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.
© Andrea Cozzi
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.