Is Belgium’s creative scene experiencing a revolution? Dominic Lutyens looks at how old stereotypes about Belgian design could finally be crumbling
Take a cursory look at the designs being created in Belgium today and it’s fair to say that much of it is coolly understated. It tends to be either fine and slender or chunky and blocky. You certainly couldn’t accuse the designers of self-indulgence.
Belgium’s best-known designer is the late Maarten van Severen (1956-2005), whose ultra-minimalist, ever-popular chairs and tables have set the tone for much of the country’s design today. Just like those of van Severen, the designs of Xavier Lust, for example, are devastatingly elegant in their simplicity. His typically wafer-thin furniture includes the Le Banc bench – a sheet of metal folded at two points to create its legs.
Any roll-call of the country’s current biggest players must include Lust, Quinze & Milan, Vincent van Duysen, Dirk Wynants, Some, UrbanRoom, Hoet, Cédric Debatty, FEEK, Juventa, Tribu, Wild Spirit, Dark and the new design studio Atelier 1.
Many Belgian designers – whose manner, generally speaking, is as unassuming as their work is pared down – acknowledge that Belgian design conforms to a low-key aesthetic. “It’s very no-nonsense, with a big emphasis on functionality,” says Arne Quinze, of Quinze & Milan, a designer whose own work is, in fact, flamboyant and not typically Belgian, a case of the exception proving the rule. Indeed, his QM seating cubes – in laser-cut polyurethane foam coated in a specially developed dye that forms a supple, waterproof skin – come in juicily bright pop colours.
The firm Some, meanwhile, produces plain, blocky sun loungers in a plastic masquerading as rattan. Simpler still is Tribu’s outdoor furniture in teak or stainless steel. With the minimum of fuss or pretension, Tribu sums up its style as “familiar, timeless”. FEEK creates chaises longues made of monolithic blocks of polyether foam in graphite grey, lime or scarlet. And Wild Spirit’s name, while fun, is a misnomer: its unfussy tables, screens and chairs are scarcely outré. Its designer, Thierry Herbert, talks gently of how “every product has a dose of calm and functionality”. Meanwhile, Cédric Debatty describes his understated Lepetit stool as: “elementary… It easily fits into lots of different environments.”
Yet paradoxically, despite the austerity and neutrality of these designs, many have a hedonistic vibe. Never has one country, it seems, produced so much laid-back, low-level seating, suggesting that it prioritises leisure (however low key) over a strict work ethic. Witness UrbanRoom’s huge outdoor undulating deck, conceived as a vast children’s play area.
Although Belgian designers tend to use similar words to describe their work, not all believe there’s a recognisably Belgian style of design. This, they say, is due to the multicultural society in Belgium. As with all Western countries, Belgium’s design community is becoming increasingly international and so is losing a clear sense of national identity. “Our designers move from country to country. Nationalities of designers and manufacturers are increasingly mixed,” says Dirk Wynants, who creates pieces for Extremis. “If I look at my work, I can’t connect it with that of other Belgians.”
Belgium has never really had a cohesive identity due to the fact that the country is made up of three constituent parts. “The fragmentation between Brussels, Flanders and Wallonia is slowing down the process of establishing a clear Belgian identity,” says Thierry Herbert. “There are design stars in Flanders you don’t know about if you live in Brussels,” says Xavier Lust. “From an international perspective, Belgium has been held back, too, by its education system. While we have good design schools, they’re not as high-profile as those in, say, France.”
This, some in the industry admit, has bred an inferiority complex. “We have a major underdog feeling,” says Marnick Smessaert, managing director of the lighting company Dark. So Belgians try extra hard to get noticed abroad, says Kristien Lenaerts of Tribu: “We want to prove that, despite being a small country, we can produce great things.”
To combat this, some movers and shakers in Belgium’s design community are taking a determinedly anti-federalist, increasingly internationalist approach. In 2002, Lise Coirier, founder of Pro Materia, an association that fiercely promotes Belgian design, encouraged dialogue between Belgium’s regions, both at home and abroad.
