belgium Gate Crashing lifestyle Baggage Check fashion Macadam

volume 01 — issue 04
Neighbourhood Life + Global Style
lifestyle
Baggage Check
fashion
Macadam Boulevard
Do not throw on the public domain.
belgium
Gate Crashing
— the ultimate getaway —
design
Handle with Care
culture
Bubble Superstar
editor's letter
We had big, very big ideas for our Getaway issue. Zooming in on
the interiors of Belgium-bound private jets, getting an exclusive
peak at the Eurostar’s heavy-guarded control room, Top-Gearing
it down the airport’s runway or even spending a weekend with the
nation’s trucking cognoscenti were just some of the many ideas we
threw around. Until, that is, we remembered that we merely were
The Word.
The Word is
Nicholas Lewis
Advertising
Benoit Berben
Editor-at-Large
Hettie Judah
Indeed, authorizations to get granted access to control rooms –
even if only Gare du Midi’s – are hard to come by, Falcon owners
are not too keen to publicize their ownership of gas-guzzling flying
roadsters and airports didn’t, for some reason, warm up to the idea
of The Word’s fashion pack descending upon their runways – a
small concern regarding something called security apparently.
Design
Delphine Dupont
+ pleaseletmedesign
Photography / Illustration
Geneviève Balasse
Erwin Borms
Sarah Eechaut
Sarah Michielsen @ Outlandish
Opération Panda
Yassin Serghini
Gaëlle Sutour
Not to worry though, we found better alternatives…
For our Belgium section, we get a fi rst-hand account of the country’s
most notorious prison escape and reminisce on the pride that is
having a home-grown airline. We roam around a ghost town outside
of Antwerp in a souped-up El Camino for our Fashion spread whilst
our Design pages see us call-in products from L.A to Milan – we
couldn’t resist telling you - for our newspaper-wrapped design shoot.
Writers
Alex Deforce
Hettie Judah
Nicholas Lewis
Julien Mourlon
Séverine Vaissaud
Randa Wazen
So whether it be behind your Mac screen in a dim-lit studio or with
a Strawberry Daiquiri on Salinas, make sure to enjoy these next
two summer months. Just don’t forget to take The Word with you
as it sure could do with a little sun.
See you back in September for our Delectable Foodie issue.
Thank You’s
Thibault Caizergues
Karen Dacre
Anna Machkevitch
Melisande McBurnie
Sue Munday
Valérie Radelet
Jean Jacques Radelet
Mum & AJ
The Word is Yours.
Nicholas Lewis
Reproduction, in whole or in
part, without prior permission
is strictly prohibited.
All information correct up to the
time of going to press.
The publishers cannot be held
liable for any changes in this
respect after this date.
© Sarah Eechaut
The Word is published six times
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1040 Brussels Belgium.
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THE FOURTH WORD — 5
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6 — THE FOURTH WORD
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8 — THE FOURTH WORD
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It's a
Word's
World
Lalo Gonzalez
Photographer
Lalo’s on to big things, so we
made sure to catch up with him
before he left our shores for
brighter and bigger ones. A
fashion photographer working
out of Brussels, we asked him
for a Steve McQueen/American
road trip feel. He came back
with better, much better.
—
Erwin Borms
Photographer
We’re suckers for anything
remotely linked to instant
photography –Polaroids more
precisely - and Erwin masters it
like no other. For our Getaway
issue, we asked him to photograph the outer packaging of
outsized cargo consignments.
He delivered.
—
Pages n° 62, 63
Pages n° 48, 49, 50, 51, 52,
53, 54, 55, 56, 57
Alex Deforce
Writer
The brains behind the excellent
on-point.be website, our man
Alex is one passionate and funkfuelled soulster, bringing his
many fans the best in unedited,
high-browed and thoughtprovoking video wizardry.
A journalist in the purest of
forms, Alex is one of those cats
you know will go places so we
had to catch up with him whilst
we still could. In the back of a
stolen BMW that is.
—
Pages n° 28, 29, 30
Geneviève Balasse
Photographer
Geneviève is building quite
some reputation for herself
as the portraitist-in-chief for
Belgium’s burgeoning Hip Hop
scene. Be it concerts, MC battles or jams, it seems her lens
is always fi rmly focused on the
man – or woman – with the
microphone. For The Word’s
summer getaway, we asked her
to shoot a travel agent. Don’t
ask, she simply was the best
suited to do so.
—
Page n° 96
Julien Mourlon
Writer
The Word contributor from
day one, Julien is a man of many
trades. Be it his eponymous
Laid-Back Radio Show or his
podcast-brilliant website of the
same name, our man can’t seem
to stay still for longer than a
Guilty Simpson mix. For The
Word, he mainly specializes,
with partner-in-crime Alex
Deforce, in the small yet
sublime and this month’s article
on the country’s most infamous
prison escape is no exception.
—
Pages n° 28, 29, 30
10 — THE FOURTH WORD
the diary
the diary
The Next Few Weeks’
Agenda Fillers
Belgium,
Expo Beat Streuli
À Until 19 th October 2008
☞ Museum of Contemporary
Arts, Hornu
Fresh Graphics
As the summer heat sets in, take
in the fifth edition of Art Trek,
a no fuss showcase presenting
the works of fourteen young
graphic and illustrative artists
from all corners of the globe. A
mash up of traditional media
such as painting, drawing, stenciling, silk-screening, computerdesigned drawings and collages,
the exhibition brings a unique
look at the graphic aesthetic of
the new generation. So be sure
to stop by the Mekanik comic
book store to discover this
unconventional mix of cultures
and styles, get up to date with
the contemporary alternative
art scene or just simply stock up
on a healthy dose of creativity.
We know we will.
12 — THE FOURTH WORD
Open Continent
Another summer season,
another Summer of Photography. Bringing together some of
the nation’s foremost cultural institutions – Antwerp’s
Fotomuseum and Charleroi’s
Photography Museum to
name but a few - the initiative
presents a wealth of works
within the realm of photography. It is within this visual
festival that Brussels’ Centre for
Fine Arts’ exhibition, Opening
Maps, showcases the work of
major Latin American photographers and their subjective
perspectives on the outside
world. Over 200 photographs
are selected, making a fi ne job
out of revealing a unifying link
in all the artists’ work and of
the wider continent’s overall
photographic aesthetic. One
you’re sure to catch The Word
bunch at.
‡
Opening Maps – Contemporary
Photography in Latin America
À Until 21st September 2008
☞ Centre for Fine Arts,
Brussels
© Vik Muniz
Beat Fanatic
The in-betweeners
www.art-trek.be
Beat Streuli photographs cities,
their streets and their people.
What sets him apart though
is his knack for capturing the
lot from afar, whilst at the
same time showing them in the
intimacy of their surroundings.
A Swiss today living in Brussels,
†
© Beat Streuli and Galerie Erna Hécey, Bruxelles
‡
Art Trek – The Fifth Generation
À From 2nd August until 13 th
September 2008
☞ Galerie Mekanik, Antwerp
†
…
www.mac-s.be
Summer I Cube@ Photo Gallery, until 3rd August 2008
Outdoor exhibition of emerging Belgian photographers’ work, from
View Photography magazine’s very own Stephan De Broyer to Word
favourite Lionel Samain.
…
Streuli manages to give a sense
of fragility to the protagonists
in his pictures without omitting their busy backdrop, the
city. For his exhibition at the
Museum of Contemporary Art,
he makes judicious use of the
venue’s wide structures, thus
creating several different spaces
and atmospheres. It has become
increasingly difficult to stay in
Brussels over the weekend and
it seems that this exhibition will
make it even harder.
© Max-o-matic
As you’re about to notice, the
Belgian section of our diary
took somewhat of a beating this
month. Rest assured though, this
is not – we repeat, not – because of our country’s supposed
cultural shortcomings. Quite the
contrary actually. We simply
thought that, this being our Getaway issue, we’d slightly tailor the
agenda to reflect those cities we’re
likely to find you in over the summer. And we’ll be back to our
usual pickings in September.
www.bozar.be
THE FOURTH WORD — 13
the diary
© Johan Muyle
ˆ
© T.Kelly Mason
‰
ˆ
Š
Paradise City
Belgian contemporary artist
Johan Muyle presents a body of
20 new and never seen before
works – with everything from
casted self-portraits, dressed
skeletons and robots - in this
exhibition at Brussels’ Centre
for Fine Arts. Muyle uses travelling souvenirs, stuff from flea
markets and even objects found
over the internet to create mixed
installations and eccentric
object compositions. His work
often containing a touch of witty
– and some would even say at
times cynic – observations, this
one is sure to get a smile out of
you if anything else.
Sioux in paradise – Johan Muyle
À Until 21st September 2008
☞ Centre for Fine Arts,
Brussels
www.bozar.be
© Veerle Beckers courtesy Hoet Bekaert gallery
‰
‹
Sound Lights
American-born artist T. Kelly
Mason’s third solo exhibition
at Galerie Catherine Bastide
is a soothing yet stimulating
affair. Her hung-from-ceiling
poetic installations – although
in times extremely bright –,
leaning slivers of colour and
sculptural light boxes exude
an intrinsic calmness about
them whilst at the same time
revealing the artist’s penchant
for random yet witty wordplays. Religiously using light
and colour as her starting base,
Mason manages to incorporate
graphic and interior design
as well as thought-provoking
writings to form a high-spirited
visual conundrum of sorts.
Being somewhat suckers for all
types of creative thinking and
writing, we especially liked her
‘Can a Colour Name a Person’
light box.
© Miarti Guixé
Who are The Luminaries of Our
Time – T. Kelly Mason
À Until 20 th September 2008
☞ Galerie Catherine Bastide,
Brussels
www.catherinebastide.com
14 — THE FOURTH WORD
Fragile
À Until 31st August 2008
☞ Hoet Bekaert Gallery, Ghent
www.iets.be
‹
Cross Stich & Violence @ Gallery Excellence, until 31st August 2008
Installations and broderies at what probably is the country's best stocked
video club.
