Fashionistas will know immediately who Natalie is, but for our readers who are less interested in fashion: Natalie Joos is a Belgian casting agent who has been living half of her life in New York. Maybe her last name will ring a bell, the I Love Belgium team already interviewed her sister Evelien who is also living in New York. With her sense of style Natalie was noticed by The Sartorialist, Tommy Ton and other streetstyle photographers. Read the rest of this entry »
Attentive followers of I Love Belgium will recognize Léa Peckre’s name immediately. She was part of our Fashion Young Bloods article. And Léa is a busy bee. Not only did she start her own collection, but now she also became the artistic director of De Gris, a French luxury leatherwear house. Read the rest of this entry »
People who read our latest article about Belgian fashion will have noticed that there was someone missing from the list. We’re talking of course about Jean-Paul Lespagnard, one of our favorite young Belgian designers. The trucker son from the Belgian city of Liège who has been praised by the likes of Suzy Menkes and Lele Acquarone presented his Fall/Winter collection two weeks ago in Paris in a packed Gaité Lyrique. Read the rest of this entry »
We love SaintPaul, we have few words for it. The color, the prints, the playfullness,… We discovered it in the beginning of I Love Belgium and just like our lil’ blog SaintPaul grew and evolved being sold all over the world, from Paris to Tokyo, Seoul, Hong Kong, Jeddah, Berlin, Barcelona, Brussels and more…in shops such as Le Bon Marché and Bergdorf & Goodman. Read the rest of this entry »
This Monday was resignation day. Not only did the pope decide to quit his job, but also Belgian make-up artist Peter Philips decided to leave his position as global creative director for Chanel makeup. Read the rest of this entry »
Belgian based French designer Julien Renault is an emotional designer. In a world where’s there’s already too much design made just for the sake of it, he’s part of the new generation redefining both the material and technique of everyday products and furniture. After graduating at the ESAD Design & Art School in Reims and ECAL in Lausanne he moved to Brussels to assist Belgian designer Sylvain Willenz while working simultaneously worked for an antique design dealer. Read the rest of this entry »
I Love Belgium is all about discovery and when we discovered Kim Mee Hye‘s jewelry line we were immediately mesmerized. So Belgian, so pure, all about understated luxury. Designer Kimy Gringoire Lejeune is a self-taught jewelry designer. Her visual language is hard and soft at the same time, influenced by youth culture (her photography reminds us of Larry Clark’s work) but most of all very poetic and free-spirited. Read the rest of this entry »
We don’t talk enough about music on I Love Belgium (yes, this is a hint that we could use a Music Editor, applications can be sent to stijn@welovepure.com). It’s a shame that we don’t because Belgium is not only influential in fashion, design and art , we have been quite influential in the music scene. And that’s what the documentary The Sound of Belgium is all about. Read the rest of this entry »
The best concepts are based on the simplest principles. A great example would be the work of the creative Jasbir Sandhu. Together with Axia Environment, she developed a collection of wearable art depicting a country’s identity. Read the rest of this entry »
We first noticed Pierre-Antoine Vettorello about three years ago with his graduate collection at the Antwerp Academy. This summer we rediscovered his talent at Fashionclash, a young designers platform. His capacity to design outstanding shapes in combination with unique textile design makes Pierre-Antoine distinctive in the giant designer pool. Read the rest of this entry »
Before we start this post, we have some explaining to do! As you may have noticed, we were quite silent these last few weeks. But we have a legit reason for that: we renovated and moved into a thirties house. Brussels, the place we are based, and Belgium has a nice selection of interbellum architecture (in between wars). That’s why we show you a small selection of a big archive. Read the rest of this entry »
Where do you find a private art domain where culture, nature and ecology go hand in hand? In Kemzeke (yes, it’s in the middle of nowhere) The Verbeke Foundation offers all of this, since 2007, when it first opened its doors. They give chances to young artist while holding an impressive collection of modern and contemporary art. Read the rest of this entry »
Do you know the Capara sisters? Their name sounds like an eccentric sister duo from a Tim Burton movie and I’m sure they would like the sound of that. Capara was founded in Antwerp by sisters Vera and Olivera Capara. Read the rest of this entry »
They’ve been there for ages but now they’re also all the rage in Belgium: cupcakes! Apparently the term “cupcake” was first mentioned in 1828 in Eliza Leslie’s Receipts cookbook. In previous centuries, before muffin tins were widely available, the cakes were often baked in individual pottery cups… hence the name! The I Love Belgium team has a real sweet tooth and gives you the best belgian addresses. Read the rest of this entry »
You’re born with talent, without any doubt. One day your talent will come out whether you’re 6 or 60. Belgian designer Niels Peeraer’s talent showed really quickly. At 18 he went to the Fashion Department at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts Antwerp, where he obtained his Master degree in June 2011. Read the rest of this entry »
I Love Belgium noticed Alain Biltereyst: a graphic designer whose work is very accessible but yet interesting. Fact is that the man is very diversified: one of his styles is very linear and refined, other times he works with color blocks and flat spaces. Read the rest of this entry »
For the third time the Brioni Palazzo in Milan turns into the epicentre of creativity during the Salone del Mobile. You won’t see any bespoke suits there during Milan design week but specially commissioned objects, installations, furniture, fashion, food and more by some of the world’s most respected designers, artists, craftsmen, brands and manufacturers. Yes, it’s the Wallpaper* Handmade exhibition. Read the rest of this entry »
A few months ago we already talked about the rumour, but now the die has been cast: Raf Simons for Dior. And because of this great news, we want to revisit Raf’s earliest work. His first collection was all about English schoolboys and their uniforms. Characteristics were the very tight silhouette and the classical materials in dark colours. Back in 1995, the collection was presented with three large black/white pictures of two street-spotted boys and a video (watch it here). For the next 10 years of his career, we have a look at his book titled “Redux”. Read the rest of this entry »
The renown design fair Salone Del Mobile is coming up. From the 17th of April till the 22nd of April Milan will be become the Mecca of international design. Sometimes the off-events are even more interesting than the fair itself. This year Belgian designer Maarten De Ceulaer is presenting his Mutation Series. Read the rest of this entry »
3D printing has come a long way. The time where it was solely used by industrial manufacturers or high brow architect offices is behind us. It’s not about ‘rapid prototyping’ anymore, it has become a very innovative mass-scale production method that will certainly evolve to a 3D printing home system in the future. With the technology also the printed items have evolved. Where 3D printing had a a more industrial and medical application, the products coming out of the machines today have quite a unique off-the-shelf feeling. From lamps to furniture to…jewellery. Read the rest of this entry »
