To be able to express one’s emotions and innermost thoughts is the most important form of self-respect that a person can have. To allow yourself to feel, without your own judgement or doubt is powerful. To then be able to transform those sentiments, thoughts and feelings into a physical thing, such as a piece of art, is incredible. This is what makes Cape Town-based Dayfeels brand that little bit more special and unique. And for Amor Coetzee, the owner and designer, it has always been about making something that feels like a part of her.

Creative Choices

Amor was bitten and inspired by the creativity bug from a young age. Growing up in Gonubie, in the Eastern Cape, with two very different, but creative parents, led her to live a life surrounded by beautiful aesthetics and truly great music.

When it came time to make a decision about her career, she chose to study photography in Port Elizabeth, and, having moved to Cape Town after graduating, she became quickly immersed in the creative, artistic world of the Cape. She had chosen to go into photography for practical reasons, because it was creative but also because she could make a living out of it.

Being a struggling artist is only romantic for so long. And while fine art is where her arty heart lay, she enjoyed photography and the work involved.

She was assisting with a various range of industries, such as fashion and lifestyle shoots and then found herself doing a bit of retouching work. It was here, one day, when sitting at her computer, working on her photos that she realised she missed working with her hands. She felt somewhat removed from her roots.

Venturing into Ceramics

So, to reinvigorate herself, she took up ceramic classes after work and began expressing herself through her drawing again. As she was finishing her pieces she would post pictures of them on Instagram and soon enough people began to email her to place orders for her work.

As interest grew for her ceramics and art, she began to have to juggle between her 9-5 and her passion. This all became somewhat overwhelming and she took a leap of faith, quit her day job to focus on her art full time.

The Birth of Dayfeels

Being that Amor’s work is acutely personal, choosing the name of her company was no different and had to be as equally close to her heart. As she was sketching roughly a piece a day, she was taking note of her feelings and emotions and how they differed from day to day. And how these feelings came through in the sketch. She almost had a different feeling each day, and from there the name Dayfeels was born.

Her work itself truly is a reflection of and an ode to where she grew up. Gonubie, being the lush seaside town that it is, is where Amor spent a lot of her childhood surrounded the beauty of nature. And this forms a lot of inspiration for her. She translates the textures of sand, sea, moss, rocks, grass, and everything in between into these beautiful pieces of stoneware, of varying shapes and sizes.

While Dayfeels is only a year and a half old, Amor’s aesthetic and style has always been quite clear and defined in her photography. She leans towards soft, muted, monotone shades, with an occasional blush of pink. She uses earthy, emotive words like seaspray, current and seafoam, as names for each work.

Getting all Touchy Feely

She has a few pieces that feature quite often but differ thanks to the clay and the texture that’s used to make them, as well as the mood that Amor is in when she’s working on them. Every single thing is handmade which means that each item is slightly different and unique from the last one, a little token of how she’s feeling on that day.

The piece she’s becoming most well-known for is the Touchy Feely, a small dish made from a outline of Amor’s own slender and elegant hand. It would make the perfect trinket dish, for coins or keys. This may be one of the best thing about the Dayfeels ceramics, that they’re functional and well-crafted, but also that they’re so beautiful and personal.

While Amor is busy stocking a few niche stores in Cape Town, she also takes orders and commissions via her website. In an innovative and imaginative place such as Cape Town, it can difficult to find your place and establish yourself as an individual brand.

Amor has managed to create a range of drawings and stoneware that are completely intimate and true to herself. When you buy something from Dayfeels, you’re not just buying another bowl or sketch, you’re buying a piece of Amor and her sentiments, and that makes her work all very, very special.


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