Heerwagen: An iconic gem of Langeland pottery
“We’ve always been here, after all,” says potter Erling Heerwagen from Hou, referring to the fact that his and his wife Karin’s pottery has become an iconic symbol of Langeland and of Langeland’s arts and crafts.
Heerwagen’s naïve style has endured since 1964.
Karin Heerwagen died in April 2021, and, shaken by the realisation that he was now alone, Erling Heerwagen decided to close the workshop and shop. This led to a flood of phone calls. For when you have ‘always been there’, it was hard for Heerwagen’s loyal customers to understand that there was nothing left to buy.
For this reason, Erling Heerwagen decided that, as he still enjoys his craft – pottery – even at the age of 82, he would spend the dark winter days throwing new pieces so that he can keep the shop open over Easter and on selected Saturdays throughout the summer.
The Heerwagen couple met when Erling, a trained potter, was working as a potter’s wheel operator for the renowned Bjørn Wiinblad, and Karin was employed as a temporary worker at the same place. She had trained as a ceramist at the School of Arts and Crafts.
Exports abroad
The question is whether it was Karin and Erling Heerwagen who discovered Langeland, or Langeland that discovered them, when the couple sailed to Langeland back in the early 1960s and travelled the length and breadth of the island.
In 1964, they moved to Hou, and the house where they had previously visited old friends now became the Heerwagens’ home, workshop and life.
As an artistic couple, Karin and Erling Heerwagen’s ceramics became not only nationally renowned but also internationally recognised, as for a number of years they exported their mugs, teapots, bowls, egg cups and lidded jars all over the world through the arts and crafts shop Den Permanente on Vesterport in Copenhagen.
When the shop closed in 1981, the Heerwagens opened a shop in their own home in Hou instead. And in many ways, this suited them well: better earnings, lovely contact with customers, and no hassle with transporting the ceramics.
The signature bird
The Heerwagen style has endured for 50 years, weathering all the changing fashions.
Whether ceramics were pastel-coloured or in the natural shade of stoneware clay, whether the trend favoured austere formal minimalism or baroque flourishes, Heerwagen has remained true to his simple, naïve style, characterised by his distinctive rounded forms. This is particularly evident in the ceramic birds, which have become a sort of signature figure for Heerwagen, and in the painted motifs that reference Langeland – featuring trees, birds, hills and voluptuous women whose breasts are shaped like the ‘hat hills’ of Langeland.
“We have always used the traditional pottery technique, where the pieces are decorated with a slip,” explains Erling Heerwagen.
Slip is clay that is mixed until it has the consistency of a thick sauce; this is used to paint the unfired, leather-hard clay pieces, after which they are given a clear glaze. The technique is laborious and time-consuming – and perhaps that is why it is not used by many potters. And it is also very difficult to replicate.
The Art Route
The Art Route allows you to combine major art and cultural experiences with visits to individual artists and craftspeople, whilst exploring Langeland’s most beautiful countryside and passing by art in public spaces.
