Belgian design – at once subtle and daring, quiet yet eloquent, anchored in an honest and elegant voice – is ambitious. The ambition to grow, to position itself firmly in the local market, and of course, to cross borders. These ambitions bring together a group of professionals from different areas, who with their own character and their own unique language, are gradually defining a universe identified under the brand Belgium is design, uniting the whole territory with the initiatives of three different institutions: Wallonie-Bruxelles Design Mode, Flanders DC, and MAD, Home of Creators.
A great part of this driving force is related to the role of Wallonie-Bruxelles Design Mode, the state agency that for over 15 years now has been promoting design, crafts and fashion at national and international events, and supporting young talents and established studios who want to open up their perspectives. Collective presentations in New York, Milan, Paris, Hong Kong, Stockholm, Saint-Étienne and London confirm this desire to showcase the potential of its creators, who are connected to companies all over the world through a broad policy of support for the creative industries.
Visiting Belgium at the invitation of WBDM, journalist Gloria Escribano of ROOM DISEÑO has approached some of these profiles to gather together their ideas – and their modus operandi – and to get to know in situ a discourse that unifies extremely diverse visions. Sustainability as an intrinsic value, the vindication of the local and a concern for new processes are part of their way of interpreting the new modernity.
Find out more about the exclusive dossier translated from Spanish into English and French.