Sommaire
A large exhibition of design furniture to be seen in the heart of the Wonder festival in the new Kortrijk
The Salone del Mobile in Milan and the latest edition of Maison&Objet preceded the opening of the new Interior Biennial in Kortrijk, Belgium. Solutions were provided to cope with the return to the office after the pandemic. Coworking is truly inspiring the industrial world of design and the chair, like the armchair, is more than ever a product that is brought to the forefront by editors. A real creative exercise for any designer, the chair is designed and adapted according to the trends.
Where can you find the best in contemporary design and buy it without delay? At the Kortrijk biennale. The “Please, have a seat” exhibition is both a unique panorama and a sales site. It is a fascinating dive into the most famous product in design: the chair and all its variations, both tried and tested and new.
While waiting for the return of the Biennale Interieur in its more classic form with stands and tailor-made events, it is included in the festival ‘Wonder’. This is to be explored in the former industrial site De Coene.
Here, the Belgian kitchen, bathroom and heating brand Van Marcke has built a sustainable logistics centre. The location in Aalbeke, in the Kortrijk region, was chosen precisely for innovation. It has an ambitious future, as it will soon be transformed into a brand new 15-hectare district.
Van Marcke
In this context, the Biennale Interieur presents 200 chairs and seating furniture pieces by leading designers and young industrial talents. From objects that have attained the status of design icons and belong to numerous museums, such as Verner Panton’s 1960s chair, which is now published by Vitra, to new products that are making their mark. The Kata chair by the Spanish design studio Altherr Désile Park (Alberto Lievore, Jeannette Altherr, Delphine Désile and Dennis Park) for Arper and its reduced environmental footprint is one of them. Inspired by handcrafted wooden chairs, it is based on tradition, graphic features and state-of-the-art design through the weaving of its 3D covering. A creation from 2021 that is already timeless. The most recent productions of the Belgian manufacturers and publishers Durlet or Quattro Benelux are also honoured in this exceptional context.
Salva Lopez | Arper Kata
Damon De Backer | Ykoon chair
Interior design, furniture and design objects: all the talents of Sebastien Caporusso, Belgian Designer of the Year
A talent spotted by Silversquare and its art direction for the design of the brand’s coworking spaces (600 m2 for the SQ Europe), Sébastien Caporusso is one of the other Belgians whose name resounds in this new exhibition.
Sober and architectural lines and noble materials inherited from modernism (wood, concrete, leather, brass, natural stone and terrazzo) characterize the chairs, lamps and tables that the designer has made with the best craftsmen in Belgium. Their sculptural forms are resolutely contemporary and the approach of his creation is entirely in the air of time. Local and international in spirit, the iconoclastic art of Sébastien Caporusso could well be published by the greatest in the years to come.
Jules Césur | SQ – Caporusso Sébastien
JVA
Interior design is central to the practice of the Belgian designer, whose sources of inspiration are multiple (antiquity, 20th century design and nature). A former student of the College of Art & Design in Brussels (CAD), he has a keen sense of refinement and of what is noble today. For each of his projects, he does not hesitate to reuse raw materials in order to create furniture and design fittings tailored to the apartments and houses of his private clients. His creations express his idea of comfort. It is based on purity, sculpturality and a certain eclecticism.
This new key player in the design world joins the winners of the Belgian Design of the Year award. The Muller Van Severen duo (Fien Muller and Hannes Van Severen), who work for their own studio and for a number of international publishers, most recently the Milanese firm cc-tapis, which specialises in made-to-measure designer carpets. The world-renowned interior designer Vincent Van Duysen, who has become the artistic director of the high-end Italian design brands Molteni and Dada. And Marina Bautier, founder of the Bautier brand, who presents her own furniture and other carefully selected products in the shop that bears her name in Brussels.
In parallel with this programme, the presentation in Kortrijk of ‘We are the next generation’ opens the way for the next generation of young designers: 38 young figures in contemporary architecture, product design and graphic design, including Marit Doorenbos. Her unique Derme sofa takes its shape from human skin and its natural pigments. A dialogue between the individual and the furniture, which makes it part of the great trend for neutral colours that continues to take over every interior.
Van Marcke site
Weggevoerdenlaan 5, 8500 Kortrijk
wonderkortrijk.be and interieur.be
