DAVID SPENDER PHOTO
Design
Bruxelles ma belle
SPRING HAD ONLY JUST BEGUN when a cold chill took hold in Brussels: on March 22 the city was hit by two terrorist attacks. Bombs went off at the airport and the subway, with more than thirty casualties and numerous injured citizens. Panic, fear, and anger ensued. And sadness, too, symbolically expressed with chalk drawings on the street. The people of Brussels responded with a call for solidarity and peace. And with the request to see not only Brussels’s problematic districts, but also its beauty.
“Bruxelles ma belle” (#bxlmabelle) was one of the many slogans that were chanted on the streets: Brussels, my beauty. National newspapers gave away tickets for concerts and the theater, to museums and exhibitions. The government awarded money to the best ideas for elevating the city’s image. Businesses also invested—just before summer the four limitededition design dealers discussed below either opened galleries for the first time (Atelier Jespers and Piano Nobile) or moved to new locations (Victor Hunt and Maniera). For existing galleries the move was a reinvestment in what was previously a calculated experiment; for brand new galleries it was a step into the unknown. But in all cases, these moves radiate hope. And confidence.
These gallerists believe in their city and in their specific place between art and more traditional objects and furniture design. “Applied art and limited-edition design are a less speculative market than that of art,” says Lise Coirier of Piano Nobile. “This kind of design is absolutely of this time,” adds Victor Hunt’s Alexis Ryngaert. But the bottom line is this: these Brussels gallerists all work with national and international artists, architects, craftsmen, and designers, and each delivers unique and diverse objects—spectacular or controversial, subtly poetic or simply full of theoretical baggage, and, of course, with some Belgian surrealism, too.
Like so many inhabitants of Brussels, they dare to experiment. They try out and analyze. But they keep moving—just like their city.
Located between the Place Royale and the Place d’Albertine in the center of Brussels, the Mont des Arts offers beautiful city views and features an equestrian statue of Albert I of Belgium. | DAVID SPENDER PHOTO
Piano Nobile
A Moon lamp designed by Nathalie Dewez is suspended from the ceiling. The polycarbonate disk contains LEDs between two layers of plexiglass, and the stainless-steel metal rings can move slightly. | JÖRG BRÄUER PHOTOS
MARRIED ART HISTORIANS LISE COIRIER and Gian Giuseppe Simeone also complement each other in their work life: she focuses on curating design and writing, while he works on the preservation of cultural and artistic heritage. In April they opened Piano Nobile on the first floor of a 1920s <em>maison de maître</em> in Ixelles. “With our gallery we aim to work with the best craftsmen, designers, and workshops that this city has to offer,” Coirier says. “We want to be a catalyst for applied arts in Brussels. The gallery also houses the design consultants Pro Materia and TL Magazine, and is therefore a creative hub for the promotion of Brussels-based contemporary applied arts and design to the rest of the world.”
![Fournier used Photoshop and 3-D programming to create Cloudy Traveling Dog [Canis nimbus transsubstantiatio], 2015, a chromogenic print that envisions a future species emerging through synthetic and cybernetic biology. | JÖRG BRÄUER PHOTOS](http://modernmag.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/068_1.jpg)
Fournier used Photoshop and 3-D programming to create Cloudy Traveling Dog [Canis nimbus transsubstantiatio], 2015, a chromogenic print that envisions a future species emerging through synthetic and cybernetic biology. | JÖRG BRÄUER PHOTOS
Vincent Fournier’s Ancolia (Aquilegia edulis) from his Fresh Flowers series was displayed in Piano Nobile’s first exhibition of the artist’s work in its new space in Ixelles. | JÖRG BRÄUER PHOTOS
But Piano Nobile is also filled with works from designers from different parts of the world that form an intercultural dialogue and explore not only the material but also the immaterial facets of design: Philippe Di Méo, Pauline Deltour, Adrien Rovero, Tomas Kral, Tamer Nakisci, Autoban, Japan Handmade × Studio OeO, and Flavie Audi. There’s Carlo Brandelli and Tomáš Libertíny, too, and pieces by brands such as Vervloet, Wästberg, Thonet, and Lasvit.
Kaspar Hamacher uses fire to shape his Ausgebrannt stools from parts of naturally fallen trees—a process that gives them their name, ausgebrannt, meaning “burned out.” | JÖRG BRÄUER PHOTOS
Coirier and Simeone feel that Brussels has always been an important city for applied arts: “As important as London or Paris, for sure. Henry van de Velde for example, is known for his cross-disciplinary approach to the fields of architecture, art, and decorative arts, and was a pioneer of the Bauhaus. This city bundles a lot of know-how in small ateliers. We should try to preserve them and keep their savoirfaire relevant in today’s world. As gallerists, we play a crucial part in this.” pianonobilegallery.com
