Rooted.
Coup-de-foudre are Goedel Vermandere and Jan Arickx. The law regards us as a legal entity. We think of it as a story that started with an uprooting and which, over time and with plenty of plot twists, has evolved, from a temporary balance and upheavals to unity. We have gradually established our roots, somewhere between life and work, between techniques and intuition, as business owners and artists, on the cusp between the studio and the client, between knowing and searching. Search for us and you’ll find us, somewhere in the middle among all these contrasts.
The cornerstones of our work
We create fragile, unpredictable objects. The kind that require a certain finesse that is not explained in manuals. Because there is no detailed master plan for what we do. No timeline either, that explains the various steps to our final result in minute details. Sometimes our minds can only understand what our hands have produced over time. And sometimes time is the essence for mastering a craft that allows the hands to manufacture what the brain has conceived or what our instinct dictates.
Much like you need a positive and a negative charge to produce electricity, our work is the fruit of a never-ending tension between uncertainty and mystery. As humans, we search for answers about the significance of beauty, truth and love in life. Happiness can be found on the edge of mystery, where these answers are concealed under a veil of uncertainty. And when this unexpected beauty is suddenly revealed to us, a spell of enlightenment is suddenly cast. We experience a sense of freedom, of having overcome our fears. We are proud to sign our creation. And moved to the core as the realisation dawns that what we have produced encapsulates light and warmth, and has the potential to move others in equal measure.
Uncertainty. Mystery. Magic. The cornerstones of our work.
Our biggest light object ever. Teamwork makes the dream work.
Our material
Porcelain is all about contradictions. While extremely sensitive, it is also uniquely strong. So strong in fact that you can hardly drill through it. And yet it is extremely fragile. Impenetrable but oh so easy to break. Porcelain effortlessly isolates electric tension and lets through the light. It also reconciles elegance and refinement with modesty and frivolity.
Porcelain is simply unpredictable. A scientist can explain the chemistry of porcelain and the process in the kiln with formulas and comparisons. But mathematics cannot capture and explain the harmony of porcelain, hands, ideas and high temperatures.
Porcelain has an unforgiving memory. Yes, you can wipe out any imperfections as it dries until all traces of your errors have disappeared. But your errors will rise to the surface again over time, dashing all your hopes of forgiveness.
It is precisely this contradiction, this unpredictability and this unforgiving character that has inspired us to choose porcelain as the only conceivable material for our work.
Common ground
Our creations are incorporated in the spaces for which they were produced. These spaces are the common ground that we work on, alongside our clients. Design mimics the movements of the pendulum, from shadow to light, from heat to cooler air, from beauty to usability and from resurgence to sustainability.
The skills of virtuosos often inspire wonder in us mere mortals. Artists use their virtuosity sparingly, in measured doses. While a creation takes time, effort and technique, the composition is only truly successful if the work confers an element of magic to a spatial composition. At times our creations expand, only to recede as they aspire to become part of the symbiosis that characterises the space, drawing attention to themselves or distracting the gaze. Until the end result blossoms on our common ground, enlightening and enchanting the space.
