“I grew up in Somerset East, a small village in the Eastern Cape,” says Roché Müller. “It was the kind of place where, if you didn’t hunt, you were the weird kid, so I was always the weird kid.” To boot, Roché was also a policeman’s son, which secured him the undeserved reputation of troublemaker. “It was a small town, but I had a great childhood. I’d run around until late at night… A lot of freedom, a lot of nature,” he reminisces. Little did he know just how much the environment in which he grew up would echo deep into adulthood.

Shaping clay

Even the name Roché chose for his ceramics studio, Claylat, harks back to his formative years, when playing kleilat – a traditional South African pastime in which a wad of clay is mounted to the end of a flexible, whip-like bough and flung at an opponent over a distance – was one of the best ways to while away an afternoon.

Roché’s work is characterised by organic shapes and rough, natural textures often borrowed from pieces of bark, rock and foliage. On a philosophical level, the fingerprints of nature so evident in his work are amplified when crowned with the culinary creations of the calibre of chefs he works with. If you’ve ever dined at FYN, Nikkei, Chefs Warehouse at Beau Constantia, Ellerman House, Chefs Warehouse Tintswalo Atlantic or &Beyond Phinda Forest Lodge, you’ve probably had a dish that was served on a Claylat vessel.

Images: Hanfred Rauch

To read the full story, grab your copy of the 2024 Eat Out magazine – on shelf at your nearest Woolies and other select stores!