I am looking for a challenge

Thomas Wenzel picks up where others give up. The chief designer at KPM Berlin seeks out challenges. “When someone says something can’t be done or is too complicated, that piques my curiosity,” he says. From that perspective, a material as difficult to work with as porcelain is exactly right for him. It fascinates him. He’s convinced that it’s a living material, that it has a soul: “Porcelain is a pain in the neck.” It acts like a diva. It doesn’t forgive mistakes, and you can’t get away with just anything when working with it. He talks about porcelain as if it were a living being that’s always good for a surprise.

His studio is located – somewhat hidden – on a mezzanine level of the factory; the porcelain painters work above, and the management and apprentices below. It's bright and airy; a wall was recently knocked down to give him more space for his designs, which he develops with an assistant and an intern. Wenzel prefers to speak standing up, pacing around, leaning against the edge of the table, and picking up his latest notes. He's currently working on his LAB series. BERLIN , a collection of pieces with clean lines and forms, inspired by the laboratory porcelain from bygone eras that is still in the manufactory. He reinterprets this, adapts it to a contemporary table culture, and also designs products for the kitchen, such as the mortar with a heavy pestle or a lemon squeezer that looks like a sculpture and which he will probably continue to work on for some time before it can be produced.

Wenzel was born in Gera in 1963, attended the Schneeberg University of Applied Arts, and subsequently trained as a porcelain painter. In 1989, he came to Berlin to work for KPM, having previously been employed at Meissen. Now 54, he has spent more than half his life at KPM. He rose from porcelain painter to master painter and finally became chief designer in 1998. KPM was originally intended to be just a stepping stone for him, but he stayed on "because there was so much to do here," he recalls of his early years. At that time, there was no in-house development department. With Thomas Wenzel, this was set to change; since 1993, he has headed KPM's artistic development department. During this period, the internationally renowned designer Enzo Mari also joined the manufactory for five years. For Thomas Wenzel, this was a valuable and instructive time, during which he collaborated with Mari on, for example, the design of the porcelain form. BERLIN – later awarded the iF Design Award – launched on the market.

In addition to the famous currywurst bowl featuring the “ KURLAND ” relief and the “ KURLAND ” muesli set, the “ KURLAND ” BLANC NOUVEAU tableware collection also traces its origins back to his design work. He created it to mark KPM’s 250th anniversary. That was in 2013. Such innovations have always met with resistance from regular customers, who, for example, had a hard time accepting the latte macchiato cup with the “ KURLAND ” design. Wenzel isn’t bothered by that:

The best products are the ones that are discussed the most.

He describes his working method as "solution-oriented", for example when it comes to the idea of producing colored masses. About four years ago, he noticed that "pastel colors are a very beautiful theme". He spent a long time tinkering and thinking about the methods and limits of the material until he was able to implement double mass casting with white and mint-colored porcelain. The porcelain is not glazed in color, but fired in colored porcelain and then glazed. With this so-called bicolor process, which he likes to use for the LAB series, he succeeds in two things: maintaining the high quality and standard of KPM porcelain and at the same time achieving a further unique selling point within the product range. He also came up with another innovation: no longer hiding the distinctive KPM label with the blue sceptre at the bottom of the cups, pots or plates, but making it visible and using it as a design element to set the scene.

Thomas Wenzel rarely works on a computer. When an idea comes to him, the quickest way for him to capture it is by drawing by hand—first a rough sketch, then more detailed drawings. That’s how the double-walled thermal coffee filter came to be, which won the internationally coveted iF Gold Award in the “Product” category in 2016. Even he was surprised by this. “I didn’t expect such recognition,” he says. Thomas Wenzel’s overall functional and visual concept won over the jury. In their statement, they said: “It’s great to see that the ‘ Königliche Porzellan-Manufaktur ’ in Berlin is back in the game—with a completely new and innovative perspective on a low-tech product like the coffee filter.”

And indeed, KPM is back in the game. For several years now, things have been changing at the porcelain manufactory, which can look back on a tradition spanning more than 250 years and which, in the past, had always been very committed to preserving and carrying on the old ways—from the classicist “ KURLAND ” service to Bauhaus-inspired designs such as “URBINO” or “ ARKADIA.” But now there are initial signs of a shift away from Prussian austerity toward contemporary designs suited to the 21st century. This is due in part to Jörg Woltmann, who saved KPM from bankruptcy a good ten years ago, but also to Thomas Wenzel, who enjoys Woltmann’s trust and understands how to balance the fine line between the legacy of the past and the path to the future—a path that begins precisely where others give up.

Text: Heike Gläser

Wenzel's works

These products from Thomas Wenzel are causing a stir and winning designer awards.