Leenders is unlike almost any other company. Leenders makes products that facilitate controlling an element of nature that has always captivated us, fire. Leenders stoves burn wood for our comfort and consolation. As efficiently and as beautifully as is possible. Leenders builds stoves to last generations in both operation and style.
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When Harrie Leenders felt the time had come to hand over the business to his son Bart, Bart asked Harrie if he would design a stove with him. Bart’s first and Harrie’s last. Bart hoped this would set him off in the right direction and so their approach was typically a Leenders approach. No drawing board, no marketing studies, no consumer testing. That is not how artists set to work.
Harrie drew his inspiration from the Eiffel tower construction of rivets and sheet steel. Using the firebox from the Fuga, they set about creating an entirely new stove. Bart had seen a bridge of similar construction in Oldenburg in Germany, so the pair had clear ideas, but the Stor was far from being born. With hammers, grinders and welding torches to hand, father and son built and rebuilt the stove from thick sheets of steel riveted and welded together until they had a version of what would later become the Stor as we know it today. A stove that has the look and strength of armour. In effect forming a protective shield for Leenders.
Although Harrie was happy with the design, Bart wasn’t quite ready to give it his seal of approval. Bart felt the design was still too masculine, too machine-like, it lacked refinement, it needed to invite interaction with the user. Bart always looks for the colour and fragrance in a stove and he had not sensed them yet. Bart experimented with leather for the door handle and Harrie suggested he could use the wood from his olive grove in Italy. It was the finishing touch. That Bart felt the need to push on from the point his father had handed him the baton, was the confirmation he was looking for. Bart knew where he needed to go now, he had a clear view of his path ahead.
Remarkable, breathtaking designs are all well and good, but most companies can’t work like this. Bart and Harrie had designed a truly wonderful stove, but they had no idea of the costing, there wasn’t a single drawing. This back-to-front approach to designing a stove could have easily been considered foolhardy. But the difference between madness and genius is often only visible in the result. And what a result the Stor appeared to be, with literally hundreds of people falling under its spell through the years. So once again, the Leenders single-minded approach to doing things won the hearts of households across Europe.
Designing the Stor was all about intuition. Taking it into production appeared to be a true feat of engineering. The facetted strips that follow the curve of the top and bottom of the stove are so thick and really not wide enough to be formed easily, so protective layers of stainless steel are required for bevelling each one to prevent grooves marking them. The Stor is built to withstand extreme heat and last for decades. The strip to which the door hinges are attached is cut from 12mm thick sheet steel with the end machined to accommodate the construction of the top. In case you were wondering, yes, the machining is a labour of love. The corners of the door are cut with a radius, but the strips that run down the front of the stove have sharp corners at the top and are stepped back at the bottom. Every detail, every silhouette, every angle has been considered and created for ease of use and the sake of aesthetics. The Stor shows us what uncompromising resilience can look like. A design process unique to Leenders, with a result that delivers wonderment every time you light it.
