Julien Lanoo Photographs is a young photo studio in the centre of Europe, in the Belgian-French region of Lille. By its personal approach and its images of high quality, the studio is worth the name of “quality house”. Since its start in 2007, the studio photographed some of the worlds finest architecture. This includes names such as Jean Nouvel, Beal Blankaert, Sanaa and Shigeru Ban. But it’s not only the international names that find there way to this studio, Belgian studio’s such as DierendonckBlancke Architects, VitraPoint Ghent and BURO II are on the client list as well. Read the rest of this entry »
30
Jul
2010
Jul
2010
Julien Lanoo Photography
28
Jul
2010
Jul
2010
Yukkuri by Jan-Jan Van Essche
Jan-Jan Van Essche (1980), a Fashion Academy graduate, born and raised in Antwerp just launched his first men’s collection Yukkuri. After his graduation in 2003, he won several prices including the prestigious Dries Van Noten and FFI price. Now Jan-Jan is ready and set to go. But this will be on his own pace. Read the rest of this entry »
28
Jul
2010
Jul
2010
Rosas Danst Rosas
In 1983 Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker was a revelation in the modern dance scene because of her repetitive, minimalistic choreography. Her extremely powerful composition, Rosas danst Rosas was also the start of the Rosas group; the four female dancers – Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker, Michèle Anne De Mey, Fumiyo Ikeda and Nadine Ganase – were the first members of the new dance company. Read the rest of this entry »
27
Jul
2010
Jul
2010
Belgian Summer music
Yes we haven’t been that productive the last weeks, but that’s going to change. The I Love Belgium team has been out and about enjoying the Belgian Summer weather (hot hot hot) and looking for new and exciting stories to share with you. Belgium is the place to be for summer festivals, the Werchter festival has been called out to be the best festival in the world several times now but there’s also Couleur Café, Dour, De Lokerse Feesten, Pukkelpop, Brosella, Jazz Middelheim, De Zomer van A, de Gentse Feesten,… Read the rest of this entry »
26
Jul
2010
Jul
2010
Camouflage architecture
Brick architecture is as old as the bible and has been used in thousands of ways. The Belgian architecture office Atelier Vens Vanbelle got inspired by an army technique to give your typical brick house a modern twist. Using the brick as a three dimensional camouflage pattern they broke the heaviness of the massive black cube while adding texture and a good portion of Belgian humour. Read the rest of this entry »
16
Jul
2010
Jul
2010
The Reference – Cuberdons
You can recognize a country by the food they serve. Everybody knows Belgian chocolate, but what about the cuberdon candy. For many Belgians a beloved childhood taste, but unknown outside our frontiers. The recipe, that dates back to the 19th century, is a well kept secret only known by a handful of confisiers (aka candy makers). You can recognize a classic cuberdon as a violet collared sugar cone containing a thick raspberry syrup. Read the rest of this entry »
15
Jul
2010
Jul
2010
Home is where the house is
Dutch Design Academy graduates Bart Nijssen and Nichon Glerum compiled a book with photos and interview of students graduated at the Design Academy Eindhoven in 2010. Read the rest of this entry »
14
Jul
2010
Jul
2010
Hunted and Collected #1
Our friends over at Hunting and Collecting just launched there first magazine Hunted and Collected #1. It is the first edition of a series of books, accompanied by an exhibition, a poster and other material to keep an archive of what they collected each season. Read the rest of this entry »
13
Jul
2010
Jul
2010
Arne Quinze’s sculptures
Burning Man Festival 2006,Black Rock Desert, Nevada: the place where it al started for Arne Quinze’s wooden stick sculptures. It was there that Quinze decided to create and burn his first sculpture Uchronia, a 30m high and 60m wide wooden construction. Typical for Quinze’s strademark sculptures are the individual timbers scattered and suspended throughout the structure. An intricate elegance created by the thousands of delicate connections holding together the sculpture. Quinze’s artwork is mainly about contrasts, contradiction, evolution, speed and time. Read the rest of this entry »
9
Jul
2010
Jul
2010
Delvaux ‘Toujours’
