TO PURIFY SPACE

The inspiration for this project comes from the book Ceramic Houses, written by the US based Iranian architect Nader Khalili. Jacques Kaufmann read the book in 1988 after a two and half year project in Rwanda where he encountered multiple levels of ceramic activity, including ceramics at a landscape scale. The book, especially the chapter on glazing and firing earthen houses, caught his attention in the context of his recent experience in Rwanda.  Jacques says that according to Khalili, it was a question of transferring the property of fired clay’s resistance to water (vitrification, in ceramic terminology) to a traditional architectural reality. He says, “the project To Purify Space in Jaipur is my first experimentation at real scale, to give life to this dream… of over thirty years ... a spiritual purification of space”.

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After Ceramics Studies at the Ecole des Arts Décoratifs , Geneva (1974-1977), JACQUES KAUFMANN worked as chief of the Ceramic Action Project for the Swiss Cooperation in Rwanda.  Rwanda was a life transforming experience, where cultural exchange and an approach of ‘back to origins’ ceramic technology involved working with bricks at an “earth scale”.  Jacques has taught and chaired the Department of Ceramics at the Ecole d’arts Appliqués, Vevey, Switzerland till 2014. Since 1999 he has been actively engaged with China at multiple levels. His most recent project is a ‘brick temple’ in India, built as homage to brick makers. Jacques is the president of the International Academy of Ceramics and has had numerous solo and group exhibitions worldwide.