Š
Handle with Care
Ghent’s ever-so-hard-working
Hoet Bekaert gallery puts on
yet another one of its quirky
initiatives with its summer long
show, Fragile. Based in the
city’s former Vespa factory –
although taking place in and
around the gallery itself - the
showcase primarily highlights
the creations of young and fresh
talent, some from the gallery’s
portfolio as well as others not
linked to it. Taking in such
varied disciplines as visual arts,
design, food, fi lm and music,
this promises to be a mix-andmatch delight of the highest
order. What is more – and
true to the gallery’s reputation
for going that step further in
bringing us the best of art – it
has partnered up with an uberconceptual catering company
in order to tempt your taste
buds into staying a little longer.
That’ll be us!
Free Reign
For its summer program, Wallonia’s Grand-Hornu gives
design maestro Marti Guixé
complete carte blanche over its
North Wing and vast gardens.
Of Catalonian origin and now
splitting his time between
Barcelona and Berlin, Guixé
is big on radical – sometimes
rebellious – ideas, using his
creations as unconventional
statements on today’s consuming society. The work he
presents in Grand-Hornu is a
slight departure from his more
commercially-attuned works,
focusing on fi re, celebration
and public spaces to re-explore
his universe.
Marti Guixé – Open End
À Until 5th October 2008
☞ Site du Grand-Hornu
www.grand-hornu-images.be
the diary
the diary
United Kingdom,
Psycho Buildings
À Until 25th August 2008
☞ The Hayward, London
Richard Prince: Continuation
À Until 7th September 2008
☞ The Serpentine Gallery,
London
Love
À From 24th July
until 5th October 2008
☞ The National Gallery, London
www.serpentinegallery.co.uk
www.ng-london.org.uk
…‡
…‰
www.haywardgallery.org.uk
Conceptualism, elegance and a
very Dutch humour is what sets
the work of Haute Couture grandees Viktor & Rolf apart. Renowned for their larger-than-life
catwalk shows – their 1999 one,
Russian Doll, consisted of the
pair painstakingly dressing up a
model with 10 independent layers before their catwalk guests
– the designers have fi rmly
blurred the boundaries between
art and fashion. The exhibition at London’s Barbican – the
fi rst of its kind dedicated to the
Dutch duo in the UK – reaffi rms
their position at the avant-garde
end of the spectrum by presenting pieces from Launch, their
miniature representations of
their ambitions and aspirations,
created back in 1996. We
already loved them before and
simply adore them now.
www.barbican.org.uk
Brussels Beach, until 17th August 2008
For those of us confined to the city’s concrete jungle during what promises to be a hot
summer, the city of Brussels lays out, once again, its artifi cial beach. Yeah!
© Victor & Rolf
© Stephen White courtesy of Do Ho Sun and
Lehmann Maupin Gallery, New York
Fashion Royalty
The House of Viktor & Rolf
À Until 21st September 2008
☞ Barbican Art Gallery, London
© Mitra Tabrizian
Love Actually
Industrial Facility
Some Recent Projects
À Until 28 th September 2008
☞ Design Museum, London
……
16 — THE FOURTH WORD
…ˆ
Although greatly inspired by it,
artists sometimes find difficulty
in depicting – and indeed expressing – their feelings of love.
Even more difficult, however, is
the issue of conveying its complexity and intensity through the
simple appliance of a brushstroke. Sifting through the works
of everyone from Vermeer and
Chagall to Emin and The Singh
Twins, the exhibition does a fine
job of showcasing those artists
whose work was – and still is – an
interpretation and understanding of what love means to them.
We’re always of the opinion that
the world could do with a little
more love so what more could we
wish for than a whole exhibition
dedicated to the subject?

……
Prince Perfect
Richard Prince’s fi rst major
exhibition in a UK gallery
presents a wide spectrum of
the artist’s work, spanning a
30 year career. Selecting a
uniquely personal body of work
in close collaboration with the
gallery’s superstar director and
co-director – Julia PeytonJones and Hans Ulrich Obrist
– the exhibition showcases
highlights of Prince’s prolific
career as well as more recent
works in painting, photography
and sculpture. With his own
collection of art, furniture,
memorabilia and books also
on show, the exhibition reveals
a more intimate streak to this
grandee of classic American
descend. Not to be missed.
www.designmuseum.org
Ž
…†
…†
© Richard Prince
Psycho Walls
London’s Hayward Gallery celebrates its 40th anniversary this
year and, befitting its reputation
as a forward-thinking arts venue,
has asked 10 international artists
to transform its gallery space
for the occasion. Artists such as
Korea’s Do Ho Suh and the UK’s
Rachel Whiteread have been
invited to revisit the gallery’s
many rooms, staircases and terraces with habitat-like structures
and architectural creations.
Radically altering the gallery’s
interior and exterior design, the
exhibition presents works which
are as much about the mental
and perceptual as they are about
the physical. A guaranteed summer favourite for all your Pradawearing architects out there.
…‡
© Cy Twombly
Ž
White Goods
Industrial Facility – a design
studio made up of designers Sam
Hecht and Ippei Matsumoto as
well as architect Kim Colin - is
given a summer long exhibition
of its own at London’s Design
Museum. The prolific design
office – with over 50 items designed for Japanese retailer Muji
and countless commissions from
Established&Sons, Yamaha and
the likes – has become one of
the major creative forces when it
comes to mass-produced goods,
including everything from
coffee makers to stationary and
kitchen ware. The exhibition
also including Hecht’s “Under a
Fiver” collection of items, we’ve
already booked our Eurostar
ticket over to the Big Smoke.
Constructed Reality
We sometimes feel we give
slightly too much importance to
the art of photography – in our
diary as well as in the magazine
as a whole – but we’re confident
you’ll excuse us after seeing
the work of Iranian-British
photographer and fi lm-maker
Mitra Tabrizian. Her largescale prints – dealing with
everything from the rise of
corporate culture to nomadism
and the idea of homeland –
portray a different side to life in
Iran, one which is far removed
from pre-conceived misconceptions and manages to shed
light on lesser-known aspects of
Iranian life. With her work and
approach reminding us of Word
favourite Gregory Crewdson’s
photographic productions, we’re
pretty sure this is one name
which will keep on popping up.
And so it should.
Seasonal Cycles
Organised to coincide with his
80th birthday, Tate Modern
puts on yet another blockbuster
show celebrating American artist Cy Twombly’s many works.
Twombly - who mainly paints,
draws and sculpts - has had a
prolific career, going through
several significant moments
to produce some remarkably
timeless and classical oeuvres.
This exhibition – the first of
its kind in the UK for the past
15 years – provides a carefully selected overview of the
artist’s work, from the 1950’s
to the present day, and will
showcase key series such as
the Ferragosto paintings and
Twombly’s enormous Veil
works. Essential viewing for
any self-respecting modernist
out there.
Follow the Leader
A crucial figure in the Vienna
Art Nouveau movement, Gustav
Klimt was – and still is – one of
the world’s most influential and
revered artists, as hard-working
as he was innovative. Indeed,
the artist – whose genius touched
everything from paintings, murals
and sketches – was also a leading
figure of the Viennese Secession,
a progressive group of artists and
artisans driven by the desire to
revisit and renew. Part of its celebration as the European Capital
of Culture 2008, Tate Liverpool
puts together an immaculatelycurated exhibition befitting such
an artist’s reputation. Although
Liverpool is slightly further than
London when travelling from
Brussels, this somehow won’t
seem to be a problem this time.
Mitra Tabrizian: This is that Place
À Until 10 th August 2008
☞ Tate Britain, London
Cy Twombly:
Cycles and Seasons
À Until 14th September 2008
☞ Tate Modern, London
Gustav Klimt:
Painting, Design and Modern
Life in Vienna 1900
À Until 31st August 2008
☞ Tate Liverpool, Liverpool
www.tate.org.uk
www.tate.org.uk
www.tate.org.uk
…ˆ
© The Singh Twins

Œ
…‰
© Gustave Klimt
© Philip Karlberg
Œ
THE FOURTH WORD — 17
the diary
the diary
…‹
Vivienne Westwood:
The Exhibition
À Until 21st September 2008
☞ Millennium Gallery, Sheffield
Reconstructing Reality
Sarah Morris observes, recreates and reenacts situations
and environments based on her
canny and intimate observations. Working both in fi lm and
painting, the internationallyrecognized artist presents, just
in time for the Beijing Olympics,
an exciting new body of work in
Jay Jopling’s gallery. From her
‘Rings’ and ‘Origami’ paintings
– focusing on the city’s congested arteries known as Ring
Roads - or her ‘1972’ movie
– in which she fi lms the man in
charge of projecting worrying
scenarios which could jeopardize the Olympics’ safety - , one
thing about Morris is that she is
determinedly focused. An alltoo-rare feat nowadays.
Sarah Morris - Lesser Panda
À Until 6th September 2008
☞ White Cube Mason’s Yard,
London
www.whitecube.com
18 — THE FOURTH WORD
…Œ
…
© Malick Sidibé @ Foam
…‹
© Boubacar Touré Mandémory, Courtesy of the artist
www.sheffieldgalleries.org.uk
Judgment Day
Southern Players
††
Visual History
Bringing together an impressive cast of some 35 African
artists and photographers,
Amsterdam’s Stedelijk Museum
once again lays it down proper.
Showcasing the works of some
of the continent’s better known
artists, the exhibition reveals
their response to the huge
economical, social and cultural
changes taking place in Africa.
From Malinese photographer
Malick Sidibé (see next entry)
to Egyptian one Hala Elkoussy,
the exhibition also manages
to – from the little we know be a true representation of the
overall and general current state
of affairs on the vast continent.