In 2005, at the world’s most prestigious design event – the Milan Furniture Fair – she organised a cross-regional event called Wallonia-Brussels that showcased work by 15 designers from both areas.
In the past decade, Belgian designers have been gaining confidence by raising their international profile: van Severen designed for upscale manufacturers Vitra and Edra while van Duysen has created pieces for the ultra-prestigious Italian company B&B Italia. Today, there’s a buzzing design scene in Ghent, Brussels, Antwerp and Kortrijk, which hosts the biannual design fair Interieur.
Organisations promoting Belgian design have mushroomed over the past 15 years – from Design Flanders and Designed in Brussels to the recently formed Wallonie Design.
Even so, today’s Belgian designers are handicapped by the fact that the country’s manufacturers are generally unadventurous. But several dynamic manufacturers are busily remedying this situation by setting up experimental firms. These include Extremis, Vlaemsch and Vange. Extremis, for example, has been helping to shift the Belgian paradigm of self-effacingly understated design with such playful ideas as its plastic stool called Bronco. Shaped like a saddle, this is ideally suited to bars. It’s illuminated from inside and incorporates a hollow for standing a beer bottle in.
An interesting recent development is that many new companies and young designers are challenging Belgium’s supremacy of minimalist design.
While traditional 20th-century Belgian design has been starkly modernist, Belgian art during the same period has been mainly associated with the comparatively madcap movement of Surrealism (the artists René Magritte and Marcel Broodthaers are its most famous Belgian exponents).
Young designers today appear to be inspired by it too. Take the ultra-witty, whimsical conceptual designs of Diane Steverlynck, who has created a curtain punched with holes that you can spy through, and a rug made of a grid of real balls of wool. Could the old stereotypes about Belgian design finally be crumbling?
Need to know
Contacts
- Atelier 1 Desguinlei 232, Antwerp, tel. +32 (0)4 9524 5100, www.atelier1.be
- Dark Vliegplein 43, Adegem, tel. +32
(0)50 718140, www.dark.be
- Diane Steverlynck 1 Rue d’Andennestraat, Brussels, tel. +32
(0)2 537 3980, www.dianesteverlynck.be
- FEEK Klapdorp 52, Antwerp, tel. +32 (0)3 475 1765, www.feek.be
- Extremis Weegschede 39B, Gijverinkhove, tel. +32 (0)58 299725, www.extremis.be
- Hoet A Dansaertstraat 97, Brussels, tel. +32 (0)2 511 0447, www.hoet.be
- Juventa Noordkouter 67, Kortrijk, tel. +32 (0)56 500191, www.juventa.be
- Xavier Lust Bld du Souverain 151, Brussels, tel. +32 (0)2 673 6051, www.xavierlust.com
- Quinze & Milan Walle 1134, Kortrijk, tel. +32 (0)56 240590, www.quinzeandmilan.tv
- Tribu Langendiskstraat 5a, Zutendaal, tel. +32 (0)8 961 2750, www.tribu.com
- UrbanRoom Lievevrouwbroersstraat 14, Brussels, tel.+32 (0)2 513 2795, www.ur-design.net
- Vange Rue Paradis 62, Liège, tel. +32 (0)43 301757, www.vange.be
- Vincent van Duysen Lombardenvest 34, Antwerp, tel.+32 (0)3 205 9190, www.vincentvanduysen.com
- Vlaemsch Guide Gezellelaan 169, Heusen-Zolder, vlaemsch.be
- Wild Spirit Chaussée d’Aelbeke 284, Mouscron, tel. +32 (0)56 844740, www.wildspirit.be
General stockists
Tout dans le design
Lorsque l’on tente de décrire les grandes tendances du design belge, on les classe souvent dans deux catégories distinctes : ou les créations sont épurées et subtiles ou épaisses et imposantes. Mais ces idées reçues sur la création en Belgique ne seraient-elles pas en train d’être remises en question?
