Design – The Word Magazine

Music

Some like it rough

Unpolished, stiff, battered and worn-out, you’d be forgiven for thinking that this month’s showstopper selection was handpicked by a bunch of brutes. A far cry from the smooth and flashy must-haves spread all over the glossies’ gargantuan September issues, we lay our latest cravings bare and rough. Photography Benoît Banisse, art direction and styling facetofacedesign 1. […]

Art

Giving the people what they want

Citroen’s new DS3 has been on my mind ever since I took it for a test drive over three weeks ago. At first sight, you’d be forgiven for thinking they got it totally wrong. It’s much more muscular, intimidating even, than the original model (which we paid respect to in our Rough Edges Issue). It […]

Art

My other car’s a dump

There are certain cars you give names to. Certain cars you speak to. Certain cars you’d be capable of building streets for. Certain cars you do not take to the carwash but, rather, lovingly pamper by hand. These are some of those cars. Photography Sarah Michielsen 1. Saab 900i 16v A word from the owner […]

Art

Its all in the name: Hunting and Collecting

With autumn comes the new season’s arrivals at Brussels’ most talked about concept store, Hunting and Collecting. As the name suggests this is about sourcing the very best of fashion, design and art around, and is a labour of love for owners Neils Radtke and Aude Gribomont. Joining their collective experiences of not only the […]

Neighbourhood life

Inside the Glorybox

Newly opened and already making its presence felt on the fashion thoroughfare of Dansaert, Glorybox is a bastion of Belgian and French design. Stocking new designers solely from Belgium and France is a primary and appealing feature of the boutique, distinguishing it from other shops in the area. Another somewhat atypical quality is the friendly, […]

Art

Brussels: where we sleep

Whether visiting town for a weekend or simply seeking a change of scenery for the night, below are some of our favourite alternatives to the rather impersonal globalized five star lodging chains. Hotel Pantone Topping our list is the recently opened and buzz-worthy Hotel Pantone. Designed by Michel Penneman and architect Olivier Hannaert, the spanking […]

Art

Brussels: where we peruse art

Dog days like these – when meagre desk fans just won’t cut it and the prospect of being in closed quarters has your forehead dripping – are ideal to seek refuge in the vast and deliciously chilled premises of the city’s art centres and galleries. Below are some of our locations of choice when it […]

Art

It’s that time of the year again…

The highly anticipated annual Fashion Show of Antwerp’s Royal Academy of Fine Arts took place this past weekend in the industrial Northwest district of the city. The location – a large hangar beside the canal – was an interesting choice. For while the unrefined character of the neighbourhood was not at all in line with the […]

Art

Stadium invasion

With World Cup craze conquering the globe since last Friday, Nike figured the time was right to launch a new collection of NSW (Nike Sportswear), celebrating this noble sport and the team pride of six of the participating countries. For each country, an artist was selected to design a kit of footwear, coordinated with matching […]

Art

On our corner

A Brussels landmark as soon as its doors opened eight years ago, the iconic Café Belga has become the social hub that transformed a neighbourhood. It was just a matter of time until this local institution made it in our pages and the Breakthrough theme was simply the perfect fit. Photography Merel ‘t Hart Located on Place Flagey, […]

Neighbourhood life

Rolling rolling…

We’re quite often given cars to test out and toy around with, but very rarely do they warrant a mention on these here pages. Given the sheer power of this one, the unbelievable amounts of envious looks we were given (yes, even we were suprised how much cachet people seem to attach to four-wheelers) and […]

Art

Absolutely smashing

Life at the cutting edge can get pretty exhausting – kept awake at night by genius ideas, burning through the shoe leather as you sprint your way too and from the patent office, wrestling frustration as things fail to fall into place just so – we thought we’d help out with a little selection of […]

Neighbourhood life

Punctual perfection

They say three things will tell you everything there is to know about a man: his shoes, his hands and his choice of wrist wear. This might come as a surprise to some of you, but The Word bunch – although shoe fiends and hand cream obsessive – aren’t known for their watch wisdom (heck, […]

Art

The unprintables – Your days are numbered

We asked Felicie to create somewhat of an alternative board game for our Morning After Issue. Here, you get the chance to download the game’s unadultured and unobstructed version (complete with an online-exclusive title), as well as an interactive ‘how to play’ guide, just to make your fun that much easier on you… To put […]

