Weekend News

 

KIM CLIJSTERS WINS AUSTRALIAN OPEN FOR THE FIRST TIME !!!



Congratulations Kim! We are so proud!!

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AXEL VERVOORDT OPENS ART GALLERY IN ANTWERP

Gunther Uecker “Black Rain”

source : http://www.axelvervoordtgallery.com

 

In the Vlaeykensgang, located in the city centre of Antwerp, Axel Vervoordt opens a new exhibition space.

He will focus on the ZERO and the GUTAI art, an international movement of the sixties, who sought harmony between man, nature and technology in which light played a dominant role.

For more information : www.axelvervoordtgallery.com

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Wish you a wonderful weekend!

xx



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Winter Exhibition Axel Vervoordt

Twice a year I am visiting the Castle of Axel Vervoordt. In Summer time for the Summer Exhibition and in Winter for the Winter Exhibition.

Yesterday my sister and I visited the Castle and Kanaal.

We started our visit at the Castle of ‘s Gravenwezel. The weather was fine, it was rather cold, but sunny!

 



Me at the entrance gate of the castle.

 



My sister walking in the garden.

 



Here and there we noticed some Christmas decoration.

As you can see here at the background, the green festoon at the gate.

 



And as this lovely but simple Christmas entrance fence! Very inspiring. It is not difficult at all to make one yourself!

 



I am so sorry I can’t show you pictures of the inside of the castle, because we are not allowed to take pictures.

But I can tell you that I discovered a lot of Wabi-influences inside the castle.

If you want to read more about the Wabi-inspirations of Axel Vervoordt, you can read my blogpost about it HERE.

 

Afterwords we went for a visit to ‘Kanaal’ in Wijnegem only a few kilometers from the castle. This is the place where a lot of activities (Art & Antiques, Home Collection, Interior design,..) are based.

 



The Kanaal is a former malting plant which consists of industrial warehouses and adjoining grain silos.

 

 



The Column hall that houses the private collection art of Axel Vervoordt.

 



Home collection seats.

 

In the corridor of the warehouse, next to the entrance of the workshop, we noticed this beautiful huge chandelier ‘sac à perles’ hanging!

It immediately brings you into the right Christmas mood!

 



The corridor of the warehouse.

 

For more information please visit the Axel Vervoordt website www.axel-vervoordt.com

 



I wish you all a wonderful Sunday!

xx



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Do the Belgians follow Axel Vervoordt back to basics?

I can’t wait to receive my copy of the new book of Axel Vervoordt. It should be published this month! Here is the cover of the book I found on the internet. It will be titled “A Way of Wabi”.



To order the book : click here.

And now you will ask me ‘What is Wabi?’

Here is what I found at Wikipedia : ‘ Wabi-sabi represents a comprehensive Japanese world view or aesthetic centered on the acceptance of transience. The aesthetic is sometimes described as one of beauty that is “imperfect, impermanent and incomplete”.It is a concept derived from the Buddhist assertion of the Three marks of existence, specifically impermanence.’

Characteristics of the wabi-sabi aesthetic include asymmetrie, asperity, simplicity, modesty, intimacy, and the suggestion of natural processes.

Wabi stands for rustic simplicity, freshness or quietness, and can also be applied to both natural and human-made objects, or understated elegance.

Sabi is beauty or serenity that comes with age, when the life of the object and its impermanence are evidenced in its patina and wear, or in any visible repairs.

Wabi and sabi both suggest sentiments of desolation and solitude.

Wabi-sabi learns us to find the most simple objects interesting, fascinating and beautiful.

Wabi may be interpreted as the imperfect quality of any object. Sabi could be interpreted as the aspect of imperfect reliability, or limited mortality of any object.

This is of course a short explanation of the Wabi-Sabi philosophy. You can find so much more about it on the internet.

So I will remember that wabi – sabi stands for finding beauty in imperfection, that it values simplicity, pureness and modesty. Back to basics!

At The European Fine Art Fair in Maastricht, March this year, Axel Vervoordt gave us yet a glimpse into his new Wabi – Sabi world. See also my blogpost about TEFAF 2010 .

His booth at Tefaf was surprising!! It was a sort of preview of his new interior decoration philosophy!

Axel explained :” The booth is conceived in the traditional Zen concept of ‘Wabi’, which values a refined and sophisticated simplicity and which symbolizes the beauty of imperfection and incompleteness.”

Axel Vervoordt has turned this aesthetic sense into a contemporary and univeral idea that will be fully explained in his new publication “A Way of Wabi”.



TEFAF 2010 Axel Vervoordt (source Tefaf website)



TEFAF 2010 Axel Vervoordt (source Tefaf website)



TEFAF 2010 Axel Vervoordt (source Tefaf wesite)

When I visited the castle of Axel Vervoordt last summer, I noticed that a few rooms of the castle were already redone in the Wabi aesthetic sense! Just gorgeous!!! I really have to admit that it gave me a peaceful feeling! I am sorry I have no pictures of it, because we were not allowed to make pictures inside the castle. But I might think that in his new book, you will discover these rooms.

