Belgian designers are making a big splash this year at the Salone del Mobile 2018.
You can catch the work of veterans like Alian Gilles and Xavier Lust with the big brands like Buzzi and Bonaldo for the former and MDF Italia and Nilufar for the latter. Meanwhile, young talents chosen by the regions of Brussels, Flanders, and Wallonia will flaunt their designs at the SaloneSatellite, the platform for designers under 35 that celebrated its 20th anniversary just last year.
Alain Gilles
Lighting solutions more akin to the extravagant women’s hats of the 1950’s or crossed sofas to increase intimacy and create conversation —Alain Gilles’ products are always spot-on, fun, and stripped back to essential lines. Even the color combinations are on point with an exuberant vibrancy that never fades into the excessive.
This year’s Salone del Mobile in Milan will see the new BuzziHat lamp along with the BuzziSpark sofa for Buzzispace. Then there’s the Fragment Table for Bonaldo and the Wicked outdoor table and chairs for Vincent Sheppard.
Xavier Lust
Xavier Lust’s work often rests somewhere between art and design, and the products the Belgian designer is bringing to this year’s Salone del Mobile are no different. Among them, Le Banc, an ode to the essential in a curved aluminum chair for MDF Italia that’s perfect for the outdoors and comes lacquered or painted in red or white.
With a minimalist luxury, his collection for Nilufar Depot in lucid brass boasts nearly organic details: a table whose base resembles a tree trunk, a concave console imitating a leaf closed in on itself, and a pierced Continent bench somewhere between art, design, and high craftsmanship.
The Young Belgian Designers
The SaloneSatellite, providing young designers with the opportunity to present their work on an international stage, once gave a start to designers like Matali Crasset, Nendo, Front, and Xavier Lust. Now more than ever, the event could help catapult the 5 chosen Belgian creatives to new levels.
Amorce Studio
Created back in 2015 by Vincent Long and William Fournié, Amorce Studio will participate in the SaloneSatellite for the first time this year. Combining contemporary materials, artisan techniques, and a modern approach, Amorce creates everyday objects, giving form to public spaces with strong social connotations. Putting an emphasis on Rack, their modular shelf and Amar, the felt stool, Amorce finds itself at the intersection of simplicity, purity, and poetry.
Gewoon David
The Belgian designer presents Table Hulot, a surreal mini-table with a touch of Magritte magic. The nearly non-furniture consists of a large ceramic plate atop legs in rosè metal and wood.
The designer describes it as beautiful and especially useful “at lunchtime”.
Leila Boukhalfa
Rope is a blue cord running for over 60 meters with a diameter of 30 centimeters. While its disproportionate size has led to a loss in function, the cord continues on its journey in hopes of rediscovering its purpose.
While wandering, Rope may have found its function after all — as an object to play with.
Resident in Brussels, Leila Boukhalfa is especially active in the scenic arts and stands out for her use of unusual materials and numerous works on fabric.
Laurent Verly
After the success from his first experience at SaloneSatellite last year, Laurent Verly continues to create objects inspired by everyday life. Guided by observation and curiosity, the designer creates objects with similar characteristics: multi-functional, adaptable, participative, and playful. His latest project, dÖt —a wall mounted system created for domestic, collective, and urban use — is as aesthetically pleasing as it is functional.
PaulinePlusLuis
A duo formed by Pauline Capdo and Luis Bellenger, PaulinePlusLuis’ work is based on the observation of objects, phenomenons, and individual moments that the two simultaneously interpret and transform. Taking pre-existing forms, they re-unite and transcribe the results in their final products.
With this approach, finished items carry an almost déjà-vu quality, fusing a poetic dimension in the industrial production.
Their presence at SaloneSatellite in Milan will feature Luciole, a floor lamp, and Grenadine, a ceiling light.
Opening Photo: BRUSSELS, WALLONIA, AND FLANDERS COME TOGETHER TO PRESENT THE BEST OF YOUNG BELGIAN DESIGN AT THE SALONESATELLITE
