A gallerist calls on close friends to rethink her Antwerp townhouse—twinning new perspectives and old materials in ways that bring light, flow, colour and art into her everyday.
Five years ago, art historian, advisor and auction specialist Sarah Vanwelden returned to Antwerp to co-found Newchild Gallery alongside artist and architect Chandler Noah and artist Diego Castano, who split their time between Barcelona and New York. Entering the city’s established art scene, the trio dedicated themselves to a small group of diverse artists, mainly outside of Belgium and Europe.
From the gallery’s infancy, Vanwelden hosted artists at Antwerp’s Hotel Pilar, designed by the interior and architecture studio Contekst, co-founded by Sam Peeters and Toon Martens. “I had been following Contekst’s work for a while. My two best friends had stayed at the hotel before engaging the studio for their own renovation,” Vanwelden recalls. Connecting over a love of collecting art, a friendship quickly formed. “After a couple of years of living in my apartment, it became obvious to collaborate with Contekst on its redesign.”
Vanwelden had spent many years living in London, using her apartment above the gallery only for brief stays. “It was such a Y2K apartment: blue light, Zebra print, metallic. But I fell in love with the townhouse’s width and ceiling height, which isn’t typical of a late 19th-century townhouse here.” Enlarged by the previous owners’ extension, Contekst turned their architectural focus to improving circulation on the second floor, for privacy—every space had a sliding door—and to lure sunlight into its darker spaces.
From the outset, Vanwelden wanted her home to feel distinct from Newchild Gallery, designed by co-founder Chandler Noah. “While I admire the design, I was seeking more colour in my own spaces. Very early on, Contekst came up with the idea of using Rose Aurore marble,” she says. “It has a lot of gravitas, it’s old-world, but it’s light and joyful.” Sharing the same white “with a slight hint of pink” walls as the gallery, Vanwelden credits Contekst for the home’s aquamarine corridor and dressing space. “The corridor is a completely unexpected bolt of colour,” she adds.
Gallerist Sarah Vanwelden with friends and Contekst co-founders Toon Martens (left) and Sam Peeters (right) in the living room of her Antwerp townhouse. Vanwelden approached the studio to design a custom coffee table, which evolved into a creative partnership with AWE and friends Nicolas Anné and Brecht Rogiers on the Toba, now produced in an edition of 10. A Tokyo floor lamp in ceramic by Adélie Ducasse, from Scene Ouverte gallery in Paris, sits on the USM Haller sideboard.
The Rose Aurore marble kitchen island’s organic shape responds to the clean lines of the existing stainless-steel joinery, with Spanish brutalist Marbella stools by an unknown maker tucked underneath. Suspended above are the Aura lights by Sabine Marcelis for Established & Sons, with the Frenesi wall light by Luca Guadagnino for Fontana Arte behind, which Contekst specified as a more discreet nod to Memphis. A pink liquid dish by Vincent de Rijk for RiRa Objects, and a work on paper by American artist Jansson Stegner (left) and a work on paper (right) by Belgian artist Dennis Tyfus are also pictured.
Vanwelden had a few pieces included from the initial renders, such as the Bernini desk that was in her late father’s doctor’s practice, now in the company of vintage Cassina Cab 412 chairs by Mario Bellini. The Sistema Flu floor lamp by Rodolfo Bonetto for Luci Italia had also been in her father’s practice. The sofa is a ‘60s design by Luigi Pellegrin for MIM Roma, and the two chairs are from a monastery, designed by Dutch architect and monk, Dom Hans Van der Laan.
The idea of concealing and revealing also makes its way upstairs. In the gallery, a floor-to-ceiling Douglas fir door doubles as an exhibition cabinet, calling to the treasures in museum archives, and segmenting the two spaces. “We took this surprise door concept into my bathroom with the rotating door, and the cherry wood veneer bar cabinet in the living room,” Vanwelden explains. Having lived in the UK, Vanwelden liked the idea of a bathtub in the bedroom. “With the revolving door, you can have the choice of a bath being in the space, and far more light, especially in the morning.”
Contekst kept original elements, such as the stainless steel around the oven, and topped the previously tiled kitchen floors with painted concrete. Irregular shapes, such as the Toba coffee table by Contekst in collaboration with Vanwelden, AWE Antwerp and friends Nicolas Anné and Brecht Rogiers, offset the apartment’s existing angular features. Now produced in an edition of 10, the coffee table is inspired by the volcanic island of Lanzarote and the Spanish artist and sculptor César Manrique. “The polyester shell is really durable, and has two holes you can slide into, with an aluminium base with wheels—with dual levels and hidden storage,” Vanwelden says.
An antique wooden table from Vanwelden’s grandfather’s house and a vase from RiRa Objects.
“It was a sad day when I had no more lights to source,” Vanwelden laughs, who’d had the Aura lights by Sabine Marcelis for Established & Sons above the kitchen island on her radar from the design’s inception. The Dutch designer’s Stroke 1.0 rug for cc-tapis and bathroom mirror continues the playful conversation and congregation of female designers. “When I bought the Adélie Ducasse ceramic lamp, I texted Sam and Toon and said, ‘I’m thinking of buying this, do you think I’m crazy?’ I couldn’t narrow down to just one design school—Italian post-modernism, Memphis or Art Deco. Sam and Toon worked with me to capture them all in a very balanced way.”
Peeters and Martens helped to discern what furniture and art would make it into the home, with the exception of a few personal pieces. The Bernini desk and Sistema Flu floor lamp by Rodolfo Bonetto for Luci Italia had both been in Vanwelden’s late father’s doctor’s practice for 30 years, and the artwork by Belgian artist Fred Bervoets above the USM Haller sideboard she inherited from her late grandfather.
The cherry wood veneer and Rose Aurore marble hidden bar cabinet features glassware by Nienke Sikkema for RiRa Objects, Vanwelden’s own ceramic creations, made in Sam Peeters’ mother’s ceramic studio, and a small white ceramic work by artist Yorgos Maraziotis titled ‘Arnie’.
Art makes its way into the home in less obvious ways, too. After seeing an exhibition on toilet-roll holders at Marta Gallery in LA, Vanwelden reached out to artist Ryan Belli to commission one for her home. “You spend so much time conceptualising what the perfect way of living in your home is, so it didn’t make any sense to have an ordinary toilet roll holder. It became a symbol: how is it possible that there’s nothing less bland out there?”
This adventure of discovery, observing every detail, how they interact, and how they solve the more practical problems, Vanwelden says, wouldn’t have come without the friendship first. “It’s now a space I can feel really proud of, and say, ‘Oh, you want to see that artist? I can take you upstairs. It’s hanging in my living room’.”
This feature originally appeared inside est magazine issue 59: ‘Living with Landscape‘.
The bed frame in the primary suite on the second floor was inspired by an archival Brazilian home, perfectly paired with the RBW sconces. The painting is by Paris-based artist Anousha Payne, of Irish and Indian heritage, an artist Newchild Gallery have collaborated with a few times. Contekst selected the Rose Aurore marble first for the kitchen island, before it became a material of choice in the primary suite, alongside the cherry wood veneer. Having spent years living in the UK, Vanwelden requested a bath in the bedroom, but the opportunity for this to be closed off. The rotating marble door fulfils this function, while explicitly linking to the design of the gallery below.
