Windy Chien is a sculpture artist, specializing in large installations using knots (her studio is just down the hall from Tung’s!). She recently moved into a new house in San Francisco and revamped the fireplace using Heath tile.
We sat down with Windy and talked about her journey toward becoming an artist, her relationship with craft, and her experience creating the fireplace of her dreams.
Tell us about you and your work.
I'm an artist, and I make sculptures and large scale installations, using the language of knots. This is my third career, and I had two very long, full other careers—but in 2016 I decided to teach myself one knot every day for a whole year and that's 'The Year of Knots'. Before I started that project I didn't call myself an artist—I didn't think I was allowed to—and by the end of the year everything had changed. Now I do this full time.
I think of knots as a universal language—they connect people across centuries, oceans, gender lines—everybody's a knotter. We all wake up and tie our shoes in the morning, right? We think of them as these humble, functional objects but no one ever really talks about how beautifully designed they are, so that's what I do. I bring aesthetics to this intersection of history and math and science and function.
What inspires you?
I didn’t start making art until I was 46 years old. The more I get into it, the more I realize that everything we’ve done in our lives contributes to the work. For example, because I have a tech background, I think about that era and how tech intersects with craft a lot.
Craft is often made by women, it’s often made by people of color, it’s often made in domestic settings... 'women’s work', right? My grandma who knits, your grandma who needlepoints.
With 'Circuit Boards', I’m re-presencing the techniques of long-denigrated ‘women’s work’ to tell the story of the Navajo weavers who assembled the earliest versions of Circuit Boards in the late 1970s, a story told far too rarely.
You described knots as the intersection of “function, mathematics, and history” — would you say there’s a parallel with tile there?
There’s definitely a connection there. Tile is functional, but there's no reason it can't be aesthetic as well. Similar to what I do with knots, where I recombine them in different combinations: that's also the case with tile. There are endless combinations. It’s all about repetition and composition and scale.
Let's talk about your new fireplace. Was this renovation your first time working with tile?
This is my first time tiling! After I quit my corporate job at Apple, I wanted to work with my hands. I took ceramics classes, interior design, weaving, just anything —you name it. I took a yearlong ceramics class and what I learned was that I don't like making them myself. But I'm so glad that I did it because I do love ceramics so much. Now, I just get to support my friends who are in ceramics and, you know, buy Heath tile.
Windy's fireplace uses the new Modern V Cap trim, offered in variable lengths and designed to tidy up the edges of your next installation.
I'm still at the stage—and I hope I never leave—where I come home and just sit and look at the fireplace. It’s become the focal point of the whole house.
With so many tile options to choose from, how did you land on your vision?
I did what probably a lot of people do: I went on Pinterest.
Our new home, which is perched high on the hill below Sutro Tower, was built by a woman in the early ‘80s, and she lived her whole life there. It was never remodeled, so it has amazing mid-century-style wood ceilings.
Because of that, the house was kind of awesomely perfect already—except for the fireplace. It was covered in what kind of looked like pea gravel, like what garden pathways are made out of. I don't know how you clean it because it wasn't smooth—it was super bumpy and pebbly.
So, the fireplace was the only thing that needed to be done in the house. And on Pinterest, I fell in love with this bright green fireplace. I looked for that specific tile because the rest of the house was going to be neutral and I wanted the fireplace to be the focal point.
How was the entire process for you, from start to finish?
In my life as an artist, partnering with people who are experts and very fluent in their own craft is extremely pleasant and satisfying.
Working with Heath on this kind of project felt very familiar in this way. The Showroom team downstairs is so lovely. With my Pinterest in hand, I worked closely to find a green tile. I would just go downstairs every day and ask questions. They held my hand the whole way. Eventually we went with Jade Manganese on Classic Field. I was worried it was gonna be too dark, but it's great.
The other thing that I really loved is when we went to the showroom, they educated me on the different kinds of edge treatments; who knew there are so many options? We went with the Modern V Cap and it's just so super clean, it's just beautiful.
The installer Heath recommended, James Wishart, was just so great. He's the most soft-spoken person, and he had this tiny little notebook, and none of it was new for him. He knew exactly how much tile to order—we had less than one box left over. He knew exactly what to do with all of the unusual parts of my fireplace: all the dips and indents and the weird bevel underneath.
One of the best parts about my work is that every time I get to partner with an artisan who has expertise in something different from my work means that my capability, my community, my team has expanded a little bit more.
How long did the whole process take?
We bought the place in November and before we even moved in I knew all we needed to change was the fireplace. Eric on the Tile team said that the tile would take about five weeks, and it came in sooner. The install itself was finished in February, so in total it was a three month process, pretty short!
Your photos really showcase the glaze’s depth.
I think the photographs show how reflective it is, too. It's glossy and I had to move out of the way because I could see myself reflected in the photos (laughs).
The fireplace really suits the original ‘80s features in the living room.
Oh, I could not be happier. There's a whole bench that extends past the fireplace that we tiled as well. And not only that, underneath this shelf there's a bevel and it sort of goes in at an angle that's so beautiful—we tiled that too! The other cool thing is that the fireplace isn’t flat front; it has all of these indentations, so there were a lot of opportunities to use the Modern V Cap trim.
I'm still at the stage—and I hope I never leave—where I come home and just sit and look at the fireplace. It’s become the focal point of the whole house.
Windy Chien is part of the Heath Collective, a tight-knit group of like-minded makers who occupy studio space within Heath San Francisco. You can see 'Circuit Boards', on display to the public, in the Heath San Francisco showroom, or visit Windy's studio in person, and other artists in the Heath Collective, as part of the Heath San Francisco Factory Tours.
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