Anders C. Fasterholdt

From HWAM's modest beginnings, the architect Anders C. Fasterholdt has been a constant and engaged partner of the company. He was originally educated in both cabinet making and furniture design. This means that in his work with wood-burning stoves, he has always thought of them as furniture pieces that generate heat. It is from this philosophy that he develops wood-burning stoves. He always strives to obtain the best possible finish on the stove’s seams and surfaces. The final result must be so perfectly manufactured that all welding and seams become invisible.

Anders C. Fasterholdt comments, "As a furniture designer, I consider the wood-burning stove and its accessories and connections to be a type of furniture on an equal basis with the sofa or dining room set. 'Heating furniture' should therefore have the same furniture-like contour, finish and coherent design as other types of furniture in the room."

He continues, "The furniture-like finish with rounded interior and exterior corners, ends and edges creates a friendly appearance that, while pleasant to the touch, is also designed to prevent the varnish from wearing through at exposed areas, just as sharp, interior corners are almost impossible to clean."

Beyond influencing HWAM with his professional design expertise, Anders' basic motto is, "Function before everything," which has meant that he goes deep into the development of combustion engineering before completing the final design. For Anders, creating beautiful exteriors is not enough. A design is first complete when the wood-burning stove's construction is optimised with regard to both operation and heat emission.

"For me, function is most important. I have always said, 'Function first, and design will automatically follow. Designing for design’s sake is just not me," Anders maintains.