Slip Trailed Kachelofen

Sometimes clients have an incredibly clear vision of what they want to achieve. Other times they prefer to let SHKO do the designing. The latter was the case with the very first Franken Kachelofen.

A retired university professor with a German background approached Jessica to design a Kachelofen for a living room. He wanted a German feeling to the design, but when pressed for more input replied “I’m not good at this – you pick!” Jessica was more than happy to oblige.

Frankonia is a region in northern Bavaria where Jessica did a portion of her pottery apprenticeship. Slip trailing is a traditional Franconian technique of decorating ceramic. It is achieved by “drawing” with coloured liquid clay using a special tool called a slip trailer. Each “line” in the fan pattern is applied by hand. The clay trails can provide colour and contrast, and also leave a raised relief pattern. Jessica had always wanted to decorate an oven using this unique technique, and so designed the Kacheln to best show off the slip trailing. See a video of Jessica applying the slip.

This Kachelofen was installed in a brand new build in Barrie, Ontario. The client wanted the oven to be the centrepiece in a cozy Bavarian style den.