It's about ten minutes since we mentioned Belgium.
And we know that one or the other of you are getting nervous. Fearing we may have forgotten the magical, if not mythical, Kingdom.
Fear no more. Belgium is back.
At DMY Berlin 2013 students from the Thomas More University College Mechelen presented examples of their work in a group exhibition.
We believe the VOMO in the exhibition name is the post-graduate furniture course in Mechelen, we are however a little confused and so may have got that wronger than even we normally manage.
Despite well-meant attempts to guide us towards an object on the stand that had placed well in an awards competition, we remained true to ourselves and among the highlights for us were the chair L Series by Jan Jacobs. A chair that became even more impressive when we saw the complete series.
A truly grotesque mix of forged steel and leather the L-Series Chair is a very simple lounge chair yet an object with its very own, and not in the least unappealing, form language.
However only when we saw the rest of the series were we truly smitten. For all the sideboard looks like a phenomenal piece of work and something well worth following up.
Aside from L Series we were really taken by Bokpoef by Katrien Lietaer, admittedly largely because it looks like a pig. That is admittedly not the best reason to find a piece of contemporary design good. But sometimes it is enough. Yes they were probably a bit small to be truly great, however the concept and realisation were and are excellent.
In addition the intriguing "A Collection" by Antoon Crabbe took our fancy. To be honest we're not sure if "A Collection" is a bit of an "Untitled" or if it really is the name of the collection; regardless what Antoon presented was a series of objects that can be effortlessly transformed from, for example, chairs into tables and/or stowed within other elements of the collection.
Older readers will be aware that such is not the sort of project that regularly gets our boat rocking; however, something about the figuration and general attitude of "A Collection" made us take it very seriously. We don't think it is quite finished, but the potential is undoubtedly there. For all if Antoon can more clearly define the intended end market. At the moment that is a bit vague.
As we say, if we've understood everything correctly VOMO is the post-graduate furniture course at Thomas More University College Mechelen. If so we're fairly confident we'll be reporting on Belgian designers for a while yet......
And we apologise in advance for the quality of the photos.
