first mecklenburg porcelain manufactory - Kerstin Behrens
📍 Sukow
In Sukow in the Lewitz nature reserve, porcelain painter and designer Kerstin Behrens lets you look over her shoulder in her workshop."
Only 14 kilometers away from the state capital Schwerin and yet in the middle of nature: "This is where I find the motifs for my decorations on tableware and accessories: local trees, grasses, flowers and insects. But the proximity to the Baltic Sea and the Mecklenburg lakes is also important to me: I also work fish and sails into my objects as sculptural motifs."
Even as a schoolgirl, Kerstin Behrens worked in a branch of the Boizenburg tile factory, and her desire to complete her training in the stronghold of porcelain, the State Porcelain Manufactory in Meissen, was clear from an early age. This was followed by design studies in Heiligendamm: "I want to continue the Meissen tradition, but I am looking for my own artistic expression." This also includes hand-painted unique pieces according to customer wishes. And so the range of expression is enormously broad: from clear Nordic elegance to dancing herrings.
The special firing technique produces hard porcelain, which is as hard as diamond and is therefore also used in laboratories. Thin-walled, shimmering white, filigree objects are created: "I have designed lanterns with motifs of local leaves, in which the candlelight makes the porcelain appear almost transparent: Dandelion, oak or lime leaves made of light."
Painting on the porcelain also creates an interplay of light and color: "The high white content of the porcelain allows me to paint on it like on paper. This gives me the opportunity to make the colors very fine, bright and transparent."
Kerstin Behrens is happy to pass on her enthusiasm for porcelain painting to her visitors: "In my courses, participants can create their own small works of art from porcelain, discover their painting talents and get to know the work in a porcelain manufactory in a very practical way."
Opening hours: Mon-Fri 4pm - 6pm, Sat 10am - 6pm