GEMMA ORKIN
A bird perched on a branch. A protea opening across a plate. A small bowl that feels slightly different from the one beside it. In Gemma Orkin’s ceramics, familiar things become something to pause over.
Based in Cape Town, Gemma makes hand-built, hand-painted ceramics that bring her love of South African nature into the home. Flowers, birds and other small observations find their way onto bowls, platters, jugs and vases. Her pieces are practical objects with an unmistakably personal touch: made to hold something, but also to be enjoyed in their own right.
Asked by VISI to describe her aesthetic in five words, she chose: “Handmade. Old-fashioned. Simple. Creamy. Happy.” It is a fitting introduction to a maker who has spent more than three decades developing a world of her own.
An artistic beginning
Gemma comes from a family of artists. The daughter of South African artist Gail Catlin, she grew up with creativity as part of everyday life. She went on to study fine art at the University of Cape Town, specialising in printmaking, while finding her own way into ceramics.
That connection to drawing remains central to her work. The shape of a vessel gives her a surface to illustrate; its curves and proportions become part of the composition. A flower can spread across a shallow dish, while a bird settles into the rounded space of a bowl.
The family’s relationship with clay continues through her son, ceramic sculptor Ben Orkin, who grew up surrounded by his mother’s work and has since developed a distinct practice of his own.
Gemma Orkin describing her aesthetic in five words - “Handmade. Old-fashioned. Simple. Creamy. Happy.”
Made slowly, painted individually
Each piece begins with clay built up in coils and carefully shaped by hand. Once dry, it is painted with colour and illustrated before moving through the firing process.
Gemma mixes her own colours, working with creamy backgrounds and combinations that give her drawings room to stand out. Firing brings its own uncertainty. Colours develop in the kiln, and opening it reveals a result that cannot be fully known in advance.
The studio has grown over time. Retailer accounts describe two assistants helping with the hand-building, while Gemma continues to paint every piece herself. That individual attention means a repeated motif never produces an entirely identical object. The outline of a bowl, the sweep of a stem and the placement of a petal carry small variations from one piece to the next.
These differences are part of the pleasure of living with handmade ceramics. They invite a closer look.
South Africa, observed with affection
South African plants and birds have long been at the heart of Gemma’s work. Proteas, pincushions and vygies appear alongside other flowers, their forms translated into clear, expressive drawings.
Her subjects also extend into the everyday: food, pets, family life and the small things that catch her attention. Earlier pieces featured big-haired characters, washing lines, hot-air balloons and words about love and life. There is humour here, and a sense that an ordinary moment can be enough to inspire an object.
In 2021, her Bugs Life exhibition at Chandler House in Cape Town brought insects into focus. Researching their colours and patterns opened another field of possibilities, encouraging her to work more boldly with colour. It was a new direction within a familiar way of looking: paying attention to the beauty of things easily passed by.
From a Cape Town studio to homes abroad
Gemma’s work has travelled well beyond South Africa through exhibitions, independent shops and international collaborations.
In 2012, West Elm included her in a collection celebrating South African makers, bringing her flower and bird illustrations to cups, bowls and wall tiles. Australian retailer Pan After later worked with her on a Wild Flower kitchenware series, while Mooch commissioned a bespoke Cotswold collection for its UK shop.
These projects show how naturally her drawings can respond to different settings while retaining their character. Whether the subject is a South African bloom or a commissioned motif, the connection between her hand, the painted image and the ceramic surface remains visible.
Objects to live with
A Gemma Orkin piece can find its place on a kitchen table, beside a sink or hanging on a wall. Its purpose may be simple: holding fruit, serving a snack or keeping a small everyday object close to hand.
Yet the drawing gives it another kind of presence. A bird or a flower becomes part of the room, encountered again and again through the routines of the day.
For OOSA, Gemma’s work offers a personal expression of South African making: rooted in close observation, shaped through years of practice and full of affection for the place she calls home. Each piece brings a little of that attention into everyday life.
