Urchin Art
Founders
No.020
Handmade stoneware ceramics, slip-cast in Cape Town
Urchin Art makes mugs, tableware, vases and collectibles in slip-cast stoneware, then glazes and decorates them in Cape Town. The collections run from everyday mugs to bespoke ranges made for hospitality customers.
Michelle and Kristoph
Michelle started Urchin Art in 1998, out of a love of beautiful, natural things and a wish to design creative products for the home. Over the years the work settled on slip-cast stoneware, shaped, glazed and decorated in Cape Town, and Urchin Art showed at the Design Indaba Expo in 2014 and 2015.
Today Michelle and Kristoph, a designer, run the business together. The same pair run The Pause Room in Gardens, where the ceramics sit alongside the PAUSE range of body and home products.
Urchin Art
Urchin Art makes handmade ceramics in Cape Town, working mainly in slip-cast stoneware. The workshop is at 19 Lowestoft Street in Paarden Eiland.
The catalogue holds more than a dozen collections of tableware, collectibles and home decor. Some are plain and sculptural, like the white textured Snow in the Highveld pieces. Others are painted: Evil Eye, Fynbos, Foliage, Casa Dolce and Tides, along with quirky mugs, vases and planters, and a Pet's Diner range for cats and dogs. The Palmfontein collection launched in August 2026.
Bespoke ranges are made for selected hospitality and retail customers. Glazing, colour matching, transfers and embossing can all be added to suit the brief.
Alongside the ceramics is the PAUSE range: bath and body products, home fragrance, aromatherapy oils and burners, and fragranced and soy candles.
The public can buy Urchin Art at The Pause Room in Gardens, Cape Town, which is home to the ceramics and the PAUSE range, or online at thepauseroom.co.za. Hospitality and retail customers can see the catalogue at urchinart.co.za or contact the workshop on +27 87 2650 980 or studio@urchinart.co.za.