What’s the oldest leatherwear brand in the world? Hermès? We don’t want to disappoint our French neighbours but it’s the Belgian house of Delvaux. In 1829 Charles Delvaux added a shop window to his Brussels studio. His handcrafted trunks quickly gained universal admiration. In 1883, Delvaux became a warrant holder to the Court of Belgium. And in 1898, the House was the first to patent a model (the Edison trunk). Spurred on by this success, the range was further extended to include luggage, boxes, suitcases, and more. Never forgetting ladies’ handbags, which the House has offered since the beginning of the 20th century. Read the rest of this entry »
8
Jul
2010
Jul
2010
Veerle’s graphic design selection
It’s not only ILoveBelgium who promotes this little country. Veerle Pieters is doing the same since 2000 with her inspirational blog. This freelance graphic designer has an eye for Belgian Graphic design Talent. As she mentions herself “throughout the history of print and, later, graphic design, we’ve amassed a formidable body of work: elegant to quirky and playful, edgy and modern to gloriously antiquarian”. She collected the best of the best to be admired in her “Belgian Graphic Design” section. Read the rest of this entry »
7
Jul
2010
Jul
2010
Emma
Just call out her name and she’ll be there. Emma Gelaude is one Belgium’s most fashionable girls. In her younger years (no she’s not old, but hey, models tend to have a very short expiration date) she was doing catwalks and numerous photo shoots as a model. Read the rest of this entry »
7
Jul
2010
Jul
2010
Willy Vanderperre for Givenchy
This season, French Couture house Givenchy opted out of a classic show in favour of intimate presentations, where they could better highlight the extremely detailed pieces. To bring this over, Givenchy relied on Belgian photographer Willy Vanderperre. Graduated at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts, he met his longstanding collaborator Raf Simons. Since then he’s been contributing to magazines such as Fantastic Man, Pop, L’Uomo Voguel, V and I-D. Recent advertising campaigns have included Jil Sander, Vera Wang, COS, Raf Simons and of course Givenchy.
6
Jul
2010
Jul
2010
Pop-up shop Gustav
Posh beach resorts have the tendency to be boring: we all know that Vuitton shows of there monogram bags and that the majority of galleries offers colorfull Niki de Saint Phalle lookalikes. But this summer we can actually go to Knokke and enjoy pop up shop ‘Gustav’. Read the rest of this entry »
4
Jul
2010
Jul
2010
Cinematek
Where do most people hide when it’s escrutiating hot? Preferably a black room without any windows. Add a good portion of entertainment and you’ll end up in the Cinematek. This newly renovated museum is a true cinema Valhalla. Founded in the 1930’s, the Royal Movie Archive started to build one of the most important quality movie collections in the world. Amongst the 60.000 titles you’ll find rare cult movies, historical classics and experimental German cinema. Read the rest of this entry »
1
Jul
2010
Jul
2010
I Love Belgium interviews Anouck Lepère
In a previous life Belgian supermodel Anouck Lepère studied architecture in Antwerp, her home town. After doing catwalks for Dries Van Noten and Bruno Pieters her life became a fashion rollercoaster. Read the rest of this entry »
29
Jun
2010
Jun
2010
Raphaël Charles – 20/30
You know that we like our up-and-coming young designers! Raphaël Charles is one of those, earning a spot on the list by redefining the rug. By questioning the rug as a tufted textile floor covering, he decided to trick the eye by using lumps of foamy black coal. This resulted in the 20/30 rug, a name referring to the standard calibre of coal. Read the rest of this entry »
27
Jun
2010
Jun
2010
Filip Dujardin – Fictions
Although he’s from Ghent, a historical city filled with picturesque buildings, that’s not the sort of world photographer Filip Dujardin creates in his own photography work. Instead he has taken photographs of nondescript, often post-modern buildings and remixed them using Photoshop to create strange hybrids. The results may be fantastical, but could never be described as whimsical. Read the rest of this entry »
19
Jun
2010
Jun
2010
La Fille d’O collection presentation via chatroulette
La Fille d’O has always been a pioneer in social media. They were on Friendster (remember that people?), Myspace and of course now also on Facebook and Twitter. Tonight 19/06 La Fille d’O designer Murielle Scherre will be presenting her new collection via chatroulette. Read the rest of this entry »
16
Jun
2010
Jun
2010
Chris Dercon appointed new Director of Tate Modern
Yesterday June 15th Tate Modern announced today that Chris Dercon, Director of the Haus der Kunst, Munich, has been appointed the new Director of Tate Modern. Another proove that Belgians have a major influence on fashion & art. Read the rest of this entry »
