Maple Key Kachelofen

This thermal mass heater was originally designed and built by Jessica Steinhauser for a solo exhibition at the Canadian Clay and Glass Museum in Kitchener, Ontario in 2014. It features a beautiful maple key relief, hardwood benches, and a keystone accent Kachel featuring the year of the exhibition.

When we set up stoves for an exhibition we only set up the external shell of Kacheln. We use a mixture of ball clay and sand instead of lime and sand. This makes taking the stoves apart much easier. This stove spent a few years in storage before finding its permanent home here in Guelph.

The original 2014 accent Kachel didn’t make sense to use for the client. For this reason a new Kachel reading 1905 was commissioned. It later turned out that the house was much older! A chance encounter with a local historian led to the realization that the house was actually built in 1889! This meant that a third accent Kachel had to be made and installed!

The custom green glaze used for this stove exhibits different characteristics depending on the time of the day. When direct sunlight hits the stove the colour shows as a strong yellowish green. On shady days it appears almost blue-green.