Piece story · Green Heater
The heater that waited for me in the rain
Here is the tale of an old heater from the 50’s that has been cast aside, left on the sidewalk somewhere in West Berlin, only to be reborn as a fabulous standing lamp that upgrades any space it stands in.
People ask me how the studio really started. This heater was my third lamp, and with it the hunt really started. With it I understood that Berlin itself is a flea market, if you walk around with your eyes open.
I wrote the story down when it was finished, and I still like it the way I told it then. So here it is, in my words from that day.
Wet, freezing and on a mission
One rainy cold day I found myself walking around Berlin, wet and freezing, in order to finish all my tasks of the day. It had to be done, and I was determined that no rain will prevent me from completing my missions.
Suddenly, from the other side of the street, I saw an old brown heater that drew my attention. It was clear it was deserted there as garbage, free for the taking. There was also a note saying so, as they do here.
If you don’t live in Berlin you should know this about the city. People put the things they don’t need anymore on the pavement, with a little paper that says “zu verschenken”, to give away. For somebody like me this is very dangerous!
Letting fate decide
I loved it immediately, but it looked so big and heavy that the thought of dragging it along with me seemed a bit crazy. I decided to let fate decide for me. I left it there, thinking if it will still be there on my way back, it is destiny that we are meant to be together.
To my surprise, I was happy to find it waiting for me a couple of hours later!
I don’t remember the whole way back to the studio, only that my arms hurt and that I was smiling like an idiot in the rain.
Coffee, and a look inside
I took it with me to the studio. As we dried out and had coffee (well, I had coffee), I started examining it thoroughly to understand its mechanics.
As I opened it up and saw the old-school switch mechanism, I knew I had to transform it and rewire it to become lamp switches.
Those switches were the moment. The heater already knew how to turn on and off, it just did it for heat. I only had to teach it to do the same thing for light.
A little bit reborn
As I cleaned, scrubbed and repainted it, I felt a little bit reborn myself.
When I was done, its use has alternated, but it got back its magnificent glow and beauty.
The brown is gone. Now it is a soft green, with brass at the top and at the bottom, like a frame. Three Edison bulbs stand on top, and the fourth one hides inside, behind the grille, exactly where the heat used to come from. Every bulb has its own switch, so you can play with it, and the one in the centre has a dimmer. On a dark evening I like to switch on only the one inside. Then it looks like the heater is working again, warm and orange, only it doesn’t make the room hot.
Where the hunt for quality garbage began
This is how a rusty neglected heater motivated and actually started my hunt after quality garbage through Berlin.
Since that day I look at every pavement differently. Most of the time it is only an old sofa. But sometimes there is something with a switch, or a beautiful handle, or a shape they don’t make anymore, and then I stop.
I can see this heater living in a hotel reception, where people come in cold from the street, or in the corner of a cafe or a bar. Somewhere it can be a little bit of a character. It was found in the rain, so it is good at making people feel warm.
The piece
Green Heater
Once a 1950s heater on a West Berlin pavement, now a floor lamp. Four E27 Edison bulbs, each on its own switch, the centre one dimmable. One of one.