The ritual
Cooking, design and culture
People have always come together at the fireplace. Now this forms the basis of the cooperation with Francis Kéré.
The fascination of fire
The Fireplace
For Francis Kéré, nights by the fire are part of the images of his childhood in Gando, Burkina Faso. Three large stones, pushed together to form an uneven triangle. A fire of branches and twigs in the centre. The faces of the children, the voices of the adults who gather around the only source of light and warmth in the village as dusk falls. The acrid smoke. The grandmother's voice as she begins her stories, interrupting them again and again with song, while the night falls deeper and deeper all around. The cold ashes when you wake up the next morning.
"Today's virtual campfires, i.e. social networks and digital platforms, can never replace these real encounters. And so it is no coincidence that a large gas burner sits at the heart of the next125 kitchen block - a clear reminder of the warming, unifying function of the cooker."
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