Veerle's blog

The Modern Home Design category mostly features design for the house or garden but for today’s post we leave our comfort zone in search for an affordable design hotel in Belgium. London, New York and Paris already had them but since a few years Brussels now also has its own ‘White Hotel’.

The first Belgian Design hotel

The owner Jean-Michel André already had a small design hotel before this one called Monty that he sold. He invested the money to buy the Alfahotel at the avenue Louise and changed its name to 'The White Hotel'. The renovations took about a year and the architects responsible for this were A2M. Detrois did the interior part. Everything in the hotel evolves around the white color in combination with design. That's the whole concept that sets the mood.

100% pure Belgian

The renovation plan was very ambitious: every hotel room (53) needed to be customized by a different Belgian designer. The great part about this is that some of these designers aren't that well-known yet and now have an opportunity to show their skills to the hotel guests. The work of the designer is on loan to the hotel for a year. Each designer had 350 Euro per square meter to work with. Not sufficient to decorate the whole room but thanks to some cleaver tricks and some Ikea pieces it all fits together. The main purpose was to keep this hotel affordable to a larger audience. All room are XL with dimensions between 22 and 50 square meter, far above the average in Brussels. Each room has an individual bathroom or shower, a king size or twin bed, a balcony and free wireless Internet. Prices range from between € 85 and € 185, breakfast included.

The decoration

The main floor is an empty plateau and has as 55 meter long desk designed by interior architect Michel Penneman that serves as an eye catcher and a divider between the other zones, the reception, the breakfast area, small library and a meeting room. Near the hotel bar you'll also find something what is called an 'Internet igloo' that the guests can use to surf the Internet peacefully and comfortably. The design was done by Steven Brouns (more about him below).

The restaurant area has a fire place and lounge bar where you can try a selection of the many Belgian beers. Further you'll find a bunker for children's toys and a futuristic kissing chair. Design classics from Charles & Ray Eames, Starck, Vitra chairs from Maarten Van Severen and a lounge sofa designed by Quinze & Milan.

A quick view on some of the Belgian designers

In total 60 Belgian designers took part of this ongoing exhibition. I'm not going to feature them all here but just a selection of the designs that caught my attention.

Maarten Van Severen - 03

Maarten Van Severen is the son of an abstract painter that decided to study architecture at Ghent art school. After three years he started working in various agencies on interior design and furniture projects. In 1990 he turned his attention to chairs. His work, handproduced in his workshop in Ghent Belgium, reflects his quest for perfection in form, detail and fabrication. Vitra produced the first industrially chair by Maarten Van Severen, the .03. This chair was novel in its combination of visually austere form with high-level seating comfort.

Danny Venlet - Easy Rider

We already talked about Danny's work in my outdoor furniture articles. He designed furniture for Viteo, Coro, Dark, Extremis. The product you'll see in The White hotel is called 'Easy Rider' for Bulo. It's a mobile desk-seat that serves as a retreat to work on a laptop or mobile phone.

Marina Bautier - Keyplug

She graduated from the Buckinghamshire Chilterns University College (UK) and started her own design shop Lamaisondemarina in 2002 in Brussels. Keyplug is an easy and efficient way of storing letters and keys. Marina looks at everyday objects in order to slightly improve them.

Vincent Van Duysen - Pottery

Vincent Van Duysen travels from wood to stone and from textile to ceramics. He is challenging the idea of minimalism by introducing elegance and softness. The pastel colored earthenware and oak wood trays are inspired by the intense and subtle palette of the North European skies.

Xavier Lust - Finder

Some say Xavier Lust is one of the most talented Belgian designers of his generation. in the past ten years, he has designed a large array of contemporary furniture models for some well-known design houses like Italian manufacturers MDF Italia and De Padova. Finder is an object that is combining aesthetics with a real desire to reach high functionality within the space it fits in.

Steven Brouns - Bulls Eyes

The designer of the Internet igloo in the lobby of The White Hotel. Steven has received the Henry van de Velde young talent award. He designs foam-rubber products, but with the difference that his work is done mostly on commission and with a focus on high-tech. He strives for balance between form, function and sustainability in his work. Despite his age, Steven Brouns is already working for big names such as Nike, Walter Van Beirendonck and Illy.

Vincent Jalet - Lighting

Vincent Jalet is part of the Tupperware design team. He is always on the look out for innovating materials and techniques for injecting or moulding plastic. The 'Chef family' that he designed together with Jan-Hendrik de Groote for Tupperware has won The Red Dot Award for product design in 2006. The light fittings are composed of best selling Tupperware salad bowls. This chandelier only exists in duplicate and is a tribute to the Danish designer Verner Panton.

Charlotte Lancelot - Orchid place mate + Lace

Charlotte Lancelot always center feelings in her creations. She mostly works with natural felt coming from industrial off cut. She recently launched 2 new carpets called 'Point de Croi' for Ligne Roset at IMM Cologne and at Maison et Object in Paris.

Point de croix carpet

Suzon Ingber - Letterbox

Suzon Ingber has been operating from her studio in Antwerp for years. She works on interior projects and is regualry assigned to do work for internationally known Belgian brands like Appart, Durlet, Felt and Obumex. Letterbox is a practical and adjustable mailbox, standing or hanging.

Linde Hermans - Jigsaw

Linde Hermans has been awarded the 2007 Henry van de Velde prize for young talent. Linda Hermans made Jigsaw for Vlaemsch (), a design label that has started in 2005. One flat piece of metal, in a L-form, with the ends of both legs welded in such a way that they join together again to form a cube and a side table. An infinite number of puzzles can be linked, to any sort of constellation. Steel with coating.

Giovanni Bauwens - Lovely layers (plaid/poncho)

Giovanni was the first nominee for the Henry van de Velde Award in 2003. He mostly works as an interior and furniture designer. With his 'Lovely layers' he conceived a multifunctional product that is easy to wear as a Mexican poncho or being useful as a warming up the bed before going to sleep.

This concludes our look in to some of the Belgian designers and this goes to show that we can hold our own against a nation like Italy that has design running to their veins. I hope you like it.