When you arrive at the Bonn shop near Place d’Armes in Luxembourg, you see in the window a set of beautiful porcelain plates in green and brown tones, with designs reminiscent of a reinterpreted Toile de Jouy. This is a limited series of 50 pieces created by Miriam Rosner of Monogram, who was inspired by the writings of three Luxembourg writers and poets: De Feierwon by Michel Lentz, Den Hexeneeschter by Edmond de la Fontaine (Dicks) and De Renert by Michel Rodange.

“I have taken some quotes from these texts and put them on the edge of the plates. The heart of the plate is occupied by old illustrations, in a ‘Jules Vernesque’ style, which I rework in a spirit of collage and according to the stories chosen,” explains Miriam Rosner, who had already had the opportunity to work on a series of plates in this same spirit in 2021.

Scenes full of references

Each time, the main characters are taken up and transposed with a playful approach in an identifiable setting in Luxembourg. Count Sigefroi, for example, no longer rides a horse, but the Feierwon locomotive that arrives in the walled city. Melusine takes her bath in a sauce boat and Renert is the character in a scene in the countryside where a little mouse is perched in a tree, a nod to the Maus Kätti. For those who can spot them, the scenes are in fact full of references to Luxembourg culture.

The De Feierwon plate is designed as a meat plate. (Photo: Romain Gamba/Maison Moderne)

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The text of Den Hexeneeschter is an opportunity to design a fish plate. (Photo: Romain Gamba/Maison Moderne)

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The Renert plate features the hybrid animals that Miriam Rosner likes to create. (Photo: Romain Gamba/Maison Moderne)

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The unavoidable Luxembourg crayfish are also included, with an excerpt from the text that is a nod to the famous RTL programme Hei Elei Kuck Elei. (Photo: Romain Gamba/Maison Moderne)

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The design of the plates, very flat, is deliberately modern to create a contrast with the retro designs. (Photo: Romain Gamba/Maison Moderne)

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Mélusine is of course part of the iconography, but her bathtub has become a sauce boat. (Photo: Romain Gamba/Maison Moderne)

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While each large plate can be paired with a small plate, with an excerpt from the text continuing from one to the other, they can also be mismatched. “These plates are an opportunity to highlight Luxembourg’s heritage and to promote our culture,” says Rosner. “It is also another way of highlighting the country and its creativity,” emphasises Jean-Claude Lazard, director of the Bonn House.

This commission is in fact the third limited edition Bonn has produced. The first one was made with the artist Bela Silva on the occasion of the exhibition L'éveil du végétal at the Regala gallery in Arles. The second was made with Lët’z Arles around the photographs of Romain Urhausen. “This third edition is certainly not the last,” says Jean-Claude Lazard. “If all goes well, a new edition will be held next year, because it is one of Bonn’s wishes: to highlight Luxembourg’s creation and art of living through high-quality products that cannot be found anywhere else.”

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This story was first published in French on . It has been translated and edited for Delano.