3. Juni 2012 - New Ceramics

GALLERY
Kasino studio, Café, Gallery, shop Beate Thiesmeyer
The opening of a ceramics exhibition
in Germany with the average age of
the visitors at under 40 has become a rarity
these days.
At the Kasino, with gallerists Nicole
Thoss and Sandra Nitz, it is the rule.
These two young ceramic artists, both
graduates in ceramic design in Höhr-
Grenzhausen, entered into an unusual style
of cooperation in 2007: a restaurateur and
hotelier from this ceramics centre who had
already discovered the advertising impact
of ceramics for his field purchased and refurbished
the Kasino.
It had been built at the turn of the twentieth
century and was used as a pub and
ballroom. After that it had been converted
into a cinema and was later used as a ceramics
studio.
Nicole Thoss was familiar with the
premises from the time when she was look-
ing not only for a place to work but also
a suitable form to market her works. Sandra
Nitz, who at the time had a day job in
the IT field in Frankfurt so that she could
express herself freely in ceramics, became
her partner, and for two years, Ute Matschke
and Maria Meyer were also involved
in this vital early phase at the Kasino. At
the time, they were well-known even outside
Höhr-Grenzhausen for their imaginative
stoneware tableware, which they had
been making as a team since 1995. Many
of their customers and friends followed the
development of the new project with great
interest.
Together they worked out how to combine
work in the studio, the need to present
innovative ceramics and the requirements
of the locale.
With the hotelier, they designed the
rooms and hired the newly created shop,
Now you can find a constant
supply of innovative functional
ceramics that you can
collect, with an availability
guarantee
the café, the ballroom and a studio for a
relatively manageable price on the condition
of cooperation in the running of the
café and allowing the hotelier access to put
on his dinners on an occasional basis.
As their logo, the business partners
chose the legend from the old cinema box
office and decided to use the ballroom as
a gallery.
They were looking to create a different
kind of gallery. It was not only supposed to
present the work of already established artists
as is usually the case, but also to offer
interesting young artists the opportunity to
display their work. Consequently, the first
exhibition they created in April 2007 bore
the title “Neue Triebe" (“New Shoots").
In the shop, they sold functional pottery,
work that they sold on a commission basis
from various ceramists, mainly from the
local Westerwald region.
Their very first show, where they had
put a great deal of emphasis on targeted
advertising, was a success in terms of visi-
above view of the gallery
bottom outside the café in summer
opposite page top
left exhibition "Identity Parade"
right view of the shop
58 NEW CERAMICS MAY / JunE 2012