Make sure you drop by if you
happen to be in Amsterdam
over the summer.
New Orleans’ Superdome has
over the years been the epicentre of the Southern American
State of Louisiana, although it
has sometimes been so for all
the wrong reasons (last year’s
Hurricane Katrina being the
most recent one). But it is often
forgotten that this same Superdome has hosted numerous Super
Bowls, held a Rolling Stone
concert, welcomed Pope Jean
Paul II and even the Republican
Party’s yearly Convention. All
this has inspired artist MarcOlivier Wahler to compose five
solo shows which make a fine act
of balancing entertainment and
desolation, decibels and prayers
and high-tech and chaos. We like
ours conceptual and this one is
all of that.
Snap Judgments – New
Positions in Contemporary
African Photography
À Until 30 th September 2008
☞ Stedelijk Museum,
Amsterdam
Superdome
À Until 24th August 2008
☞ Palais de Tokyo, Paris
The Image Revealed,
the first photographs on paper
in Great Britain
À Until 7th September 2008
☞ Musée d’Orsay, Paris
www.palaisdetokyo.com
www.musee-orsay.fr
www.stedelijk.nl
†…
…
Two-for-Ones
Photographer Malick Sidibé is
widely known for having been
one of the fi rst African photographers to have gained respect
in the West. The exhibition
put together by Amsterdam’s
ever-excellent Foam gallery
makes clear why this is the case,
with an impressive selection
of the artist’s work. From his
early Chemises - pasting party
pictures he took on coloured
sheets of card – to his studio
work photographing the Malinese working class, the show
confi rms the artist’s reputation
as the ‘grand daddy’ of African
photography.
Chemises – Malick Sidibé
À Until 15th October 2008
☞ Foam Gallery, Amsterdam
www.foam.nl
Put simply, this exhibition
showcases the most remarkable of works by early British
photographers, bringing to
light their unique quality and
diversity. Revealing a very
British aesthetic, it introduces
visitors to the fondness early
British photographers held for
landscapes and rural traditions,
exhibiting photographs of ruins
and Roman engravings. Separated in three, time-specific
sections, Paris’ Musée d’Orsay
brings a mammoth of an exhibition to its rooms, with over 120
never-before-seen photographs
being shown. A defi nite mustsee if you happen to catch the
Thalys to Paris one weekend.
© Didier Barroso
…Œ
†…
Industrial Sculpting
César was a renowned French
sculptor who religiously explored the formal and expressive
possibilities of industrial materials. What is more, he played
an instrumental role in pressing
jewellery brand Cartier to open
an exhibition space which would
allow artists to develop certain
projects in complete freedom,
culminating in the Fondation
Cartier. For the 10th anniversary of the sculptor’s death, the
institution asked Jean Nouvel
– its in-house architect and close
friend of César – to select a
representative body of work for
the purpose of the exhibition.
With over 100 pieces exhibited
bringing a fresh perspective on
the artist’s work, the exhibition
perfectly highlights the genius,
innovation and radicalism of
César’s work.
© Angelos
…Š
God Save The Queen
Does she still need an introduction? Birthmother to the
punk movement, married to
Sex Pistols manager Malcom
McLaren, mother of Joseph
Corre, founder of luxury lingerie label Agent Provocateur...
and the name-dropping could
go on. But it is her fashion label
which is the most enduring
testament to the designer’s talent, passion and commitment.
Unashamedly non-conformist,
Westwood has made a career
out of disrupting the fashion
industry’s need for pristine
– sometimes generic – collections. Providing the last chance
to see the V&A’s blockbuster
exhibition in the UK before it
closes, Sheffield’s Millennium
Gallery plays host to the work
of the grand lady of punk.
© Rankin
…Š
& France.
††
© National Gallery of Art, Washington
Holland,
César, Anthologie by Jean Nouvel
À Until 26th October 2008
☞ Fondation Cartier, Paris
www.fondation.cartier.com
THE FOURTH WORD — 19
the diary
Fine Bedding the getaway papers
the getaway papers
The
Getaway
Papers
— There’s a slight riff of nostalgia to this month’s Papers.
We take a trip down memory lane at the country’s favorite
amusement park, fulfill a childhood dream 10,000ft above
ground and discover the pleasures – and unassuming
luxury – that are single room bed & breakfasts.
All this on one mean-looking, Indian-made Bullet350.
Just because we could.
Writers Hettie Judah, Nicholas Lewis and Randa Wazen
Photography Yassin Serghini
22 — THE FOURTH WORD
Fine Bedding
Justine Glanfield is not the kind of Bed &
Breakfast landlady that you’re likely to catch
frying kippers with her curlers in. A former
knitwear designer for Burberry and Burberry Prorsum, she moved to Brussels with
her artist-photographer husband Vincent
Fournier after having fallen in love with the
city during an antique buying trip.
In fact, buying antiques seems to have become her primary occupation since moving
to the city; she’s one of those infuriating people that still seems to be able to fi nd elegant
bargains at the Place du Jeu de Balle, long after the rest of the world has stopped visiting it
in the belief that it’s full of over-priced junk.
The five story house that the couple have
bought in the Châtelain area of Ixelles is a
testament to her fine eye – it’s full of sinuous
vintage pieces, industrial antiques and bits
that people with a less creative vision might
have sniffed at. The guest bedroom has a
teardrop glass lampshade in a shade of mustard that would make most market shoppers
walk on by, but looks shockingly good against
the grey of the walls.
Guests have a whole floor to themselves –
a bathroom stocked with natural toiletries, a
library full of books on art, fashion and photography and a large terrace to lounge over
breakfast while listening to the vintage radio
and admiring the view over Ixelles gardens.
“We wanted it to be like a gentleman’s
club,” says Justine of the dark, warm library
space. “Somewhere that you can sit on a battered Chesterfi eld and relax with a bottle of
wine and a book at the end of the day.”
The couple have also tried to keep the
place as environmentally friendly as possi-
ble; there’s a solar panel on the roof, and not
only the furniture, but all the fittings in the
house are second hand. Breakfasts include
organic muesli, yoghurts and jams, as well
as local handmade bread.
So far they’ve had clients visiting from
London on fashion research trips, and architects over to buy antiques. Having fi nished her own house, Justine is in no hurry
to stop and has temporarily abandoned the
fashion industry to start working as an interior designer. ( HJ )
www.number76.be
THE FOURTH WORD — 23
the getaway papers Walibibibi…
Walibibibi…
We couldn’t have possibly dreamed of doing
a getaway-themed issue without going back
to that most ultimate of all Belgian getaways:
Walibi. From what we can remember, the
name itself conjures up feelings of free-falling fun and – the lesser fun part – endless
queues.
Its name stands for Wavre, Limal and
Bierges, the three Walloon towns which the
park stretches on. Eddy Meeus, its Belgian
owner, founded the park in 1975 with the
initial idea of creating the fi rst safaris in
Belgium’s Ardennes region. But after being
denied the authorizations, the entrepreneur
ventured into a whole new project: a massive
open air water-skiing park.
At the time, Walibi was mainly composed
of a sandy beach, a pond, a restaurant and a
parking lot - and had a bright orange kangaroo as a mascot. One might wonder why such
an animal was chosen to represent a Belgian
theme park. Well, the name of the park reminding Meeus of a wallaby, he asked Guy
Dessicy, former Hergé Studios contributor,
24 — THE FOURTH WORD
Excuse Me While I Kiss the Sky the getaway papers
to draw an appealing looking kangaroo. And
it is so that, on 20th July 1975, the kingdom’s
most famous marsupial was born, the day of
the park’s official opening.
Innovation became the key to Walibi’s
success. In the early days, its Tornado was
the fi rst rollercoaster in Europe to have a
double 180° loop. Its great wheel was, at 55
metres, the biggest ever to be set in an amusement park. And in 1998, the Radja River, a
raft ride through waterfalls, rapids and giant
waves, became the largest attraction in the
park, also setting a world record with its thirty-million-litre-per-hour flow. The latest to
have joined the park, a cross between a rollercoaster and a ski lift called the Vertigo, will
most surely follow in these steps. At a worrying 60 meters high, it mimics the sensation
one could get when flying, for over 900 metres. It even got Jean-Claude Van Damme’s
stamp of approval, stating that he absolutely
loved “flying like the Belgian Peter Pan”.
The beloved amusement landmark has,
however, been through its fair share of controversy over the years. There was the Sirocco accident in 1997, when the train got
blocked for almost two hours with its passengers hanging upside down, and last year’s
food poisoning incident.
There also was the confusing Six Flags
chapter, when Walibi was sold to the American entertainment behemoth from 1998 to
2004. In true acquisitive nature, the fi rst
thing that Six Flags did was replace the kangaroo with Bugs Bunny – needless to say an
unwise move. Indeed, in 2004 the Palamon
group took over, restoring its original name
and visual identity, a move greatly appreciated by Belgian citizens, happy to see the
return of a cherished national symbol.
And a very successful one it is: Walibi
attracts about one million visitors per year,
mostly Belgians coming from every region
of the country, but also tourists. Aqualibi,
its water park equivalent opened next door
in 1987, has received more than ten million guests since. Now if that isn’t love
than what is. ( RW )
Excuse Me
While I Kiss the Sky
We’re not usually of the kind to engage in
blatant nepotism, but in this case we simply
couldn’t resist. Bob Berben, uncle of our
advertising man Benoit, is a Belgian balloonist who set a world record when he won
the much-coveted Gordon Bennett Cup in
2005. But what exactly is it about balloons
that spells freedom and escape ?
“It provides a surge of absolute raw pleasure. Just as someone will cross an ocean by
himself, you’re all alone in the middle of
nowhere, in total harmony with the nature
around you. Imagine flying at night, overlooking the clouds, not a sound but your heartbeat, it’s surreal.” The essence of ballooning,
according to Bob, resides in its “certain uncertainty”. “You never really know where you’re
going. Well, you have more or less of an idea,
but a balloon is not something you direct. You
can go a bit on the left or right, but that is it”.
