Et was a special gift that Stefan Zweig gave his friend Carl Zuckmayer when he moved into his new home in Henndorf near Salzburg. There was no functioning furnace. Zuckmayer later wrote in his memoirs that the only option was a “genuine rural tiled stove”, such a model was not easy to find – until his friend Stefan Zweig took matters into his own hands: “He asked for the dimensions and drew mysteriously back. The next day, transport workers came with an old Salzburg, dark green-tinted and particularly attractively ornamented tiled stove that fits exactly into its corner,” says “As if it were a piece of mine”. Zuckmayer did not entirely believe Zweig’s explanation that he had found the said stove in the lumber room of his apartment. He suspected that Zweig “walked around Salzburg for hours trying to find him”.
Interest as great as it was last in 2006
Today it would take longer before the debut gift would be there and could be installed. Much longer. Because the rush for stove builders is currently huge. “Due to the current energy policy situation, demand has literally exploded. Many furnace builders currently need a year’s lead time,” says Tim Froitzheim, consultant for furnace and air heating construction as well as renewable energies at the Central Association for Sanitary, Heating and Air Conditioning (ZVSHK). Rising energy prices in the wake of Russia’s war in Ukraine are the current trigger. But even before that, during the pandemic, demand had picked up. “People spent a lot of time at home and were therefore more concerned with their interior design,” says Frank Kienle from the Industrial Association for Household, Heating and Kitchen Technology (HKI). The market is now overheated and demand is sometimes so high that it cannot be served.
