Rooted. Coup-de-foudre are Goedel Vermandere and Jan Arickx. The law regards them as a legal entity. They think of it as a story that started with an uprooting and which, over time and with plenty of plot twists, has evolved, from a temporary balance and upheavals to unity. They have gradually established their roots, somewhere between life and work, between techniques and intuition, as business owners and artists, on the cusp between the studio and the client, between knowing and searching. Search for them and you’ll find them, somewhere in the middle among all these contrasts. Our biggest light object ever. Teamwork makes the dream work. Entwined in the ground.Coup-de-Foudre is Goedel Vermandere and Jan Arickx. Legally speaking, it is a legal entity of some kind. For us, it is a story that began with uprooting and, through twists and turns of temporary equilibrium and unrest, led to unity. Gradually, we became entangled in the ground, somewhere between life and work, between technique and feeling, between manager and artist, between studio and client, between knowing and searching. Those who seek us can find us somewhere between these contrasts.The foundations of our workWhat we create is fragile, unpredictable, requiring a finesse that no manual can describe. There is no detailed master plan to guide us. There is no meticulous time frame with which we can reach our goal step by step. Sometimes it takes time for the mind to comprehend what the hands have created. Sometimes a craft needs time to mature, so that the hands can make what the brain has conceived or the fibres in the body have felt.Just as electricity follows from positive and negative charges, our work grows in the tension between uncertainty and mystery. Every person seeks answers about what beauty, truth and love mean in their own life. Happiness lies at the edge of mystery, where those answers are hidden under a cloak of uncertainty. When unexpected beauty is revealed, a magic arises that has an illuminating effect. A feeling of liberation from fears that have been overcome. Pride that a creation bears our signature. Emotion in the realisation that what we have made contains light and warmth with which we can touch others.Uncertainty. Mystery. Magic. These are the foundations of our work.The raw material of our workPorcelain is contradictory. It is extremely sensitive to its surroundings, but hides a headstrong character inside. It is so hard that it is almost impossible to pierce, yet at the same time it is extremely fragile. It is impenetrable, but also brittle. It insulates electrical voltage flawlessly and is generous in allowing light to pass through. It combines elegance and refinement with modesty and frivolity.Porcelain is unpredictable. A scientist can predict the chemical path that porcelain takes in a kiln using formulas and equations, but the interplay of porcelain with hands, ideas and high temperatures cannot be understood by mathematics alone.Porcelain has a memory. Old, unruly forms always tend to resurface.It is the only conceivable raw material for our work.Common groundVirtuosos have skills that amaze others. Artists use their virtuosity in a measured, sparing way. They are guided by the modest knowledge that their work is subordinate to a composition that transcends each individual piece.Spaces are the larger compositions for our creations. It is the common ground where we work together with our customers. On the way to symbiosis with a space, our creations sometimes expand, then shrink, sometimes drawing attention to themselves, then diverting it away. Designing is a pendulum swing between shadow and light, between warmth and coolness, between beauty and utility, between flare and durability, which continues until the end result can capture the magic of the space.