Peter Korompai

Works 15 photographs

Kids in the oven

A stove built with room for the children — and for bread.

An old white masonry stove with a smoke chamber under a dark ceiling.
Startpoint This old, traditional stove made in the1950's was in an abandoned small house, but the new owners decided to revitalize it.
A man measuring a white stove wall with a yellow tape.
As usual Measurements and details are important.
An old black smoke chamber door set into a white plaster wall.
Smoke chamber There was usually a smoke chamber within the chimney. This one is in trashy condition: water from the leaking roof and rust cooperated.
An old black oven door in a white plaster wall.
Baker Big enough for baking 6 breads. Back in the old days every 4-5 peasanthouses had a baker, the neighbours joined for baking, and of course sharing the work and costs.
An open black oven door revealing a brick-lined interior.
Baker It was big enough for 6 loaves, but will it be big enough for me? To climb in and repair it?
A child climbing headfirst into a wall oven, legs sticking out.
A boy...
A child's legs emerging from a wall oven above a step stool.
A girl...From this point of view they look very similar!
A child inside a round oven opening, looking out.
She is Adel
A child in a white shirt leaning into a clay oven.
Áron, who was happy to leave his keyboard for real excitement.
A child inside a tunnel-like oven, one arm reaching out.
Mud-slinging within the stove. Necessary to cover the brickwork with a mud layer, to stop bits falling onto the baked goods.
Two children playing with buckets on the grass beside a house.
Top activity I had to pay for the labour: plenty of icecream, and a superlative mud-war. My on luck was that the parents were forgiving afterward...
The finished beige stove with a black oven door and white base.
I had some work too, new metal parts built in already.
The beige stove with an open firebox and a white bowl on the ledge.
Almost done It has to dry out before painting.
Close-up of a rough grey clay and plaster surface.
Rustic surface The white calc paint is the traditionally used and still the best on this rustic surface.
The completed white masonry stove with black doors in an attic room.
Completed Ready to cook, bake, boil, and smoke.