Milan Design Week and Salone del Mobile.Milano is as much about the people as what’s presented. As part of our Design Voices series, we spoke to six leading voices, including Belgian designer Arno Declercq, about their latest work and shaping the future of design.
Belgian designer Arno Declercq makes things happen – quickly. The collectible design showcase Baranzate Ateliers co-founder, also the brainchild of Zaventem Ateliers founder Lionel Jadot, signed the lease on a new 7,000 square- metre venue only a month before opening for Milan Design Week and Salone del Mobile.Milano 2024. The industrial ‘concrete cathedral’ housed 35 different Belgian design studios in an anticipated second edition of Baranzate Ateliers. “We have brought together a really diverse group of artists,” Declercq says. “You need variation to create impact.”
Declercq’s career has ascended quickly since the age of 23. After studying interior design, he opened his own gallery for ethnographic art and design and in 2017, he began making small bespoke pieces that have since garnered the international attention of high-end retailers, collectors and fashion brands. Late last year, he opened an exclusive showroom space in Antwerp, where he also hosts events alongside other artists.
Presenting his latest collection at Baranzate Ateliers, Declercq wanted to create awareness around his larger- scale work and custom design. “The whole collection evolved in less than three days on paper, starting with the bench,” Declercq says. The furniture collection includes a lounge chair, armchair, desk, sideboard, bench, two types of tables and a steel sculpture.
The collection is called ‘Zoumey’, after the West African Iroko wood it’s made from, while the tabletops are crafted from an African walnut called Dibetou. “As a natural colour, they are quite different,” Declercq says. “But using the Japanese technique of Shosugiban, the pieces become a burned silhouette with expressive veining, finished with a copper brush and layers of wax oil.” Each piece is made without a single screw. “It’s a long process, but a very durable one,” he adds.
Belgian designer Arno Declercq | Photography by Amber Vanbossel
Taking advantage of the expansive space at Baranzate Ateliers, Declercq wanted to create awareness around his larger-scale work and custom design, culminating in his new furniture collection, ‘Zoumey’ | Photography by Amber Vanbossel
The ‘Zoumey’ lounge chair 012024 by Arno Declercq is crafted from burned and oiled Iroko with Belgium linen upholstery by Designs of the Time | Photography by Amber Vanbossel
Declercq describes his work as wabi-sabi Brutalism, inspired by the proportions of Japanese design and the distinct aesthetic appeal of concrete bunkers. “In the ‘Zoumey’ collection, there are sharp edges, but on the other hand, you see the craftsmanship – the human quality,” he says. “Some of the pieces weigh nearly 400 kilos, which is juxtaposed by the floating form and negative space underneath.”
The designer completed the collection with a one-tonne metal outdoor sculpture made from 2.5-millimetre plate steel welded together with 112 facets by his atelier. “We had to do the patination with fire piece by piece because it’s so big,” he says. “Every part was completed separately and then assembled.” The ‘Zoumey’ sculpture is designed to strip away the stability of the voluminous form in a ‘playful dance with gravity’. “It was never our intention to make it to sell; it’s to awaken people and create trust in our larger work.”
Declercq credits his father, who studied at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts Antwerp, as a guiding force behind his practice. “If my father tells me something isn’t good, I won’t make it,” he says. “My father has no phone, no social media. He doesn’t like to go to fairs – he has a very clear mind in this way.” And while Declercq acknowledges he built his brand on Instagram six years ago, it’s also very easy to subconsciously absorb other design ideas on the platform. Often, he leaves a design on paper pinned to the fridge for a few weeks to sit with it before he continues to the atelier. “When I design something, it can often feel a bit odd,” he says. “That’s when I know it’s something good because if you’re not familiar with something, you don’t always feel comfortable with it.”
The ‘Zoumey’ sculpture by Arno Declercq saw 112 plate steel facets individually polished and patinated with fire, then welded together. The sculpture took three months to create | Photography by Amber Vanbossel
