ON AN EVENING in early August, my fiancée, Sherry, and I found ourselves dining in the shadow of one of the towering kilns on the southwestern coast of Sweden. Happily, it was out of commission, which made dinner much more comfortable. The former ceramics factory, where tons of coal were once burned to heat the furnaces to some 2,300 degrees, is now the Salthallarna ("Salt Halls"), a collection of restaurants, shops, and galleries in the small seaside town of Höganäs.
After we finished a course of grilled langoustines bursting with saltwater flavor, a staff member led us inside one of the kilns for a tour. The oven was so big we could have fit a dozen more people without feeling crowded. The walls were midnight-black from generations of soot. For years, the smoke from the ovens was so thick that the people of Höganäs wouldn't hang their laundry outdoors during "glazing weeks." In the 1830s, the ceramists of Höganäs started adding salt to the kilns during firing, which created an acid-resistant glaze and gave it a special shine. The beautiful and practical salt-glazed mugs, tableware, and industrial goods quickly spread across the continent, and Höganäs became almost as associated with ceramics as Waterford, Ireland, is with crystal. But with globalization came outsourcing, and in 2008, the kilns went cold.
It looked like ceramics were a thing of the past until 2022, when Höganäs launched an ambitious project to inspire a new generation: KKAM (which in Swedish stands for "Ceramics, Art, Studio, Museum") includes a major renovation of the nearly hundred-year-old ceramics museum, in hopes of making it a world-class destination. The studio that sits on the site of the old ceramics factory was expanded, and now offers more classes for the public.
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Denne historien er fra October 2024-utgaven av Travel+Leisure US.
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ENCHANTED ISLANDS
An ivy-covered castle, camping by the seashore, and the power of a six-year-old's imagination: Leslie Jamison and her daughter find themselves transformed by a sojourn in southwestern Scotland.
Deep South
A state-of-the-art catamaran reveals a stretch of the Australian island of Tasmania's rugged southern coastline that few visitors get to see.
American Beauty
Cherry orchards, cute villages, and crystal shores: Wisconsin's Door County is where Scandinavian bygge meets Midwestern charm.
Surfin' USA
Big waves and small-town appeal: Paia might well be Maui's most authentic hideaway.
As the River Rises
A changed landscape in northern Botswana is now a hot spot for wildlife year-round. Jessica Vincent checks in to the new safari camp giving explorers a front-row seat.
Hearts Aglow
The names Tahiti and Bora-Bora may telegraph romance, but on a cruise around French Polynesia, Naomi Tomky and her daughters discover these islands also make for the ultimate playground.
Maternity Leave
Five months into motherhood, Brittani Sonnenberg was exhausted. After four days at a plush Mexican beach resort, she felt reborn.
LET IT WASH OVER YOU
A visit to the Mississippi Gulf Coast is one of the last things Cinelle Barnes remembers before a health crisis turned her world upside down. A year later, she reflects on the kindness of strangers-and the cycle of rebirth in a land defined by storms.
Fit Check
There's no party quite like Carnival. Dana Givens dives in to the fashion behind the festivities.
The Art of Transformation
Underwater sculpture parks help marine life—and reflect the world above the surface.