Bob started early, taking his first flight at
the tender age of sixteen. A professional air-
line pilot today, he has since flown for over
19 000 hours. “Flying is like a virus”, he confides. “Just as a true artist cannot live without creating, I constantly feel the need to be
flying.” Extremely passionate about anything
that could get him off the ground, he has tried
almost every air sport under the sun. But when
an old student of his took him on a hot-air balloon ride in 1982, there was no going back.
The highlight of Bob’s career was definitely winning the uber-prestigious Gordon
Bennett Cup, the world's oldest and most
respected gas balloon race, in 2005, with
his co-pilot, Benoît Siméons. The duo prepared for five months before the race. “People couldn’t understand why we would go
through this, they just kept on telling us we
were crazy”, Bob confides. “And it was crazy,
by the time we landed we weren’t tired, not
even exhausted. We were just plain dead”.
Flying 65 hours straight, the team had
to remain constantly focused whilst facing
extreme conditions: lack of oxygen, hunger,
thirst, peaks of 45°C during the day and
-10°C at night. “I was lucky enough to get a
few hours sleep” remembers Bob. “Benoit was
restless. By the end of the journey, sleep depravation had him going cuckoo.” So why on
earth go through all this ? “It was the greatest
adventure of our lives” he says, triumphantly.
At the time of the Gordon Bennett Cup,
Bob and Benoît made history by setting a new
world record, which hadn’t been done since
1912, flying “Miche”, their gas balloon, for
over 3400 km. Yet it was only briefly mentioned in the media. “We were perceived as
those two daft Belgian dudes. If an American
team had done such a feat, they would have
met the President of the United States.”
“It’s a pity because in Belgium we are not
chauvinistic enough, I mean, we have the
best meteorologist in the whole world and we
don’t even brag about him !” Bob is referring
to Luc Trullemans, with whom he’s collaborated for ten years, and who also guided the
late Steve Fossett during his record-breaking
balloon fl ight around the world in 2002.
“But I am still very proud of being Belgian, and to have won the cup”, Bob concludes. “As long as you’re in good health,
having fun and flying, what more could one
want for?” What more indeed… ( RW )
THE FOURTH WORD — 25
the getaway papers Royal Entry
Royal Entry
The very fi rst time I remember seeing – or
indeed hearing – one was the last time I was
in India. A friend of mine, who lives in the
southern city of Bangalore, had just recently
bought one and was oh-too-proud to present
me to his gem of a motorbike. From the little I can remember, his was a Royal Enfield
Bullet 350. Black, no nonsense.
Royal Enfield, a UK born and raised twowheeler, came to India in the early 1950’s, on
the back of a contract to supply the country’s
army with an all-weather prone motorbike.
Interestingly, the company had actually begun as an arms supplier to the Indian army,
which explains its early slogan: “Made like a
gun, runs like a bullet” and the name given
to its crown jewel, the Bullet 350. Production
was – and still is – located in what is today
known as Chennai, with the factory quickly
churning out more of the beasts than its UK
counterpart. By the 1970’s, all Enfields were
solely made in India. The company – and
indeed the motorbike – is now 100% Indianowned and is a symbol of both the country’s
26 — THE FOURTH WORD
liberation from its British occupiers and of its
manufacturing excellence. And excellent it is.
Made out of a 100% steel, it carries with it a
reputation for reliability and robustness, capable of braving the most treacherous of Indian
roads. And this is exactly what made it the
travel companion of choice for two thrill-seeking Belgian brothers travelling across India.
Frédéric and Bernard Holvoet, fresh
from having just seen Walter Salles’ road trip
movie The Motorcycle Diaries, thought it
was time they embarked on an adventure of
their own, and decided upon India to begin
with. “We fi rst went to Delhi, as it was very
present in the news and, to be honest, had
the cheapest airline tickets” says the older of
the two, Bernard. “My brother had arrived a
month earlier and promptly announced that
he had found the perfect motorbike for our
trip” he goes on.
And what a trip it was. It began by the obvious tourist triangle: Delhi, Agra and Jaipur.
From Jaipur they went on to Udaipur and
then skirted Mumbai to arrive in Goa. Once
in Goa, they drove on to Hampi (“the nicest
place we visited in India” they say) and ended
the trip in Bangalore and Chennai. With over
4,000kms of rugged roads, rough terrain and
hard-to-navigate jungles, the Enfield was the
only motorbike suited for such a ride. Not
one puncture, not once did it breakdown
and, better yet, the pair were the talk of the
town wherever they went (picture two tall,
handsome blond guys on the proudest thing
to come out of India). Hitchhikers jumped
on – and wouldn’t get off -, roadside children
ran after them and they even landed a cameo
appearance in a Bollywood blockbuster.
Which convinced them of the need to
bring the Royal Enfield back to Belgium.
“We brought two back after our trip, and
haven’t looked back since” says Bernard.
“We now customize them on demand for
friends and other die-hard Enfi elders, working in partnership with a mechanic we met
in India.” Be it a silver fi nish, a leather-clad
seat or your mother’s name on the back, if
you’re looking for a ride-with-an-attitude
and want to go that step further, the Holvoets
are the Royal Enfield go-to-guys. ( NL )
www.holbikes.com
Prison Break belgium
Inside
Anderlecht
Prison
Break
— "We interrupt this program for a special news bulletin”.
The day is May 3rd 1993, and never before had Belgian
television interrupted its regular broadcasts. But this was no
regular day. Three of the country’s most notorious and hardnosed gangsters – Philippe Lacroix, Basri Bajrami and Murat
Kaplan – escaped from St. Gilles prison in Brussels, taking two
hostages with them. The first two were members of Belgium’s
infamous “La Bande a Haemers” gang – who's leader, Patrick
Haemers, had orchestrated the kidnaping of former Prime
Minister Vanden Boeynants – whilst the third was later on
dubbed the escape king. Breaking news, indeed.
© René Breny / ISOPIX
Writers Alex Deforce and Julien Mourlon
If you happened to be in front of your television on that Monday, you’d have seen the
prisoners drive off in a stolen BMW, a guard
held down to the top of the car, head down
through the roof, his body hanging over the
front window.
On the car’s backseat: inspector-general
of Belgian prisons Harry Van Oers, who
had volunteered to replace seven hostages.
Fifteen years on and Van Oers is today retired but the doorbell still doesn’t spell his
real name: “Nobody needs to know where I
live” he says when we meet him.
The clock had just ticked past 10h30 am
that morning when Jef Vanwingh, then director of St. Gilles prison, called Van Oers in
his office to alert him of the day’s unfolding
events at his prison. “We have a riot going
on” said Vanwingh “Some guards have been
taken hostage by prisoners, amongst who
Basri Bajrami.”
His office at the time being in the shadow
of the Palais de Justice, Van Oers rushed
over to St. Gilles, his mind already evaluating the little he had in the way of options
to possibly calm the situation down. His
function as inspector-general meant he had
already met two out of the three prisoners.
What is more, he had even met Bajrami in an
isolation cell – indeed, when prisons wanted
to keep a convict isolated longer than nine
days, the inspector-general had to be called
in to judge the situation.
On his arrival at the prison gate, Van
Oers found the trio holding seven members
of the prison personal hostage. One guard
had been stripped off his pants. This was
no way to treat a man thought Van Oers. It
also seemed a perfect way to gain some time:
“I told Kaplan, whom I knew the best of the
three, that we couldn’t talk unless the guard
was given a pair of pants, so they let someone go get some for him.”
Meanwhile, Bajrami was pointing his gun
at the inspector-general. Van Oers’ self-confidence had gradually increased, so while he
pushed Bajrami back, his belly against the
gun, he tried to calm things down: “Tosca,
this is pointless, put an end to this, now.”
Calling Bajrami by his nickname was a
clever mind trick, a strategic little game he’d
repeat later that day. Time passed on and the
gangsters were determined to see the light of
day. Outside, a stolen BMW was waiting for
them which the police had been ordered to
ride up in front of the gate. In the heat of the
moment, the riot gun hidden in the car went
unnoticed…
“Kadal Murat! Kadal!” exclaimed Van
Oers, telling Murat Kaplan to drive care-
© Yassin Serghini
belgium
02.
fully. Two out of the three gangsters spoke
Albanian and Van Oers knew just some basic
expressions, but the mind trick had its effect:
“I asked Lacroix” he says, “Do you understand Albanian? If not, how do you know
they’re not setting you up when they speak a
language you don’t understand?”
Van Oers thinks the main reason the
gangsters kept him hostage and didn’t dump
him along the road was because they needed
somebody that knew the region. After missing a meeting in an underground parking
in Schaarbeek the trio was nervous to leave
Brussels. “I told them they were a bunch of
amateurs” Van Oers tells us, with a hint of
laughter. When the four finally left the capital, arriving in Tildonk, Bajrami decided they
needed cash and suggested Van Oers should
rob a bank they had just pulled up by.
For the inspector-general this was natural-
01.
28 — THE FOURTH WORD
THE FOURTH WORD — 29
© Yassin Serghini
belgium Prison Break
03.
ly out of the question “Guys, we can still get
to Leuven Centraal, just in time for dinner
to be served. Let’s go. I have an important
meeting too, I wouldn’t want to miss it” said
Van Oers. Bajrami wasn’t convinced: “What
can you arrange for us if we surrender?” The
truth was there wasn’t that much Van Oers
could do. On their return the convicts would
face trial, as two of them were still in detention on remand. “No more than fi ve days
in isolation and… a meal” answered Van
Oers. Not the most convincing of deals but
the three convicts forgot their bank robbery
plans and decided to hide in a villa instead.
