At home with Michael Verheyden | Limburg Design

“Passionate about rock music, but probably also inspired by silence” A beautiful quote I keep seeing when it comes to Michaël Verheyden and his work. Maybe it is the silence he loves, calmness is what I noticed last week when being invited at the home he and his wife Saartje Vereecke live and work.

Having coffee, with cherry pie at Michaëls home was part of a Belgium design tour I attended organized by Cosmosie, the Ideation and Production Agency led by by Christiaan Kastrop and Christophe De Schauvre. The tour brought us to different design hotspots, factory’s, historical monuments, some of the best restaurants and hotels of Limburg and designer homes, including the home of Michaël Verheyden.

Michaël gave us a small tour through his home, atelier and workspace where I spotted a huge Rick Owens book, and a guitar and picture of Lou Reed on the wall showing his love for music. We made some pictures at the two small workspaces, and after showing the picture I made that showed a glimpse of a quote and a previous talk about Rick Owens we had, he turned his workspace ‘upside down’ to show me the whole Rick Owens quote.

In his workspace he works on prototypes and with different materials… actually Michaël is using all the materials I love, like marble, metal, leather, linen, wood and bronze all combined with simple geometric forms.

Some years ago I wrote a blogpost about mixed material, where I mentioned the work of Rick Owens and Michaël Verheyden being beautiful examples of mixing different materials in one collection or design and I still remember his large stand at Maison & Objet. During coffee he actually told us that many new designers choose to hire a small two meter corner at a fair and how he thinks that’s a mistake as people might not notice you at all and just pass by. Read my former blogpost here: Maison et Objet 2013 | Mixed Materials
Michaël Verheyden studied industrial design, and was a model for fashion designer Raf Simons for whom he also did some design work, and being best known for his design handbags which have included collaborations with other brands, such as Rick Owens, Michaël launched his own line of fashion accessories in 2002.

After getting into their new home Michaël and his wife found themselves without any budget and decided to design their own furniture and got it produced by people they know. In order to build a business with a worldwide reputation he launched a range furniture and home accessories from candlesticks and vessels to seating and objets d’art.

Many of his work could be find in his living and kitchen where we had a coffee and a talk… from what we heard Michaël enjoyed us visiting his home as much as we did.

Pictures | 1-5 vosgesparis | 3 Michael Verheyden | 6-10 Renaat Nijs #limblogdesigntour