Le créateur de meubles Maarten van Severen (1956-2005), récemment disparu, doit sa renommée internationale à la sobriété de ses chaises et ses tables. Son ultra-minimalisme a ouvert la voie à de nombreux designers belges dont le grand nombre actif dans le circuit aujourd’hui témoigne de la grande vitalité du secteur en Belgique. Parmi les incontournables, on citera Xavier Lust, Quinze & Milan, Vincent van Duysen, Dirk Wynants, Some, Urbanroom, Hoet, Cédric Debatty, Feek, Juventa, Tribu, Some, Wild Spirit, Dark et le nouvel Atelier 1.
De nombreux designers belges s’accordent pour dire que le design belge s’inscrit dans une esthétique discrète. “Il explore des directions on ne peut plus réalistes, en mettant avant tout l’accent sur la fonctionnalité,” explique Arne Quinze, de Quinze & Milan, qui compte parmi les concepteurs dont le travail peut être décrit comme flamboyant, loin de la ligne typique belge.
Bien que les designers belges caractérisent bien souvent leur démarche par des termes identiques, ils ne pensent pas pour autant que l’on puisse identifier un style spécifique ‘belge’. Une situation, qui d’après eux, est due à la société multiculturelle propre à la Belgique. “Nos designers ont l’habitude de sillonner le monde. Les nationalités des designers et des fabricants sont de plus en plus diversifiées,” confie Dirk Wynants, qui conçoit des pièces pour Extremis.
Quoiqu’il en soit, les nouvelles sociétés de design et les jeunes créateurs sont de plus en plus nombreux à ébranler la suprématie du design minimaliste qui s’est imposée au fil du temps. Il suffit de voir les créations très personnelles, hyper intelligentes et conceptuelles de Diane Steverlynck, qui a créé un rideau ponctué de trous à travers lesquels on peut espionner et un tapis ‘pelotes’ tissé à partir de vraies pelotes de laine.
Design doet het!
Hedendaags Belgisch design wordt vaak omschreven als fijn en slank, ofwel hoekig en geblokt. Maar misschien zijn deze stereotypen voorbijgestreefd?
De bekendste Belgische meubelontwerper is ongetwijfeld wijlen Maarten van Severen (1956-2005), wiens minimalistische en immens populaire stoelen en tafels de toon zetten voor veel Belgisch design. Tot de belangrijkste spelers op het designcircuit behoren zeker ook: Xavier Lust, Quinze & Milan, Vincent van Duysen, Dirk Wynants, Some, Urbanroom, Hoet, Cédric Debatty, Feek, Juventa, Tribu, Some, Wild Spirit, Dark en het nieuwe Atelier 1.
Menig Belgische ontwerper zal bevestigen dat design van eigen bodem eerder ingetogen is. “Het is erg no-nonsense, met de nadruk op functionaliteit”, vertelt Arne Quinze van Quinze & Milan, een ontwerper met eerder flamboyant, en dus niet zo typisch Belgisch werk.
Hoewel Belgische ontwerpers hun werk op dezelfde manier beschrijven, geloven ze toch niet allemaal in een herkenbare ‘Belgische’ stijl. Volgens hen is dat te danken aan de multiculturele samenleving. “Onze designers werken vaak in andere landen, wat steeds meer leidt tot een mix van designers en fabrikanten van verschillende nationaliteiten”, vertelt Dirk Wynants, die voor Extremis ontwerpt.
Interessant is ook hoe vele nieuwe bedrijven en jonge ontwerpers de uitdaging aangaan om dat minimalistische design te doorbreken. Een voorbeeld is het geestige, conceptuele werk van Diane Steverlynck, die een gordijn met ‘kijkgaten’ ontwierp, en een tapijt bestaande uit een aaneenschakeling van echte bollen wol.
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