Everberg was the next stop, where they
took a couple hostage whilst waiting for sunset. The woman of the house worried about
the slim Kaplan, who had been on a hunger
strike before the escape. Eating was out of
the question though, as Lacroix apparently
advised them: “We should keep our stomachs empty like that if anything happens to
us, they can practise surgery immediately.”
As night set in, the felons decided it was
time to continue their escape, leaving the
30 — THE FOURTH WORD
couple hostage in their own house. In a second room though, Van Oers too was tied
to a bed. Before leaving, the three came to
say their goodbyes and were given a word
of advice: “You’ll need to start understanding each other better than you did in that
car today”. They took 4000 Belgian francs
(€100) out of his wallet: “Good night".
“Good night and good luck, see you in
St.Gilles” replied Van Oers. A couple of
days later he received the 4000 francs in his
mail box, just as they had promised. Surprisingly, they had made sure to note down
his address to do so.
Common prison break psychology says
that escaped prisoners always return to their
nest. True to form, within two weeks after
their escape, the three gangsters were arrested close to their loved ones, in Laeken,
Zellik and Skopje (Macedonia).
A couple of weeks after the escape, Van
Oers received a phone call from Philippe
Lacroix’s lawyer: “Monsieur Lacroix has
been apprehended and doesn’t want to talk
to us until he sees you.” Lacroix was held
in a cell in the Leuven Centraal prison and
welcomed Van Oers in Dutch: “I just wanted to see you and tell you I will now change
my life and start studying.”
Lacroix and Bajrami were amongst the
last to be given the death penalty, which was
then changed to life sentences. Lacroix was
released on parole after fourteen years in
prison, where he got his high school degree
and is now a teacher in German languages.
Bajrami was expelled to Kosovo, where he
now lives with his family, after sixteen years
of imprisonment. Kaplan, for his part, was
realeased just as we were going to press, on a
seven year parole…
Previous Pages
01.
02.
Making a Run for It
Harry Van Oers
This Page
03.
Brussels' Imposing St Gilles Prison
Caravans the word on
the word on
01.
04.
05.
Caravans
— If you’re starting to
know us just a little,
you could see this one
coming. Our fascination
for the lesser-known –
and smaller – aspects of
everyday life is no secret.
Caravans – and caravan
lifestyle - just happen to
be one of those smaller
things.
02.
06.
08.
Photography Sarah Eechaut
Writer Nicholas Lewis
01.
02.
03.
04.
05.
06.
07.
08.
03.
32 — THE FOURTH WORD
Picture Perfect
Plants of Choice
Carring Holidaying
Number 80
Enclosed Serenity
Caravan Low-Riding
Window Refl ection
Game Park
07.
THE FOURTH WORD — 33
Mister Sabena the institution
the institution
Mister
Sabena
— Some people collect
stamps. Others focus on
watches, vinyl records or
even minerals. Christophe
Sckuvie has collected all
of these, but decided to
dedicate the past seven
years of his life to a far
more original theme:
Sabena memorabilia.
From airplane seats to
old uniforms, timetables,
meal trays and first class
silverware… he has it all.
As we walk towards his house, we cannot
help but notice a row of ancient airhostess
uniforms hanging in the front yard. “It’s a
batch I just received”, explains Christophe
as he greets us. “They’ve been locked up in a
trunk for over forty years and are in desperate
need of aeration”. Past the entrance, we’re in
for an even bigger surprise: about half a dozen vintage mannequins dressed with fl ight
attendant uniforms of every era, complete
with wigs and hats, are scattered around the
living-room. Some are standing, others are
sitting next to Airbus replicas, but all of them
have the same warm yet rigid smile.
Our host has been fascinated by aviation
ever since he can remember. Growing up in
Africa, Christophe boarded Sabena planes
from a very young age and was always impressed by the quality of the service onboard
and the prestige the airline carried. After
graduating in tourism, he joined the Sabena
crew in 1985, evolving through various sectors before becoming a purser on both short
and long-haul fl ights. Unfortunately, his
promising career was cut short when the airline faced bankruptcy in 2001. Even though
Christophe has since moved into teaching,
Sabena is far from dead to this man.
No Hard Feelings
Writer Randa Wazen
Photography Yassin Serghini
34 — THE FOURTH WORD
Despite good reasons to curse the airline,
Christophe chose not to be bitter about his
experience. “Of course I felt miserable when
I lost my job”, he admits. “I loved representing the airline, travelling, serving the passengers. I truly miss aviation and, to be honest,
I miss working for Sabena. They really took
great care of their staff.” And while one could
wonder if the approach of his collection isn’t
slightly masochistic, Christophe sets the
record straight. His aim is to salvage a Belgian
patrimony. “It allows me to appreciate everything Sabena has done and to see it from
a positive point of view.” Believing Sabena is
a great symbol of Belgium that has been lost,
he has set to revive the heritage left behind by
the airline. “It had a huge impact on the Belgian economy, and although the liquidation
got ugly, turning Sabena into a national embarrassment, we must look back at the past in
an intelligent way and admit the airline was
and remains a prestigious institution.”
Having worked for the airline for over
fifteen years, he was able to keep interesting
objects he stumbled upon. After the bankruptcy, a massive auction was held, where
everything was sold in order to recover some
funds. Christophe decided to attend the
event and bought a few pieces as a souvenir,
“ just for the pleasure of having beautiful
objects representing the logo”. But as he accumulated precious documents and rare pieces,
it dawned on him that maybe he could pursue
the collection on a wider scale.
As we continue the tour of his house, we
discover even more gems. Like the crystal
glasses used for service during the forties
or the original massive painting that used to
decorate the planes' fi rst class section. By
the time we reach the attic, the museum vibe
has cleared and it’s more like Ali Baba’s cave.
The walls are covered with metallic storage
cases, the same ones used in the aircrafts. But
instead of being filled with fi rst aid kits, they
contain treasures such as files documenting
all the fl ights Sabena has ever made, photographs of the very fi rst fl ight crews, Hermès
scarves specially designed for onboard staff,
old brochures, menus, ancient silverware
and china all bearing the Sabena logo. He
even still has the buttons stitched to the fi rst
ever Sabena uniforms.
Speaking of which, Christophe has managed to gather almost every single model, keeping them neatly aligned on a rack. Mini dresses
the airhostesses wore in the sixties, a futuristic
robe designed by Courrèges from the seventies, sober cuts of the nineties… These uniforms are a true testimony to fashion’s evolving trends and of Sabena’s global reach, as
Christophe notes, showing us a gorgeous silk
sari uniform used for Asian destinations.
Flying High: Cristophe Sckuvie with his Sabena Concorde Replica.
Give and Take
How does one manage to gather so many
items? “I often snoop around markets and
have been paying monthly visits to the
Sabena trusteeship for the past seven years.
But the best way to acquire pieces is through
friends, old staff members and fellow collectors”, he says.
Not a great fan of marketplaces such as
eBay, “you always end up fi nding the same
things, which are usually overpriced”, Christophe is more of a traditional market type of
man. But in the end it’s really about being at
the right place in the right moment.
Many of his old colleagues were kind
enough to give him whatever Sabena-related
objects or documents they had left. But regular friends and acquaintances were also able
to pitch in. “People come up to me with little things they find around their houses. To
them, it’s just junk cluttering the attic, but
when passed on to me, those objects gain a new
meaning. Every single detail counts, because it
allows me to discover and learn more about the
history of Sabena.” According to Christophe,
it’s very simple: every item can have a lot or no
value at all, depending on who’s looking at it.
Apart from being time consuming, collecting is also an expensive hobby. The greatest
challenge Christophe has to face are his budget
restrictions. “It’s tough because I’ve built this
entire collection with my own funds. I often
had to miss out on beautiful pieces because
they were just too expensive”. This explains
why he’d rather not think of how much he’s
invested since the beginning of the collection.
“Sometimes, I get more satisfaction getting
my hands on a free but interesting document,
rather than something I saw online and paid a
fortune for, only to be disappointed upon delivery”. It is not how much he’s spent, but what
he owns that matters to him. One could easily
imagine how devastated Christophe would be
if a fire ravaged his house, yet quite surprisingly, the only item he would salvage is the badge
he used to carry when he was still working for
the airline. “It’s a part of me. The rest, no matter how precious, is only material”, he smiles.
As well as its obvious aesthetic values,
the collection serves an important historical
purpose. Since it’s creation in 1923, Sabena
has been closely influenced by Belgian his-
tory. This is why Christophe has chosen to
classify all the items of the collection by
decades and is fascinated to rediscover the
history of our nation through the evolution
of the airline, both on a national and international level. Of course there were some
dark chapters, but he believes it’s important
to bare them in mind in order to keep the
history alive and authentic.
Unfortunately not many people can actually benefit from the collection, and to someone who believes in sharing, this is quite
frustrating. “It is my dearest wish to make it
available to the public someday. I want to
share my discoveries with a wider audience,
just as I already share them with my circle.”
Keeping in touch with donators, great moments of joy are brought to him when he can
show them how he was able to mend an old
uniform, or when he can provide a collector with an item he has in double. A man of
principle, he refuses to sell anything that was
given to him. It has however occurred to him
to have to sell some pieces, but only in order
to buy better ones. He actually sold all of his
previous collections when he decided to focus
on Sabena only. Like his Swatch wristwatches
collection, which, as he states, “was one of the
best and most complete in Belgium”, or his
6500 records, accumulated over the years
thanks to all the travelling he did.
Our man is not interested in displaying his collection in a museum. Instead, his
dream is to create a new restaurant concept
in which he could have all the items of his
collection on display and would put an emphasis on a top-notch quality service. For
the true challenge of a collector, according
to him, is to reach a wide and new audience.
“I don’t want to aim at a clientele who already knows Sabena or has fl own with it.
