SA ceramicist Ceri Müller shares the highlights of her new home on foreign soil

Having done a recce of Berlin, London and Amsterdam in 2019, ceramic artist Ceri Müller and her husband, 3D visual artist Alexis Christodoulou, settled on the Dutch capital as the city they would relocate to in search of adventure and a change of scenery.

They moved from Cape Town to Amsterdam this past December, and now call an apartment on the Amstel Canal home.

Müller tells us more:

Why Amsterdam?

It’s really beautiful! I love that it’s a "small" major city, with so many parks, museums and galleries. Getting around by bicycle is really fun! Everyone speaks English and the vibe is relaxed and super charming but also highly functional, which is a good balance for work and life.

Where are you living?

In a neighbourhood called Rivierenbuurt, on the corner of a really quiet, narrow street, at the intersection of four canals. Our living area looks out onto this expanse of water, and I love to sit by the window and watch people rowing up and down the canals.

Our apartment block was built in the Amsterdam School style of architecture that arose from 1910 through to about 1930 in the Netherlands, characterised by detailed brick construction and complex masonry.

It is a typical Dutch apartment building with a garden area in the middle that the back of every apartment looks on to. In our apartment, it’s the kitchen, which doubles as my ceramics studio, so working from here is wonderful because I build my pieces looking out toward the lovely garden.

Did anything attract your aesthetic attention when you began exploring the city?

I am very attracted to texture, which is apparent in my work, so I was immediately struck by how textural the city is: paved or cobbled streets, contrasting, coloured brickwork on buildings, the rippling water threading through the city, and the reflections in the canals. The city struck me as a canvas of textural detail, which really appeals to my aesthetic.