A house we carry
Willy and Annette Janssens started in their back yard in Ostend in 1992. The name comes from the Dutch vierkant, square: the first pots were square so they could be set side by side without wasting space. Two generations now run the business, the founders working with their three sons.
The production sequence has not changed. Western European clay is pressed into moulds, air-dried over several days, finished by hand with incisions and textures, dried again, then fired at 1200 degrees. That temperature has a direct consequence: the pieces are frost-resistant and can stay outside all year. Colour runs through the body rather than sitting in a surface glaze, so a chip does not reveal a different shade underneath.
The workshop processes around seventy tonnes of clay a week across three production sites. It works without agents, without importers and without conventional advertising, dealing directly with a network it puts at three thousand architects and designers. Company Award Gold at the Henry van de Velde Awards in 2025.
Artopia carries Atelier Vierkant in Geneva. Every piece carries the mark of the hand that finished it, so ordering a matched pair makes little sense here, and the company does not promise one.