Just as a singer might cover an old forgotten
song and let a whole new generation rediscover it with a whole new meaning, I would
love to bring Sabena to a new light.” Given
the correct instruments, we have no doubt
he can resurrect Sabena into a brand new
national anthem.
THE FOURTH WORD — 35
Miniature Getaway Cars three of the best
three of the best
Miniature
Getaway Cars
— Slowly coming to terms with the reality that is being city-bound
throughout the summer holidays, we’ve had to resign ourselves to
brief weekend-road-trips-for-two. And given that we haven’t just
yet reached our full earnings potential, it seems we’re living the
dream “extra extra small” size. With most roads the world over
being overtaken by oversized SUV’s (and egos), we couldn’t wait
to hit the road with these humbler alternatives. Here we bring
you the Meanest, Proudest and Smoothest of highway roadsters…
without forgetting the Cutest.
Writer Nicholas Lewis
1. Mercedes-Benz’s
SLR McLaren Coupé
The Meanest
2. Porsche’s 911 GT2
Name We Gave It
Designed By
The Proudest
Mercedes Germany
Designed By
Horse Power
Porsche AG Design Studio
626
The Smoothest
530
334km/hour
Name We Gave It
The Cutest
Designed By
Top Speed
Nader Faghizadeh
0 to 100km/hour
Acceleration
329 km/hour
3.8 Seconds
0 to 100km/hour
Acceleration
286
Best Enjoyed
3.7 Seconds
Top Speed
Designed By
Mini Munich
Horse Power
With a Pinch of Salt
286 km/hour
Top Speed
193 km/hour
On a Sunny Sunday Afternoon
0 to 100km/hour
Acceleration
Best Alternative To
6.2 Seconds
A Lear Jet
Horse Power
115
Best Enjoyed
Best Alternative To
4. Mini Cooper S
Name We Gave It
Horse Power
Top Speed
3. BMW’s 6
Series Coupé
A Yacht in St Tropez
0 to 100km/hour
Acceleration
9.8 Seconds
Best Enjoyed
In Munich
Best Enjoyed
Italian Job-Style
Best Alternative To
German IC Trains
Best Alternative To
A City Bike
36 — THE FOURTH WORD
Photography & Styling: Opération Panda - www.operationpanda.be
Name We Gave It
THE FOURTH WORD — 37
The Fugitives showstoppers
showstoppers
02.
The
Fugitives
Hangover Shades
— Part nostalgia, part modern-day indulgences, this new section
to The Word highlights our pick of essential, theme-specific
goodies. Be it that most ubiquitous of little blue tins or roundthe-world clockworks, we’re packing them up getaway-style.
When we spotted these shades in Nathalie
Bladt's Leuven outpost, we knew they’d
prove to be a futile consolation when
considering the fact that we’d probably only
get to show them off at Bruxelles-les-Bains.
At least we’ll do so in style.
Left www.paulsmith.co.uk
Right www.tomford.com
Writer Nicholas Lewis
Photography Opération Panda
01.
03.
Still so Strong They Hurt
Officially not a Cliché
Although they somehow seem as familiar as
that puffy Michelin man, we had bizarrely
never physically held a pack of Fisherman’s
Friend until we made them showstopping
essentials. We did, however, instantly relate
to their distinctive and sturdy packaging
and slight retro-aesthetic. This could be
our equivalent to what most City of London
investment bankers do – holding the FT just
for show, even if they don’t read it – and in
our case, need it.
What can you say that hasn’t already been
said about the most iconic of camera
brands? Making as fine a job in the digital
sphere as it did – and still does – in the
analogue one, revered and adored Leica
remains the Hermes of photography, one cut
above the rest. It's D-Lux 3 is no exception.
www.leica.com
www.fi shermansfriend.com
04.
Takeaway Tea
What more could you want than having your
very own dose of green tea wherever a cup
of boiling water is available. Although normally part of a degustation set, we’ve opted
to adapt these to suit our constant thirst for
the green stuff. The liquid that is.
www.palaisdesthes.com
38 — THE FOURTH WORD
THE FOURTH WORD — 39
showstoppers The Fugitives
05.
The Original Tin
Iconic and ever-present, Nivea’s blue tin
is as much part of our everyday lives as
Brussels' horrendous traffi c. Timeless in its
design and radical in its simplicity, the tin
– launched in 1924 – was the first skincare
cream to be brought to the masses, part
of an ambitious brand image revamp at the
company’s German headquarters. Having
grown up with it, and being pretty confi dent
you did to, it only seemed natural to make it a
getaway staple.
www.nivea.com
06.
Brunch in L.A =
Cocktail Hour in Paris
It might not be the easiest to read and is
probably not the most affordable but it sure
is the most original and ingenious time-teller
we’ve recently come across. Artecnica’s
KnoWhere Clock – available in three different versions – takes personalisation to a
whole new level, putting aside more conventional ways of thinking of far-flung loved ones
in favour of a far simpler alternative: marking
the cities in which they live in on the clock’s
hands. How cute.
www.artecnicainc.com
40 — THE FOURTH WORD
Bag Lady lifestyle
lifestyle
Bag Lady
— We’ve been known
to be somewhat of an
intruding bunch and our
Bag Lady shoot most
definitely confirms this.
Indeed, we couldn’t
help but wonder what
feminine curiosities were
thrown, squashed, folded,
dumped, squandered and
sometimes for-ever-lost
in the deep and chaotic
Pandora’s boxes that are
ladies’ bags… and frequent
travelling ladies at that.
Photography Opération Panda
Anya Hindmarch
British-born accessories designer Anya
Hindmarch caused a storm in the UK last
year with her I’m not a Plastic Bag carrier
bag made exclusively for supermarket chain
Sainsbury’s. She has, over the last few
years, been expanding her business on a
global scale and has just opened a boutique
in Brussels’ Chatelain area.
I mostly travel for work, inspiration and
My favorite way to travel is in a vintage car.
holidays with my family. I recently returned from a working trip to China as we
opened our second store there in Shanghai.
Preferably an old 1968 Porsche in pea green.
The airport I try to avoid is Heathrow air-
I mostly travel with Kate, my head of press
port – such a bad fi rst (or last) impression
of the UK.
and marketing, Lisa my head of sales, both
my very close friends and for holidays with
my husband. They all keep me sane.
My most dreaded travel nightmare is being
away from my family for too long.
Anna Machkevitch
Anna was born in Kirgizstan and is of Jewish,
Ukrainian and Russian origin. She grew
up in Brussels and today splits her time
between Moscow and London, where she
is an aspiring fashion designer. We caught
up with her on her way back to London from
Milan.
I mostly travel for leisure and business.
Since I was a child, I have been lucky to
travel to different countries. My parents
believed that going to different countries
would make me learn about other cultures,
their traditions, heritage and ways of life.
I mostly travel by plane. The only exception is when I travel to Brussels or Paris,
when I take the Eurostar or Thalys.
The one thing I never leave the country
without is my passport, my I pod and my
Gucci Rush perfume.
The airport I try to avoid is Heathrow. It is
by far the worst place to fly from or arrive to.
My most dreaded travel nightmare is get-
ting my baggage lost.
I mostly travel to work from home.
My first memory of taking the plane goes
back to when I was eight years old. It was
My first memory of taking the plane goes
back to travelling throughout Europe with
the day that we were permanently moving
from Kyrghistan to Belgium, right on the
day the Soviet Union collapsed.
my family as a child.
My fondest travel memory is Cap Ferrat as
it is there that I married my husband James
and we have had a home there all of my life.
The longest I ever travelled for is London
– Tokyo – New York.
The one thing I never leave the country
without is my loose pockets. I designed these
leather pouches to keep my bag organised.
42 — THE FOURTH WORD
What's in the Bag
Time Out Brussels, Net-a-Porter’s S/S 2008
look book, Royal College of Art invitation,
Karaoke with the Stars invitation, Eve Lom’s
Kiss Mix, Cutler and Gross Aviators,
Anya Hindmarch handbag Coin Purse
and Small Mirror.
All pictured in a Anya Hindmarch handbag.
I mostly travel within Europe, places like
Brussels, Paris, Milan, Nice, etc. I also
often travel to cities such as Moscow and
Almaty (Kazakhstan).
The longest I ever travelled was for three
months straight, during school summer
holidays.
What's in the Bag
IPod, Chanel Coin Purse, Wrigley’s
Extra Ice Gum, 33cl Bottle of Evian,
Gucci Rush Perfume, Belgian Passport,
Milan to Brussels Airline Ticket, Diorskin
Airfl ash Spray Foundation, Guerlain
Foundation, Blackberry Pearl, Nokia Phone,
Hair Pin, Mac Bronzing Powder, Handy
Andies Pocket Tissues, One Set of Keys.
All pictured in a Burberry handbag.
THE FOURTH WORD — 43
lifestyle Bag Lady
Tania Garbarski
Tania is an actor of Polish-Jewish and
Belgian origin. She lives in Brussels with
her husband and their two girls and splits
her time between Brussels and Paris. She
was in Word favorite Bunker Paradise and
is set to play in Gad Elmaleh’s next movie
‘Coco’.
I mostly travel to go somewhere…
My most dreaded travel nightmare is being
without my girls.
I mostly travel with two pair of shoes per
day.
I mostly travel to Paris, from Brussels.
My bag is my home. I’d like to believe that
I could survive with it for at least a month
even when travelling for a day.
My first memory of taking the plane goes
back to my mothers’ belly (I can't remem-
ber my fi rst travel by airplane !)
The longest I ever travelled for is to
Zimbabwe for my honeymoon.
The one thing I never leave the country
without is my overflowing bag!
My favorite way to travel is by train.
The airport I try to avoid is Zanzibar (some-
one told me that they were too many crashes
there).
