21 Aug '13

Style innovator's difficult path

5438
door RK
Architect and designer Henry Van de Velde was born 150 years ago. Van de Velde was one of the leading representatives of Art Nouveau in Belgium, laid the foundations for the school from which the Bauhaus school of design emerged, founded La Cambre arts school and created timeless furniture.

Architect and designer Henry Van de Velde was born 150 years ago. Van de Velde was one of the leading representatives of Art Nouveau in Belgium, laid the foundations for the school from which the Bauhaus school of design emerged, founded La Cambre arts school in Brussels and created timeless furniture that fits in perfectly with modern homes. He had a huge international impact on architecture, interior decoration, design and arts education. He lived for a while in Tervuren, where he and his wife are buried together. As Van de Velde himself can no longer be interviewed we turned to Werner Adriaenssens, curator of the major exhibition Henry van de Velde, Passion - Function – Beauty, to outline for us the life and work of Van de Velde. 'Most people quite rightly associate the name of Van de Velde with architecture but the man represents so much more than just the one discipline.' (RK, sep 2013)