The aesthetic life of Michaël Verheyden

It was a long time coming when, three weeks ago, we finally met one of Belgium’s most exciting contemporary designers, Michaël Verheyden, in his beautiful home on the edge of the industrial city of Genk, in a green area toward neighboring Hasselt. Last year, Verheyden debuted on Wallpaper* Magazine’s Power List—underscoring the widespread international recognition of his work. But even before that moment, we were very curious to learn more about his creative vision, basically from the moment we discovered his work at the beginning of 2015. The first appointment we made to meet up was scheduled for March of this year, but time and again, we were forced to reschedule due to various emerging obstacles on both sides. Eventually, we got in the car and made our way to the Belgian province of Limburg on a Friday afternoon at the beginning of June, right after a period of extreme rainfall that caused problems in northern France and different parts of Belgium.

When we arrive, Michaël is still in his jackboots, having just taken care of some minor water damage in his garden shed—his workspace for heavier work—due to the rain. It’s clear that he isn’t too impressed by the damage, though. In his mellow voice, speaking with the local soft-toned accent and with lively eyes behind his spectacles, he assures us, “It will be fine.” A sentiment he continues to embody throughout our conversation, both during and after his guided tour of the wonderful house he calls home, which he shares with his wife and business partner, Saartje Vereecke.

Although the designer has built up an international following in the design world—both (interior) design agencies and private enthusiasts—with his highly aesthetic, luxurious homeware and accessories, it is the fashion world that has played an important, recurring role in the rise of Michaël Verheyden, even before he officially started his label. While still studying industrial design in his hometown of Genk, Michaël was scouted to model for Belgian designers Walter van Beirendonck and Raf Simons, the latter being an industrial design graduate himself. Simons and Verheyden connected through these encounters, and in the midst of Verheyden’s international breakthrough, the thought-provoking avant-garde fashion designer agreed to become Verheyden’s mentor during his graduation. After finishing his studies, Verheyden—who at that time was focused on leather bags and accessories—was even asked by Simons to create a small bag collection for his Spring/Summer 2003 collection.

Inspired by these rather unusual, kickstarting experiences for a young designer, Michaël started his own label soon after, initially continuing his focus on leather goods. However, the conservative world of bags and accessories quickly proved to be too limiting for Verheyden, and he expanded his collection to include houseware in the following years—partly because he had already been designing them for his own house. Nevertheless, the leather bags and fashion world never really disappeared from the designer’s life. While he stopped making bags under his own label (though he continues to produce some leather home accessories to this day), his other designs began reaching a new, much larger audience.

The second appearance of the fashion world in Verheyden’s career materialized when, after not having worked on bags under his own label for some time, the phone rang and a certain Mr. Owens wanted to speak with him. Not entirely sure if it was ‘the’ Rick Owens, he returned the call and was, in fact, speaking to the American fashion designer, who invited him to join him in his Paris studio to work on leather goods. Verheyden shares that he did this for several seasons, in limited periods, though not recently—though he might again in the future, with hardly anyone knowing about it. Others would likely try to capitalize on working for such a high-profile name, but for Verheyden, it’s fine this way. The experience is what truly counts for him. All there is to observe for the outsider is Rizzoli’s Rick Owens book somewhere on a shelf of the bookcase in the living room as a silent hint.

Verheyden’s description of how Owens runs his operation in Paris is as inspirational for us as it must have been for him when he first discovered it firsthand. He explains that when he travels to Paris to meet the American gender-bending designer after the initial invitation over the phone, Verheyden expected the usual fashion world clichés: too many people frantically working in a small space, stressful and hectic circumstances. Instead, he finds only Owens, his wife Michèle Lamy, and a few assistants working in a serene environment. Not even on the upcoming collection in particular, but trying out different ideas, which will eventually make their way into the next collection or those to come after.

Verheyden continues: his own label, which by the end of the last decade had been distinctly defined by luxurious minimalist objects for the home, truly took off in 2009. That year, his wife Saartje officially became an equal partner in the label, allowing Verheyden to focus primarily on the design process. In the same year, the label was also granted the prestigious Henry van de Velde Young Talent Award, which helped as well. When looking at his creations, it is clear that in this period, the designer also finds perfection in his personal signature: creating with inhabiting, non-complex, well-balanced geometrical lines, made from noble, durable materials with intrinsic natural beauty like marble, wood, leather, and linen—elements he loves himself, elegantly crafted to perfection.

The designer tells us how he has been working with local Belgian workshops but continues to stress how important every little detail is in the objects created under his label. In the end, Verheyden still puts the finishing touches on each batch of his designs himself. Sandpapering, polishing by hand, getting the surface or shine of an object just right—everything that is still needed to achieve the perfection he envisions. And he does it all in his house, in one of the three workspaces, each individually equipped for different purposes. When we visit, he has just received a series of marble containers in different colors. “That still needs to be perfected,” he points out at the openings.

The particular fact alone—that his house, which in his own words also functions as his showroom, is also both his workspace and his private space—shows us how deeply his designs are ingrained in every moment of his life. Verheyden seamlessly blends work and life together in the immaculate aesthetic environment he has created for himself. A special mention goes to the beautiful paintings his wife Saartje created at the art academy, hanging in the living room and entrance of the house. The abstract works of Vereecke are stunning and add another perfect aesthetic touch to the incredible house. Although she quit painting after her studies, we hope she will pick it up again at some point.

Although Verheyden doesn’t say it directly, his words evoke the feeling that the whole process he underwent until recently was one of learning and investing—especially when it comes to the business side of running a label. He mentions how there was another partner at one point, when he ran a store in Antwerp for several years, but that it didn’t work out and had to be closed in 2012, bringing with it some hard lessons. While he briefly touches on it, he seems very subdued. It was obviously unwanted, but he dealt with it. Verheyden’s life seems to be about learning from the challenges that arise, dealing with them in the appropriate manner, drawing relevant conclusions for the future, and moving forward. There’s no room for doubt. It’s all about focus. And he expresses how, at this moment, he finally feels that the hard work is paying off. Both in terms of the collection having taken shape as he envisioned from the beginning, and in the business reaching a point where he can slowly begin to harvest what he has so carefully sown over the years.

And then it’s time for us to get back in the car to Utrecht. As we say our goodbyes to Michaël and Saartje in his extraordinary kitchen, with its sand-colored marble worktop and kitchen island, it turns out that two friends of Verheyden have already arrived on the driveway behind the house. The designer explains that he’ll be jamming with them for the next few hours, which reminds us of the guitar in his office, standing there so aesthetically. We don’t know what kind of music they make together (maybe something Velvet Underground-like, since above the guitar hung a Hedi Slimane Sonic exhibition poster of Lou Reed in the office), but whatever it is, it will very likely fall within the same realm of everything else we’ve encountered during the last hour or so: immaculately aesthetic, well-balanced, considered, yet wayward.

Maybe somewhat like Verheyden’s first experiences at Rick Owens’ atelier, it inspired us deeply to see how the designer’s house has been transformed into his perfect environment. Without a doubt, more beautiful creations are on the way—very likely being crafted or perfected as we speak, in that immaculate aesthetic biotope on the edge of Genk.

Portrait of Michaël: © Michaël Verheyden by Diego Franssens.

For the work of Michaël Verheyden see here >