44 — THE FOURTH WORD
What's in the bag
Elodie Hesme’s ‘Et Ma Vie pour Tes Yeux
Lentement S’Empoisonne’, One Receipt
for a Paris Taxi, Moleskine Notebook,
Marc Jacobs Purse, Ricoh GX Digital Camera,
Mer du Nord Sunglasses, Elizabeth Arden’s
Eight Hour Cream, Mulberry Agenda
and a range of color pens.
All pictured in a Gerard Darel handbag.
the photo album
Seaside Belgium the photo album
Seaside
Belgium
— We recently stumbled
upon quite a treasuretrove at Brussels’ flea
market: three huge boxes
filled with a load of blasts
from the past. Belgians at
table, Belgians shopping,
Belgians and their
families, Belgians smiling,
Belgians arguing… our
favorite for this issue
though: Belgians at the
Seaside.
Pictures chosen with nothing but love
for the national DNA.
46 — THE FOURTH WORD
THE FOURTH WORD — 47
the fashion word
We’re hitting the road heavy-duty style this summer with a rough yet
sensual aesthetic befitting the most rugged of territories – and engines.
Photography Lalo Gonzalez
Fashion Jennifer Defays
48 — THE FOURTH WORD
Previous Page.
Chesterfield Coat, Waist Coat, Bow Tie Attachement & Shirt Veronique Branquinho,
Trousers Rykiel Homme, Boots Hermes
Above.
Her — Blouse Jean Paul Knott, Trousers Hermes, Ring Vintage
Sister — Dress Vintage
Him — Jacket and Shirt Filippa K, Trousers Maison Martin Margiela
Jumper Dress Limi Feu, Shoes Christian Louboutin
Chesterfield Coat, Waist Coat, Bow Tie Attachement & Shirt Veronique Branquinho
Blazer Agnes b, Shirt Marc Jacobs, Trousers Juun J., Boots Hermes
Her — Dress Jean Paul Knott
Him — Tee-Shirt Yohji Yamamoto, Jumper Hermes,
Trousers Rykiel Homme, Sunglasses Chanel
Isle Sweater Hermes, Trousers & Gloves Yohji Yamamoto,
Travel Bag Samsonite Black Label, Briefcase Delvaux
Her — Dress Sonia Rykiel
Him — Jacket CK, Trousers Hermes
Dress Sharon Wauchob, Hat Sonia Rykiel
Road Works the fashion word
Photographer
Lalo Gonzalez
www.claudia-trucco.com
Assistants
Yenci Kiss
Jonas Van Schoote
Stylist
Jennifer Defays
@ Vision Talent Management
Hair & Make Up
Eleonore Nataf
Models
Jenna @ Micha Models
Bénédicte Bantuelle
Mark Marlon @ Dominique Models
With thanks to
Valérie Radelet
Jean Jacques Radelet
Her — Top Jean Paul Knott, Trousers Hermes, Ring Vintage
Sister — Dress Vintage
Him — Blazer Agnes b, Shirt Marc Jacobs, Trousers Juun J., Boots Hermes
The Great Outdoors the gear
the gear
The Great
Outdoors
— In retrospect, it does sound pretty ambitious. Three hiking
first-timers – more of the city than country type - set out one
Saturday morning for Belgium’s Ardennes, determined to have
themselves a back-to-the-roots weekend. Armed with the best
in hiking gear and accessories – and more than enough of that
penguin beer – they were confident this somehow made up for
their total lack of experience when it came to the great outdoors
— except for their scouting years of course. Here’s what their
campsite looked liked…
Photography Yassin Serghini
Writer Nicholas Lewis
Production Melisande McBurnie
What was in the Bag
‘White Flyweight Tote’ by The North
Face and ‘Red First Aid Kit Professional’
by Travel Health Care Products in a
‘Backtrack’ Backpack by The North Face,
all from A.S.Adventures.
What was in the Tent
Blue Mattress by Thermarest and Sleeping
Bag by Valandré,
all from Entre Terre et Ciel.
‘West’ Shirt by Jack & Jones, ‘Brooklyn’
Shorts by Tommy Hilfiger, ‘Red K-Way’ by
K-Way Plus and Reversible ‘Delux’ Hoodie
by Jack & Jones, all from A.S.Adventures.
‘Tadpole 23’ Tent by The North Face,
from Entre Terre et Ciel.
58 — THE FOURTH WORD
What was Around the Camp
Torch by LED Lenser, ‘Trek Mates’ Blue
Water Bottle, ‘Hurricane’ Matches, ‘Relags’
Stainless Steel Mug, ‘Captain Stag’ Super
Light Cutlery Set, ‘Recta’ DS 50G Compass
by Global System, ‘Pocket Knife’ by
Leatherman, all from Entre Terre et Ciel.
Burma Pro MFS Hiking Boots by Meindl,
Medina Birkenstocks, Trekking TK 4
Expedition Socks by Falke, 3x Topographic
Maps by the National Geographic
Institute, all from A.S.Adventures.
The Little that Actually was Ours
‘Bird Spotting’ by John Holland, The
Outsider by Albert Camus and ‘Being
Somebody, Going Somewhere’ by Ayya
Khema. Vedett Beer.
THE FOURTH WORD — 59
Taking The Lot from a to z
from a to z
Taking
The Lot
— It’s the age-old problem – you’ve pulled off the
ultimate heist, but now you have to get the stuff out of
the country. We ask the experts how to transport the
world’s most difficult objects, from fragile artefacts to
radioactive materials and human organs.
© Sarah Michielsen
Interviews Hettie Judah
Photography Erwin Borms & Sarah Michielsen at Outlandish
02.
© Sarah Michielsen
Art
"We do only fi ne arts and antiques, all our
trucks are climate controlled, and have
special GPS in case the truck gets hijacked
and we need to trace it. We need to remain
discreet and below the radar; we don't even
have a website. Sometimes people ask for
security, either visible with a police escort,
or done discreetly with un-marked vans. It’s
difficult to say when that kind of requirement kicks in – it’s always up to the client.
The safest place for artwork is hanging on
the wall; during transport the piece is at its
most vulnerable, security wise and climatically. The crates that we make are specially
designed– the right kind of wood, the density of the foam, the thickness of the foam,
there’s a science to making sure the inside
of the crate holds the right temperature and
humidity during the duration of the transport. Some pieces are more vulnerable to
humidity and temperature change – paintings on wood panel should be approached
differently than paintings on canvas.
We deal with a lot of fragile 3-D pieces,
as small as a thimble to something as large
as a 7 or 8 metre, 4 ton sculpture. The goal
is for each piece to arrive in the same state it
left, without any changes in the condition of
the object. Some of the most difficult things
aren’t that large.
" During transport
the piece is at its
most vulnerable "
hold it, we often end up supporting from top
and bottom. Or we get some African pieces
made of raffia that is so fragile that it can no
longer support it’s own weight, and we have
to make a special structure. Paintings are
pretty straightforward to pack, but there are
10,000 ways to pack a piece but only one or
two will be right.
You hear stories in the industry and thank
your lucky stars it’s not you – luckily our
team are the best in the business and we’ve
never had a bad situation."
Keith Brumberg,
Maertens Art Packers and Shippers.
There’s a really large community of collectors of African art in Belgium, in some
pieces the wood still secretes oil so the whole
object is basically sticky. You need to be able
to stabilise a piece in a crate, with a piece
that’s a foot high and sticky everywhere it
is very difficult to try to fi nd out where to
01+ 02.
Exhibits From Jurgen Bey's
Recent Exhibition Arriving
at Pierre Bergé, Brussels
01.
60 — THE FOURTH WORD
THE FOURTH WORD — 61
from a to z Taking The Lot
Taking The Lot from a to z
Body Parts
"Belgium is part of Eurotransplant – an organisation that covers Belgium, The Netherlands, Germany, Austria, Croatia, Slovenia
and Luxembourg. Whenever there is an organ available, the characteristics of the donor
are put into a computer system, then medical
allocation rules say where the kidney has to
go. If we have a donor in Belgium a procurement team goes in priority cars to the hospital.
There are two ways of transporting a kidney,
either cold storage; in a plastic bag with fluid,
sterile packed and on ice for transportation,
or by using a LifePort® machine which is more
sophisticated, although it is still on trial.
© Erwin Borms
" There are no strict
regulations, but it is very
important that every part
of the process is well
documented
and scanned "
Frank Van Gelder,
Senior Transplant Coordinator,
University Hospital Leuven.
04.
03.
Time-wise the kidney is the easiest organ
to transport because you have 24 hours of
transit time. For a heart, liver or lung you only
have 4 to 10 hours. In that case, the distance
stays the same but the transport vector changes. If I’m transporting a heart I take a priority
car from Leuven then a private jet from outside Brussels to Vienna which takes one hour
and 20 minutes, then a priority car in Vienna
to the hospital. Once we have removed the
organ, the critical ischaemical time is very
significant. We send our own teams to be able
to control the whole process from removing
to placing in the recipient. When we take out
a heart in Vienna, at time point 0, four hours
later it has to be replaced and working again
inside the recipient. Removal and transporta-
tion has to be done within four hours. After
all the flying and driving you have about one
hour left to put a heart in.
We use a company that can tell us very
quickly if they can give us a fl ight or not.
People know that it’s about saving a life, so
they’ll do as much as they can to put you
airborne as quickly as possible. In extreme
circumstances you can always knock on the
door of the army."
This Page
03.
Ready to go: The LifePort ® Kidney
Transporter
Next Page
04.
Dangerous Goods
05.
DGM's Out-of-Size Packaging
“We offer a whole package; if you want to
send something radioactive from Belgium
to Romania we coordinate everything from
your warehouse to the fi nal destination. We
recondition and manage everything regarding the packing and repacking of dangerous
goods, following appropriate regulations and
the special licences for the different governments. We don’t actually re-pack goods from
Class 7 and Class 1 apart from car airbags
that come under Class 1 as explosives.
" There are only a few
transport companies that
can take explosives "
Michael Haest,
Customer and Operations Manager, DGM.
