A minute with: Photini Matsi, ceramicist

Where do you live?
I live on my own, in Nicosia, next to my family.

What did you have for breakfast?
It’s a bad habit, but I don’t at the moment. Just coffee and herbal tea to start the day.

Describe your perfect day
Wake up and have a few hours to myself, not rushing. Head to the studio and make things, whilst listening to music with Xenia, whom I love and share my studio with. End the day at a friend’s house with a movie or out at Prozak for some hot chocolate or wine, depending on mood.

Best book ever read?
Hope in the Dark by Rebecca Solnit. As I have some depressive tendencies from time to time, this book nudged my thinking on hope.

Best childhood memory?
My birthday, don’t remember the exact age. We went to the beach in July with my family, spent the whole day there. At night we had dinner and my mom made me a fabulous birthday cake with ice cream cones placed on top.

What is always in your fridge?
Oat milk. Not much else unfortunately.

What music are you listening to in the car at the moment?
Bad Bunny new album.

What’s your spirit animal?
Is it bad to say I don’t have one? Never did.

What are you most proud of?
Making it through the first lockdown, abroad, on my own for seven weeks without going completely insane.

What movie scene has really stayed with you?
The dreamy scene in Totoro where they get the seeds, plant them in the garden and they watch the trees grow with such ferocity. Because I love the idea of being able to visualise the growth that is yet to come, as you plant seeds and wait for them to grow, in their time.

If you could pick anyone at all (alive or dead) to go out for the evening with, who would it be?
It’d be Andrea Gibson. That’d be a joyful evening, full of poetry and hope.

If you could time travel when/where would you go?
To Frida Kahlo’s house in Mexico and spend the day watching her go about her life.

What is your greatest fear?
Not being able to work with my hands to make art or a living.

What would you say to your 18-year-old self?
Giving up biology studies and shifting your course is not the end of the world. It’s all good.

Name the one thing that would stop you dating someone.
Disrespect.

If the world is ending in 24 hours, what would you do?
Drive up to Troodos, smell the pine trees and look at rocks. Continue down the other side of the mountains all the way to Akamas and spend the day swimming at my favourite places. Finish it off with my closest friends and family, mom’s food and good wine. Hug them all till it ends.

Photini Matsi has a studio in Kaimakli, Nicosia. Shop her creations through her website. Follow her on social media @thejellypotter