Ming Magazine profiles us

How does a Hong-Kong-based magazine with a distribution of over 350,000 copies in China hear about The Word? This is how it all happened: someone from Hong Kong visited Brussels, stumbled upon our Nippon Issue, brought it back to show one of his or her colleagues, who so happened to be a writer for Ming. […]

Art

Waiting for The Skin Issue

Hard at work on our March edition, themed The Skin Issue (our Friday 5th March 2010), we’re on the lookout for stuff (rude boys, art history/curating/events interns, DJs submissions, etc…) and wanted to remind you of other stuff (more Morning After posts to look forward to, concert tickets to win, Tweets to follow). Here’s a […]

Art

The unprintables – The shelf

You get in with a preconceived idea. Give it an hour or two and what you had imagined to be the shoot of the decade has changed entirely. For the better… Photography Yassin Serghini, Art direction Melisande McBurnie, Defacto model Lalita Davis For Amazon links: Design Revolution (Thames & Hudson), Remake it Home (Thames & […]

Art

The unprintables – The Shelf

A photo shoot for our book page typically takes Yassin (the photographer) and Meli (the art director, and sometime reluctant model) about half a day to nail down. With the former having somewhat of a itchy finger folly and the latter a seemingly unlimited supply of ideas, we often end up with quite a selection […]

Art

Follow the Guide – The Video

Over two months after, it’s high time to refresh your memories and remind you of the interactive design exhibition we organised early September with a three minute video directed by Gaetan Saint-Remy of Sep Stigo Films. The three opening nights were as good a success as we had hoped for (this being our first truly […]

Art

Brussels given the Wallpaper* treatment

With Antwerp having aquired the W* cachet a while back now, it was high time for the global style bible to take a closer look at our capital city, in the shape of its Wallpaper* City Guide Brussels edition, which launches this Friday from 19h00 at Brussels’ Sterling Books. Edited by Brussels-based journalist Guy Dittrich, […]

Art

The Scatalog – Design goes down… and out

Back in September, we talked with Alexandra Daisy Ginsberg about her RCA graduation project on bacteria hacking and synthetic biology. She’s barely stopped moving since then – she’s currently working on a new research project in Australia, but before she disappeared off to the other side of the world, she joined up with a team […]

Studio Job does it Neighbourhood Style

An outlying Amsterdam housing project is now the home to 800 square metres of ornamental friezes designed by Studio Job. Decorating the façade of 5 large new buildings commissioned as part of a development by Far West, the designs feature a rich collection of the Studio’s iconic graphics, from gymnasts to guns, insects to syringes, […]

Art

We dig the pig

Christien Meindertsma’s project to discover all the products made from a single pig (the titular 05049) ended up taking her 3 years, and included such unexpected products as wine, carbonless paper, zinc, medicine capsules, paint, cigarettes, toothpaste, heart valves and train brakes. The products were all exhibited at an installation in Rotterdam last year; for […]

Art Curator talks

We go pro with Karim

On the last day of Design September we dashed between presentations from the dons of the European design award scene and talks from product packaging pack before sitting down for a speedy cappuccino with a very candy striped Karim Rashid It was the closing event of Design September – the professionals’ day – with conferences […]

Art

Launch of Unit Editions’ first book, Studio Culture

Unit Editions, a young upstart publishing imprit based in London, celebrated the launch of Studio Culture – its first book which delves into the sometimes insular world of graphic designers and their studios – with a party at the big smoke’s Haunch of Venison gallery (aptly billed as a “Launch at the Haunch”). The night’s […]

Art

In Praise of Shadows

A tight, bright show on light, displayed in the dark corners of the V&A as part of the London Design Festival.

Art

Design and design – The book of the year

A loosely fitted selection of wide-ranging designs, “Design and design – the book of the year” is a jam packed showcase of design talent the world over. Pulling in everything from products, corporate identities, album covers, furniture, packaging and magazines, the bulky book is a somewhat disordinate day-by-day snapshot of what’s been happening in the […]

Neighbourhood life

In the mood for design and interiors. Maison et Objet 2009

Went up to Paris to catch the good, the bad and the downright ugly at Maison et Objet . First observation, I was astonished at the amount of Belgian companies specialising in outdoor furniture. Royal Botania had one of the largest surfaces at the fair. Extremis seemed to have the main spot at the fair, […]