A set of Miyazaki dining chairs contrast with a custom smoked-oak table.
This Antwerp penthouse, designed by JOE Design Studio founder Jody Eeckhout, serves as a warm and inviting backdrop for the client’s art collection. Originally two separate apartments, the design team seamlessly merged the spaces to create a cohesive home.
As you step into the expansive interior, the luminous open-plan kitchen immediately becomes the focal point, complete with custom finishes and a built-in breakfast nook. Moving through the connecting formal dining area and living space, the hallway is crafted from smoked oak joinery and warm-toned textured plaster, creating the perfect backdrop for a unique collection of black-and-white photographs. Eeckhout explains that these artworks are meticulously framed in fine oak with invisible UV-protected glass, giving the impression that they are floating within the brushed stainless-steel niche. “It’s thoughtful details like these that define the character of the apartment,” she says.
The client’s impressive art collection, featuring both historic and contemporary works, plays a central role in the overall design. To allow each piece to shine, Eeckhout and her team selected a restrained palette of materials, including joinery and floors in varying finishes of oak, warm-toned plaster walls, travertine stone benchtops, and brushed stainless steel accents. Eeckhout notes that the oak floors, with their polished wax finish, offer a solid yet subtle texture that is best appreciated in natural light. To maintain this clean, ‘blank-canvas’ aesthetic, all fixtures are fully integrated into the walls and ceilings, ensuring a seamless and unobtrusive design.
Gaggenau appliances harmonise with the kitchen’s palette of brushed stainless-steel, smoked oak and travertine stone. A round travertine table forms part of a set of custom-designed tables for the project, the other being the long formal dining table.
All power points and light switches are fully integrated into the walls, creating a clean and cohesive design.
Vola tapware is used throughout.
A long travertine table, the second in a set of custom-designed tables, is paired with a set of chrome and dark wood Thonet dining chairs.
The hallway is crafted from smoked oak joinery and warm-toned textured plaster, creating the perfect backdrop for a unique collection of black-and-white photographs. The area also features a bespoke travertine vanity.
A full-height mirrored door, leading to a powder room, elongates the primary bedroom space.
Jody embraced a minimalist approach in the bathroom spaces to cultivate a sense of serenity.
