At Home With: Designer Raphaël Van Gend

Touring the beautiful home of Belgian-born Designer, Raphaël Van Gend. 

Take a peek into his stunning home in Brussels. 

“Despite an intense attention to detail, the 1920s house is uncluttered to the point of emptiness. ‘‘To me, an absence of things is peaceful,’’ Van Gend says. With a deft sense of composition, he arranged almost cinematic vignettes with a scarce amount of furniture chosen from a variety of periods: geometric brass sconces by the postwar Belgian designer Jules Wabbes, a square, patinated steel chair by the contemporary designer Franck Robichez and a creamy, undulating sofa by Pierre Paulin, originally manufactured in the late ’60s. When he couldn’t find an armchair to complement the sofa, he designed a swiveling leather captain’s chair upholstered in Kvadrat fabric. He also re-envisioned the room’s intricate floor, polishing the interlocking grid of tiles custom-cut from solid chips of oak into a pale finish.”

A beautiful space that's absolutely pristine. For how minimal and white everything is, I somehow find this space to feel very inviting. I could compare it to a Gallery space that reels you into the details of a piece of work. I want to study that sofa, walk around it, take it all in. Although, I would find it too terrifying to actually take a seat as if it were an art piece. However, Gend's studio is another story. I want to touch everything in there. Study the pencil and notebooks he has layed out on his desk to maybe get a bit of a glimpse into his creative mindset. It's truly an inspirational space. 

View more images and read more about Raphaël Van Gend online via The New York Times, here.