Quintessence of Home II

The Latem Collection

The 2021 collection by Atelier Vierkant has been captured in the Van Wassenhove house by Juliaan Lampens, constructed in 1974 in the Belgian country town, Sint-Martens-Latem. A remarkable house, both inside and out, unfamiliar and atypical, stripped from any conventional ideas of what a house could look like. Entirely built out of concrete and otherwise kept in materials such as pine wood, steel and glass, the Van Wassenhove house exudes a strictness and coherence where essential materials and structure take first position; a method the designers at Atelier Vierkant can truly relate to. Designing three-dimensional pots out of one material, clay, is a continuous study of creativity within limits, of making basic yet intriguing objects, long-lasting in terms of both aesthetics and quality. Annette Lantsoght and Stephanie Busard form the design duo at Atelier Vierkant, collaborating closely, yet applying each their individual output. They share two fundamental aspects in their clay work: they are both self-taught potters, and they strongly believe in intuition and the value of designing based on their own creative instinct. The Atelier Vierkant 2021 collection lauds modernist architecture; its use of concrete, the absence of unnecessary ornament, the attention to basic structures, the exercise of erasing the threshold between interior and exterior and inviting nature inside. Small and large formats, vertical as well as horizontal vessels, constitute a functional and enduring collection which can be placed both inside and outside. Partly inspired by the Van Wassenhove house, this new collection of pots demonstrates both its influences and what it has to offer in return; the mossy and green finishes communicate not only with the outdoor trees and planting but also with the advanced patina on the concrete - a natural growth which Lampens is said to have highly appreciated - the cut-offs and stark outlines on the vessels respond to the sculptural power and geometric contours of the building; the horizontal reliefs and lines mirror the cast concrete which runs in stripes over the walls, and the duplication of material, the obvious parallel between the raw concrete and clay.