So keep your eyes open in the next coming weeks. I am sure we will see more of this new ground Axel Vervoordt breaks!

Do we, Belgians, follow Axel Vervoordt in his way to Wabi? Of course we will! He is the master, we are his disciples!

What will the world do, what will you do? Please tell me your thoughts!

xx

Axel Vervoordt’s website : www.axel-vervoordt.com

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Axel Vervoordt's Home

Belgian designer and dealer Axel Vervoordt shows us his home in a Venitian Palazzo. If you'd like to see a house I featured some time ago decorated by Axel go right here.



The home Vervoordt found and shares with his wife, May, is an apartment on the piano nobile of the 15th-century Palazzo Alverà. “You enter from the canal, but you live on the back side, with its garden, its silence, its big open windows. It’s bliss,” he comments.







New poplar floor and terra-cotta painted walls in the living room. Antique pieces—including an 18th-century Italian mirror—are mixed with contemporary ones. The 1977 oil is by Jef Verheyen.




He found the patina on an old wine table top so interesting that he decided to hang it as a work of art above an 18th-century Italian commode in the living room.



A circa 1720 Piedmontese mirror in the breakfast room is one of several Italian pieces already in the couple’s collection.




Intended for formal gatherings, the dining room can accommodate several dozen guests; it’s decorated with 19th-century frescoes.



Steps from the dining room lead to the loggia. “When you open the windows,” says Vervoordt, “it is as though you are on a covered terrace.”



As with much of the upholstered furniture in the apartment, May Vervoordt used a neutral cotton on the loggia’s chairs and sofas.

Hope you are all having a great weekend!


Photography by Mario Ciampi
All images and information from Architectural Digest.



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Lakefront House in Seattle

Architect Gregory J. Bader was in charge of renovating this shingle style house in Seattle. The interiors were decorated by Axel Vervoordt. Warm colours and elegant lines define this home with stunning views of Lake Washington. Let's take the tour.





Comfortable sofas and chairs are mixed with European antiques in the great room. An 18th-century French chest and a 1740s Italian settee flank the fireplace.




A banquette in the bay window with a stunning view of Lake Washington. An 18th-century beechwood-and-leather roundabout chair and a late-Victorian red leather barrel chair are grouped near a Regency center table.




Nineteenth-century equine paintings from the stables of a castle in Germany hang in the formal stair hall, which connects the entrance gallery with the library on the top floor. The 18th-century walnut chairs are French.




French doors open onto a terrace in the dining area on the main floor. An eclectic mix of antique seating surrounds the table. The chandelier, from the late 19th century, is Dutch.




A painting by Charles Joseph Watelet hangs above an 18th-century Venetian burl walnut desk in the library. The circa 1720 side chair is English.



A canopy bed made with circa 1780 English bedposts, a Louis XV chaise longue and a chest of drawers decorate the master bedroom on the top floor.




In the master bath, the floor and countertop are Carrara marble.



The rear elevation. The two angled wings are tied together by a terrace and broad staircases that lead down to the lawn.


Photography by Mary E. Nichols


All images and information from Architectural Digest.

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The beautiful garden of May & Axel Vervoordt

 

As a lot of you know, 2 times a year, in summer and in winter, the castle of ‘s-Gravenwezel, owned by our famous Belgian antiques dealer and decorator Axel Vervoordt, is open for public.

As I am a huge admirer of the work of Axel and his wife May, I won’t miss any opportunity to visit the castle.

I thought about you, all my readers and blogfriends, and wanted to share with you some pictures I took of the castle and its gorgeous garden! The weather was so beautiful this Friday, so I was able to take a lot of good pictures to share.

Unfortunately, we are not allowed to take pictures of the inside of the castle, that we have to respect because Axel Vervoordt and his family live in it.

I hope you will enjoy the tour of this fantastic garden!

If you want to read more about Axel Vervoordt and his castle, please visit http://www.axel-vervoordt.com.

 



The entrance gate of the castle.

 

The back of the castle.

 



The entrance.

 

   A view seen from the balcony.

 



Another view from the balcony.

Every where around the castle you notice the beautiful rhododendrons.

 

A lovely terrace in front of the entrance of the castle.

 



Isn’t that a gorgeous orangerie?!!

 

Notice the wisteria!

 



May vervoordt loves to bring in flowers and plants inside the castle. In every room of the castle you notice flowers of their own garden.

A view from inside the orangerie towards the pool.

 



I call this a still life of stones.

 

There are the rhododendrons again!

 



Me, sitting in the outhouse (one of my favorite places in the garden) in front of the pool. A wonderful place to relax!

 

Only a part of the huge kitchen garden!!

 

What do you think about the boxwood ? Beautiful isn’t it!

 





Every  where you walk you discover something surprising!

 

 

 

Throughout the garden there are places to relax…

or…

…to dinner!

 



 

 

A beautiful weathered oak table.

 







  And after spending a fantastic afternoon and enjoying the castle and the garden, we had to leave the castle!

Thankful to Axel Vervoordt and his family for sharing with us their beautiful private home, I am looking forward already to the winter exhibition!

 



xx

All pictures are taken by me.

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