the studio produces handmade pieces that offer a fresh aesthetic.
What started with a clean and simple cylindrical style has progressed to include more distinctive features - the flaked rim on their recent vessels, for example, is now a signature and speaks to the brand's contemporary non-conformist ethos.
Vorster and Braye's designs straddle the line between functional and decorative - and while most are functional, all are decorative - in the most pared-back way possible. "We wanted to steer clear of the surface decoration we see so much of," says Martin, whose passion for design extends to interiors and photography.
Theirs is a sophisticated silhouette free from superfluousness, where the focus is on form and finish rather than pattern. Even their recent organically shaped pieces have a pleasing simplicity to them.
The palette too sets them apart. Like the ceramics themselves, the hues are sophisticated - a spectrum sourced locally and globally that are less obvious than those found in mass-produced lines. You'll find shades like petrol, viridian and oyster - fresh, contemporary shades that are the result of a considered approach to creating a range where the colours are collectively cohesive and each item works in conjunction with any other.
The combination of matt and gloss finishes, glazed and unglazed surfaces, and contrasting colours gives the pieces a dynamism despite their lack of adornment.
Sometimes it's a case of trial and error. "We sometimes choose a glaze that doesn't have a swatch and have to test it out in the kiln," says Martin.
While the operation is still on the smaller handmade scale, they've grown into the Long Street studio in Cape Town that was initially too large for them. As well as the in-house ranges, Vorster and Braye create custom pieces for clients in the design and hospitality industries...