ART & fire The artists Inger and Jørgen Pedersen from Herning just wanted to replace the woodburning stove in their living room. As they were walking around the stove shop among all the available models, they actually felt that one could be as good as the other. But when the dealer lit a RAIS Pilar something happened. - It has an amazing view of the flames, says Inger Pedersen. At the same time they saw a photo of the oxidised version which has a rusty red colour. At home the couple had just finished building their 450 square meter studio with between 3 and 6 metres to the ceiling, copper on the outside and brown steel structure on the inside. - We really fell in love with that stove. We thought about the price – but there was no way around it... Now it is an invaluable part of the studio – I really, really love it. When Inger starts work in her corner of the room, she lights a fire in the Pilar and turns the fire so it faces her. It is almost a ritual. When the flames start
22
moving behind the window it gives heat and a sense of peace. Peace to work and well-being. And then when we have visitors for a lecture about art we turn it towards the room. Then it just stands in the background emitting heat and life, says Jørgen Pedersen. In the basement below the studio, there is a wood pellet stove supplying the house and studio with heat. Since the studio is thoroughly insulated and has a lot of light coming in through the large windows, making the heat from the windows, from the pellet burner and the Pilar sufficient enough to heat the studio for a substantial part of the year without the use of the floor heating. So here the stove is part of the heat supply and of the creative atmosphere in the room. But not only that. - No, because I think it is so beautiful and striking, brilliantly constructed in its high, slim shape with a pipe to the ceiling, that it is part of the art – it is a sculpture in its own right, says Inger Pedersen. It should also be mentioned that the couple later bought a new RAIS for the living room, a Q-20.