▲Axel Vervoordt
He once co-designed the loft suite of the Greenwich Hotel with Japanese architect Tatsuro Miki, creating a stunning lonely world in noisy Manhattan, with a price of $15,000 per night, and the "abject poverty" mansion that used to renovate Kardashian for $20 million, kanye, famous singer Sting, and talk show host Ellen are also his fans. This week's feature tells you about the Master of Silence, Axel Vervoordt, the most knowledgeable person in the West about the beauty of Silence.
▲ A corner of the Kardashian mansion
Vervoordt was born in 1947 to a family of art-loving merchants and grew up in antwerp's old town. His father, a horse merchant, had nurtured his love of horseback riding from an early age, while his mother was an elegant woman with great taste and love for the arts and musicians. He believes that his achievements are due to the cheerful personality and openness to art of his mother, who is good at decorating the house with simple objects, and every 3 months, he transforms the room to present another style, and he follows suit, trying to decorate and design his own room.
⚫ The Vervoordt family. Images are from the web
At the age of 16, Axel Vervoordt spent 60,000 Belgian francs to buy a 16th-century tin box that could be linked to eight locks at the touch of a button, an old work that looked like contemporary art, and after buying the tin box, he began to develop an unusual fondness for shabby things.
⚫ Vervoordt and his family lived in the living room throughout the 1970s. Images are from the web
In the early 1960s, axel Vervoordt saw the potential of Vlaeykensgang's old neighborhood, and at the age of 21 he began renovating old houses, which lasted 18 years, and these hands-on renovations also ignited Axel Vervoordt's love of vintage objects, as well as a strong interest in medieval, Renaissance and Baroque styles.
In the 1970s, In a private space in Vlaeykensgang's historic alley, Axel Vervoordt and his wife May opened their own home, a family space that seamlessly blends seamlessly with art and antiques. During those years, his knowledge of collections, art, and rare furniture grew rapidly, and May's passion for color, texture, things, flowers, concierge, and running a family added to Axel Vervoordt.com.
In 1984, Axel Vervoordt bought Castle's-Gravenwezel, a castle in the northeastern village of Antwerp, Belgium, where he built his artistic empire and, perhaps one of the finest interiors of 30 years, after a two-year renovation.
⚫ Castle's-Gravenwezel。 Images are from the web
Castle's-Gravenwezel was built in the 12th century, the whole ecology and sense of history coincide with Vevoordt, each room after renovation reflects a different period and genre style, but there is coherence between each other, the atmosphere is harmonious and unified, each has its own characteristics, functions and unique personality.
In 1998, Axel Vervoordt bought Kanaal, located in the Canal District of Venaheim, east of Antwerp, and after years of construction, it is now a world-renowned residential community of culture, art and office.
The project relies on the original characteristics and historical charm of the canal area architecture, and injects new vitality into it while preserving tradition. The project was led by Axel Vervoordt's youngest son, Dick Vervoordt, and involved three architectural teams, Bogdan & Van Broeck, Coussée & Goris, Stéphane Beel, and landscape architect Michel Desvigne.
△ Axel Vervoordt with family in Kanaal
The transformed Kanaal is an art mecca that brings together the world's top artists, with a permanent collection of works by James Turrell, Anish Kapoor and many other masters, as well as the classic works of Chinese artist Cai Guoqiang, Korean artist Kim Shouzi, African artist El Anatsui, Japanese artist Hiroshi Sugimoto, Saburo Murakami and others.
Recently, he invested in the design of the penthouse suite of the well-known old star Robert Di Nilo in the Greenwich Hotel in Manhattan, which gives people the opportunity to actually stay in the space experience of the ultimate aesthetic taste of Wabi-sabi, the Wall Street Journal commented: The problem is not to stay, but to stay in and not want to check out.
"I don't like antiques that only take you back to the past
I'm looking for things that are still alive and still in date. ”
"I like to let nature permeate my living room.
The most valuable quality of this castle lies in a special coexistence between nature and man-made. ”
AXEL
His talents are evident in all aspects, antique trading, interior design, curator, furniture design, author... Over the years, whether in the interior design circle or even on social media Instagram, he has become the most influential and trend-set guru.
The boulevard to Jane | Evolve to multiplicity
While paying tribute to the master, it also makes us more aware:
The real design is to bring to life
More good things happen, we constantly know and learn
It's not just the surface of the design
Rather, it is to feel that it can produce a new way of thinking about life