Frans Baetens and Magda van Gils moved to New Zealand from Belgium in 1983. Upon arrival in Auckland the two started Muka lithographic printmaking studio and gallery. The couple imported a very rare, 19th-century, originally steam-driven, Voirin lithography press from Belgium in 1986, and it was on this hulking machine that all lithographs for the Muka Gallery were printed until they recently closed the gallery this year.

In the same year, Magda came up with the idea for the Muka Youth Prints Project. With this initiative, Frans and Magda would invite well-known artists from all over the world to create small works. The catch is that the works could only be bought and owned by young people. The ownership of art – and the power to choose – instills an interest in, and hopefully a love of, art. All the works had the same low price tag, the artists’ names covered up during the shows, and adults were not allowed at the shows, avoiding the issue of parents pointing their wee ones towards certain fashionable names. It was all about the personal love and connection to a work, not a name, or value.

This same set of values and personal connections is apparent throughout the couple’s Ponsonby home. Artworks by artist/architect daughter, Saskia, and their son-in-law, Australian artist Giuseppe Romeo, sit side by side with old bikes, musical instruments, jewellery and, of course, the press. Frans says: “This house is now part of ourselves, a bit like a shell appropriated by a hermit crab. The works of art are not just, or only, enjoyable aesthetically, they also create a time capsule, something like landmarks of our life as a couple and as a family. They are not just important; they are an essential part of our extended selves.”