Mad About Living at Biennale Interieur 2014

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For this year’s Interieur 2014 design show – held in the Belgian city of Kortrijk – instead of exhibiting a fair booth, MAD BRUSSELS (Brussels’ centre for fashion and design) created a fictional urban apartment to display a range of design objects. It’s an approach that seems to be all the rage at the moment… (see Studioilse’s VitraHaus, Villa Hager at Vitra or Hauser & Wirth at Frieze 2014). But here there weren’t just the latest designs, there were vintage finds from flea markets too, in a bid to make it feel more homely. Curator Tom Tack says:

To get rid of a showroom like-feeling, our set-up gains it’s richness and believability by mixing several fields of Brussels-based design such as Graphic Design, Art, Furniture Design, Packaging Design, Textile Design, …

It would be pretentious to imagine a “daily” interior with only contemporary design elements. Just like the city of Brussels, our apartment is all about layers.

The result is an interior where several generations of Brussels-based designers are gathered in one place. You’ll see the Cubex kitchen, designed by Louis Herman De Koninck in 1930, next to the Scribble tablecloth, designed by Sylvain Willenz in 2014. I also spy Damien Gernay’s Bloated Stool from 2013, one of my favourites the XYZ shelving by Lhoas & Lhoas, as well as that super comfy sofa by Christiane Hoegner.

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Above: Diane Steverlynck’s Leaning shelves, below: Beaverhausen’s Royale chair

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Above: Christiane Hoegner’s Cushionised Sofa II and Jules Wabbes’ light, below: shelving by Lhoas & Lhoas and Damien Gernay’s Bloated Stool

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Above: Linda Topic & Antonin Bachet’s Le Lit bed, which reminds me of the Princess and the Pea’s bed, below: Atelier J&J’s yellow shelving unit and mirror by Jean-Francois D’Or

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All images Pauline Miko