The Biennale Interieur in Kortrijk is a curated design show with regional roots and European relevance. Many of the exhibitors are from Belgium and the Netherlands, but other regions like Denmark, Italy and Portugal are well-represented, touching many different backgrounds. It is a nice gem in the busy world’s design program of the fall season, and as the show CEO Jo Libeer said: “Unlike some other European massive design shows, where people are always running or on the telephone, it has to be visited slowly to appreciate the Biennale atmosphere and enjoy good design.”
Alongside visitors from the trades, the public is mostly composed by design experts, enthusiasts and design students. One of the benefits of a curated show is that the plan, designed by the architects Kersten Geers and David Van Severen of the Brussels-based architectural practice OFFICE, utilized different carpeting colours to organize the five pavilions in a continuous rational space, easy to walk without getting lost.
Terra
This year, Biennale Interieur boasted five specially-designed bars/restaurants, one for every pavilion, that were the results of the winners from the Spaces Category from the Interieur Awards (which has itself been a part of the show since 1970). For the second edition of this format, the Spaces Category has been focused on a bar/restaurant design with a clear connection between design and food. For example, the Terra project, by Carolien Pasmans, Bram Aerts and Claudio Saccucci of TRANS Architectuur en Stedenbouw in Ghent, was a minimalist bar concept made with concrete blocks and a variety of mushrooms growing in a centrally placed field, symbolizing “our coming together around nature and food.”
Mrs Rocha│Movecho
Intended for sitting areas in public spaces, both exterior and interior, Mrs Rocha is available in two different colours, a natural amber and a dark burned finishing, and made from pressed sheets of cork derived from off-cuts from the manufacture of wine bottle stoppers – a clever material source for a Portuguese company that specializes in its use. Designers Alzir a Peixoto and Carlos Mendonça were inspired by maritime landscapes made of a free disposition of stones. www.movecho.pt
Medousê & Gocce di Luce │Catellani & Smith
Enzo Catellani has designed his first collection of outdoor lights, in response to the trend of living spaces move outside onto terraces and gardens. Hand-shaped glass plays a starring role in this collection: Medousê is made of two overlapping glass hemispheres which is green when switched off and white when switched on; Gocce di luce (which means “drops of light”) is supported by oxidized copper rods, and seem to magically emerge from the surrounding landscape. They move and sway with each gust of wind and appear to become the fruits of a tree. www.catellanismith.com
Little Bird│Normann Copenhagen
Little Bird is a range of irresistible decorative figures, designed by Jan Christian Delfs and turned in wood with the beak as the sole detail. There are six different sizes in range, with tiny design-related variations giving the birds personality. Sold individually, the birds are and are available in pure oak or in lacquered colour. www.normann-copenhagen.com
Modern│Orac Decor
In this new collection, designed by Orio Tonini, Orac is interpreting modernism in angular and sharp lines, breaking traditions and conventions, and focusing more than ever on the symbiosis between architecture and decoration. Finding inspiration in the work of modernists such as Philip Johnson, Le Corbusier, Mies van der Rohe and Louis Kahn, and consisting of indirect lighting profiles, cornice mouldings, skirting, and 3-D ornaments, the products are all made in advance polymers ready to install and paint. www.oracdecor.com
Musset 88│Sammode
Musset 88 is an exceptional interpretation of Sammode tube lighting, made by Normal Studio to celebrate Sammode’s 88th anniversary. It is a limited edition, in 88 numbered copies, of Sammode’s symbolic bright tube used mostly for industrial purposes. The designers substitute the traditional brilliant stainless steel finishing with a surface treatment that is ordinarily used in industry or military spatial applications. For a soft filtration of the light for domestic applications, stainless steel netting is integrated with a geometrical design. www.sammode.com
Bolon by You│Bolon
Bolon by You is an innovative new interactive flooring concept that personalises Bolon’s product on a large scale. Using a variety of graphic tools, it lets the designer create whatever flooring suits the project. The collection features six patterns, four warp colours and 12 weft colours. By mixing these three elements in different combinations a vast selection of potential designs becomes available, for orders from 50 square meters. www.bolon.com
A’dammer│Pastoe
If you come from Amsterdam you are called an A’dammer and you “do things differently.” You approach familiar things from a different angle. In that spirit, Pastoe put a new twist on its traditional A’dammer cabinet: the A’dammer Twist is a result of a 90 degrees tilt. Just like the people in Amsterdam, the A’dammer comes in many colours, even mixed, and is available in any duotone combination without additional expense. www.pastoe.com
Mais plus que cela je ne peux pas / More than this, I am not able│Nemo Lighting
“There are fewer suicides among porn stars than architects. Whose fault is it? Is it a decrease in performance? A lack of ideas? Imaginary suffocation from cultural anorexia? The real adventure is putting the matter under a dictatorship of mathematics to let it talk, why not question more, that bitch!” The essence of Rudy Ricciotti’s work defined in his debut lighting project is a brutal, non-conformist and radical reducer of a clear environmental imprint — a manifesto project against design and the drawing of objects. His lamp is a section of I beam, available in indoor and outdoor versions. www.nemolighting.com
Renson Skye│Renson
Skye is a new terrace covering fitted with rotatable and retractable aluminium blades in the roof, offering protection against the sun, rain and wind. Thanks to a smartphone app it is possible to remotely open and shut the roof blades. Skye can be assembled as a stand-alone, fixed against an external façade, built-in or integrated between to walls, with all fixations, wiring and anchors concealed. In addition, it can be equipped with LED lighting in the columns or on the profiles, as well as a design beam with heating elements, integrated speakers, and can be customized in a multitude of colours and dimensions. www.renson.eu
Decapo-table│Mass-a
Designed by Bert Masselus, this multi-functional indoor/outdoor table is meant to integrate both a standing and sitting position, and can be used in an office for an informal meeting or even in a private residence. The structure is made in powder coated aluminum and stainless steel in two colours: black and white. The seats are in dry foam and acrylic upholstery, weather proof and stain free. www.mass-a.be
Pallone Paradise│Leolux
Every few years, Leolux revitalizes the look of its Pallone classic. The new Paradise series, designed by Roy de Scheemaker in 1989, combines eight trendy colour combinations. Birds inspired the new series with colours that are sometimes simple, sometimes extravagant. Artist Olaf Hajek painted eight of these birds – Yellow Chat, Flycatcher, Rosefinch and others — and Leolux trend experts based the new colour combinations on the paintings he made. www.leolux.com