Joris Verstrepen

Characteristic of the contemporary Belgian school, Joris Verstrepen’s production extends from the design of the object to its manufacture, display and transmission in a holistic and virtuous model.

Designer, curator, scenographer, creator of the “Design, talk and dishes” dinners, author of Indian ink drawings, there are no boundaries in the work of a man who invests each of his projects with his own hands and his own thoughts.

At the heart of his work, nature and the materials it provides, shaped by the seasons and their environment, allow him to assert a philosophy of imperfection reflected in the omnipresence of the passage of time on the object and its organic character. The sensoriality of the project is also underpinned by an approach centred on craftsmanship. It allows the designer to study and manipulate the material with respect, adding an extra dimension to the experience of the artefact.

Emblematic of his work, the series ‘A place for – Nurture, Contemplation – Rest’ confronts solid aluminium modules with materials borrowed from West Flanders: ash, shale and linen. As structure and support, he emphasises their beauty as much as he gives them a rediscovered function: that of a seat, a space for resting or for eating.