The Spanish language and culture is found all over the world: 450 million people speak Spanish in no less than 20 countries. The language usually conjures up images of sun-drenched scenery but from now on it may also make people think of the Instituto Cervantes.

The address is Belliardstraat 58, smack in the middle of Brussels, and the banner at the entrance to the Goethe Institut welcomes visitors with the message: Language. Culture. Germany. A brief yet powerful statement summing up what the establishment represents.

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.

We have to travel way back in time for the latest instalment in our series about the local cinema halls of yesteryear in the Rand. 93-year-old Pierre Roobaert from Lot can still remember going to the Cinema Kok on a regular basis when he was an eight-year-old boy back in1928.

The milliner Kathleen Robberechts’ home is the venue for a variety of workshops she organises for various associations. She designs party and summer hats on the basis of commissions.

He was 13 years old when he first heard the legendary musical work The Rite of Spring by Stravinsky. It was then that he made up his mind about wanting to be a composer. Luc Brewaeys from Vilvoorde never lost sight of that aim and he is now acknowledged as one of Belgium's leading composers.

A Lambic beer is more than your average beer. As well as having a rich history, the beverage is brewed with passion and goes down a storm with beer lovers.

It was nearly 25 years ago that the goldsmiths Krista and Grety Vandevelde starting working together in their impressive Grimbergen workshop. The items they produce there may form one single collection but they each have their own signature.

Running a shop selling CDs in the year 2013 might strike some people as not being such a clever idea. ‘The big hitters in the music industry might be running into trouble but the music itself is doing better than ever’, say Mark Steyaert, who owns four shops specialising in classical music and jazz.

As part of our nostalgic harking back to the local cinemas halls of yesteryear in the Rand we recently paid a visit to Asse. As a child Lilian Goossens' world seemed to be populated by highly colourful posters and row after row of people shuffling into the cinema.

Akkerdjieje, akkerdjieje (Goddamn it, goddamn it): a blast from the past. This expletive used to be uttered by one of the many TV characters the Flemish actor Paul Ricour played long before Mega Mindy, the gnome Plop & Samson overran our screens.

Jean-Paul De Greef from Sint-Genesius-Rode produces organs with wooden pipes. No mean feat considering how little information there is on this subject, so he personally has had to do quite a bit of investigating in this area.

Kinema Elisabeth in Asse, Cinema Minerva in Sint-Pieters-Leeuw, the Ideal in Lot, the Novy in Vilvoorde. All local cinema halls to which the locals eagerly opened their hearts, as opportunities for finding friends and love.

The Rand is the home and workplace of a very mixed bag of artists and craftspeople. In our new series Workshops in the Rand we demonstrate the variety,…