Marie Janssen

Fascinated by fire

• Marie finds new forms for tiled stoves
• Her stoves aim to make the source of warmth a visible feature
• She was a finalist in the Loewe Crafts Prize 2018

After graduating in fine arts from the University of Applied Arts in Vienna, Marie Janssen began to devote herself to a familiar object from her childhood – the tiled stove. She collected images related to different kinds of tiled stoves, including folktales and proverbs. She was fascinated by the idea of giving shape to the source of warmth, which these days is mostly hidden, and therefore creating a warm centre in the house once again. During her time working with a wunderkammer collection at the Peggy Guggenheim Museum in Venice, her idea for a ‘shrouded furnace’ – an oven covered with a ceramic tiled 'cloth' – was born.

Interview

©Nathan Murrell

©Andrea Cozzi

What is your relationship with fire?

The fireplace is one of the most significant objects in the history of mankind. A vessel that both protected and restrained the fire, it was often the only source of warmth and formed the focus of domestic life. People adored it, decorating its tiles with reliefs and pictures recounting Bible stories, allegories and myths.

What's the significance of shrouding a furnace in a ceramic 'cloth'?

Cloths do not only provide warmth, they cover and conceal something, thus always contain a secret. The cloth as a mediator of mystery harmonises with the stove as a place swathed in legends and myths. The shroud also embodies the enigmatic fascination that has surrounded fire from time immemorial.

Your third shrouded furnace is huge – how did you model it in one piece?

This was a very special project that could only be realised with many helping hands. The kiln was planned by two stove fitters and we faced major challenges in the outdoor working process, not knowing if the experiment we had worked on for months would fail. After the 48-hour burning process, the relief was huge: we had succeeded.

What’s the idea behind your 'fire trunks', stoves in the shape of a trunk?

I like the idea of the fire as something precious that has to be sheltered, but also tamed and controlled. I call these objects 'fire trunks' as a trunk often conserves something valuable. Their surfaces show the effects of fire – for example, in the reduced copper ash glaze the flow of air through the kiln is visible in the red and green hues on the tiles.

Marie Janssen is an expert artisan: she began her career in 2014

Works

©Johanna Folkmann

©Marie Janssen

©Officinaluce photography

©Johanna Folkmann

©Steffi Eckelmann Photography

Where