"A TeaIncarnation"


      Antique teapots have a personality all their own. As do their cousins, the teacups and saucers. Some are regally beautiful, some are whimsical, and some are just, well . . . “Plain Janes.” But they are all given a new life in a most unique way by the creatively skilled hands of Eric Sternfels. 
      Working in a renovated textile mill (ca. 1880) in Philadelphia, Eric transforms an eclectic collection of orphaned cups and kettles, percolators and plates into charming chandeliers and lamps that are curiously both classic and funky. 
      Visiting local thrift shops, yard sales, flea markets and auctions in the region, the artist goes on treasure hunts for under-loved pieces to reincarnate into lighting fixtures. Last year, he traveled all the way to Brimfield, Massachusetts to search through their annual antique extravaganza for special wares. 
      Eric’s love for inanimate objects with a past was born in his mother’s living room. As a young boy, he was given the chore of cleaning the bookshelves and china cabinets that housed family antiques. After dusting only around the objects, his mother explained that each must be picked up and wiped individually. And to impress upon her son the value of these curios and the care they deserved, she related to him the history of each cup, saucer, candlestick and bookend. As a result, Eric developed a loving appreciation for his family’s treasures. 
      When the artist begins working on a new lighting fixture, he tries to find a stylistic kinship between the pouring vessels and cups. For instance, tarnished 19th Century silver-plated teapots are paired with delicate Victorian china, and 1950's copper kettles are mated with Stangl pottery cups. He will also work with a client’s own pieces to make a custom fixture. 
      Eric Sternfels and his company, Pourtensious, are treasures of the new millennium. His work evolves from the sense that inanimate objects possess their own soul and history. And the energy stemming from that history, whether it be from those who designed and fashioned the object, to those who enjoyed it in the past, to those who now see it again in a new light all band together to give us great pleasure. He has made a conscious decision to market his lighting fixtures to tea shoppes and tea rooms rather than art galleries, gaining a greater sense of satisfaction that people everywhere will have the opportunity to be “illuminated” by one of his fixtures for the mere price of a cup of tea.


Source: www.pourtensious.com
Photos: © Eric Sternfels