The category of Dangerous Goods includes things as common as every day as
perfume, which is considered dangerous for
transport by air because it’s fl ammable, or
house paint or cleaning materials. A car sent
by air would be considered to contain fl ammable combustion materials.
We rarely turn things down; it would only
happen if, for example, a shipper wants to send
something without following regulations.
We have coordinated the transport of
weapons. A few months ago there was a special military parade in Ypres for the soldiers
that died in WWI. We coordinated the
transport of weapons from the Australian
and New Zealand armies to Belgium and
made sure all regulations were followed. Because they were war materials we had them
accompanied by an unmarked car. They
came through Germany by air, from Germany they took off and we took over when
the shipment crossed the Belgian border and
made sure that all the certificates were there
and everything was well documented.
Each means of transport has its own regulations and the drivers need special training; we
do give courses here. But there are only a few
transport companies that can take explosives.”
© Erwin Borms
Dangerous Goods
© Erwin Borms
The organs need to be cooled down in the
donor with specific preservation fluids before they are taken out surgically. The kidney
can only be packed ready for transport once
this 2-3 hour surgery has been done.
Then the timeline starts to be more critical. The organ is in a hibernation situation,
the kidney is in a ischaemical condition –
that means without any oxygen supply. When
optimally preserved at 4˚C, a kidney can
stay about 24 hours out of the body without
any oxygen supply. So, within 24 hours the
kidney needs to be transplanted somewhere
within the region. We try to put it in transport
as quickly as we can – if the place is close we
do it by car. There are no strict regulations,
but it is very important that every part of the
process is well documented and scanned. We
have a dedicated team of drivers, they follow
it up on the computers so we can always state
who did what, when and where.
When it’s further away – say Vienna –
we look into putting the kidney on a regular
scheduled fl ight. It is driven to the airport,
then delivered to the cargo company of the
airline that is flying the kidney, Lufthansa,
for example.
05.
62 — THE FOURTH WORD
THE FOURTH WORD — 63
Wrapper's Delight design
design
Wrapper's
Delight
Backpacking with Blueprints
— How are traditional
pieces that travellers used
to bring home in their
backpacks making their
way into the collections
of high-end design
companies?
Writer Hettie Judah
Photography Opération Panda
01.
Rustic earthenware bowls, tribal beadwork, Delft figurines, hand knitted socks
and recycled glassware are products that
in another era (one that ended perhaps two
years ago) would have been natural shelfmates to rampant spider-plants, the smell
of too many cats and that worrying library
of tantric sex manuals that characterises
the décor of eccentric aunts the world over.
Over the last couple of seasons, these escapees from the worlds of folk craft and
ethnic furnishings have taken up residence
on some of the most high-status shelves in
the design world.
Created by hand using traditional skills,
they are pungent with traces of the people
and places that formed them. They are the
64 — THE FOURTH WORD
antithesis, in other words, of the affordable,
internationally homogenised modernism
made available to the mass market through
IKEA and its imitators.
Thanks in part to the superb marketing
skills of the Swedish furnishing giant we
have grown accustomed to a complete vision
of the domestic interior equipped entirely
with modern, tasteful products that present
a unified image. But companies at the risktaking edge of the design industry have
started to feel that this universe of slick good
taste has run its course and that it is time to
start engaging again with the real world.
“50 years ago there were still a lot more
handmade products in the shops,” says
Dutch-born designer Tord Boontje. “People
decided they wanted a cleaner environment.
They started opening design shops and fi lling them with clean products. That worked
for a while, but now people are starting to
realise that it has become plastic and bland
and anonymous and we lost something, I
think there is an openness now that wasn’t
there a few years ago.”
Bootje can claim no strong objection to
the mass market – a few years ago he produced a collection for the American budget
chain Target – but his work has always been
marked by his interest in folk iconography.
It was in a way Boontje’s interest in the traditional combined with his mass appeal that
formed the basis for what one might call the
Slow Design movement.
In 2004, the Californian design company
Artecnica produced two successful design
projects with Boontje, the multi-award winning Midsummer Light and the Fairy Tail
greeting card. Boontje had started work on
a design project coordinated by the British
Council who had paired him up with a women’s collective in Brazil called Copa Roca.
The project resulted in a lampshade design –
Come Rain Come Shine – which featured traditional embroidery and ropework set around
a circular metal frame. Boontje asked Artecnica if they could produce it commercially.
Come Rain Come Shine was not Artecnica’s fi rst dalliance with traditionally made
products. The year before they had sent students from Eindhoven's Design Academy to
Brazil to work with artisans, but attempts to
turn the resulting pieces into commercially
viable products had failed. “It was really
hard,” recalls Artecninca’s art director Tahmineh Javanbakht. “The prices were really
high and we weren’t the kind of company
that could demand that. In 2003/4 the
market wasn’t ready for it. And the artisans
weren’t really set up, they didn’t have the
logistics for something as simple as getting
boxes or fi lling out commercial invoices.”
By the time Boontje approached them,
Artecnica felt that they had learned enough of
the pitfalls to give such a scheme another try,
this time with the draw of a big name designer
to help push the idea along. The success of
these lamps was the basis of Artecnica’s Design
with Conscience™ range: pieces by Boontje,
the Campaña Brothers, Hella Jongerius and
Stephen Burks that are developed with, and
made by artisans in South Africa, Vietnam
and Central and South America.
Boontje’s latest collection for the label is
Witches’ Kitchen, a kitchenware set centred
around black clay pots imprinted with local
leaves and flowers. The pots are based on a
traditional Colombian design, although due
to their appeal, knock-off versions are now
available all over South America, putting financial strain on the original artisans. “We
wanted to make something that was more
special and would make them more money,”
explains Boontje. “A high quality product
was a way of getting out of this negative circle.” He felt that his role as a product designer was to maintain the traditional knowledge
that went into making the pots while making
them more appropriate for the modern market. For example, the pots were now more
likely to be placed in an oven than hung over
an open fi re, so he changed the handles to
make them easier to carry.
02.
Deep as Boontje’s commitment is to fostering a properly collaborative process with
artisans, he is under no illusions of the importance of his role in the process. “If the
traditional products had such great appeal
to us we would be surrounded by them already,” he says. “There is a real need to make
this translation.”
From Boontje’s perspective, Artecnica’s
reputation as a design brand allowed these
pieces to slip onto the design market by
the back door. Talking with Javanbakht at
Artecnica, however, it becomes clear that
the success of the Design with Conscience™
range is down not only to labels but also to
a simple factor of timing. “When we started
it fi rst, people were sceptical. They said the
project was dandy, but only for a hippy niche
market,” she recalls. “About 2 years ago it
was unthinkable to imagine that certain
people would trade in an SUV for a small
hybrid car. Now gas prices have changed
that. Four years ago wholefood was a very
niche market, Wholefood is now one of the
most formidable chains in America. With
awareness comes interest.”
01.
Casserole with Lid from the Witches'
Kitchen Series by Tord Boontje for
Artecnica, wrapped in the Financial Times.
02.
Small Bowl from the Beads and Pieces
Series by Hella Jongerius for Artecnica,
wrapped in Peru's El Peruano.
THE FOURTH WORD — 65
design Wrapper's Delight
Wrapper's Delight design
03.
How Travel Broadens The Mind
Interest in Slow Design products is not limited to the crunchy granola crowd. It also
connects strongly into the interest generated
by the Campaña brothers’ ‘spontaneous
architecture’ and favela-inspired junkyard
furniture. This is not simply the desire to
create something sustainable, but a search
for a new approach to design that goes beyond the constant cannibalisation of European and North American design history.
“It’s really time that we look outside of
Europe for inspiration and for business development,” says designer Stephen Burks.
“The work has to transform, it has to become
a combination of the contemporary design
aesthetic and the developing world aesthetic.
The point for me is not to borrow from the developing world but to invest in innovation.”
Burks had built up his own design studio
in New York - Readymade Projects – and
with it an international reputation by the
time he fi rst worked with artisans in South
Africa on a series of patchwork-covered vases for Missoni in 2005. Two years later he
worked with the NGO Aid to Artisans and
Artecnica to create TaTu, a wire table that
breaks down into a bowl, a tray and a basket.
“In South Africa I saw how immediate design
66 — THE FOURTH WORD
could be and how unstylised it was. People
are more interested in the material and the
way things go together. It really changed my
perspective on what I was making. I felt myself more connected to process than form.”
This season, together with Guilio Cappellini, Burks has launched a new ecoconscious design range called Cappellini
Love. The fi rst collection includes tables
made from shredded magazines and vases
and bowls made from mosaic tiles and silicone. The process is one that he developed
together with the women’s community centre
that now produces the vases. For Burks, this
foray by the high end Italian manufacturer
into the Slow Design market is more than just
an exercise in bandwagon jumping. “In the
high end design world where the distribution
numbers aren’t as high as in mass design
there’s a possible fi t between what can be
made by hand and what can be distributed
in a certain market,” he explains.
For this to work, design-literate consumers need to start extending the same appreciation they feel towards, for example, Italian
leather workers, to artisans from elsewhere
in the world. Just as Tord Boontje pointed
out a gathering ennui with the bland and
mass- produced, Burks urges a return to the
more omnivorous roots of modernism. “In
my opinion there doesn’t have to be any type
of division. The way that I live and the products that I’m interested in all have diverse origins; I might have a Danish sofa and a British shelving unit and tons of little items with
more personality. If you look at the Eames’
house, you’ll see that this is really returning
to the pluralistic vision of modernism. If we
travel the world we realise that it is full of
people making things in different ways.”
While the pieces in the Cappellini Love
collection, with their flaunted recyled components, are very much of their time, unlike
the pieces Burks designed for Artecnica,
they do not seem to have a particular sense
of place. If anything, their aesthetic reference
point seems more Italian than South African.
Never the less, when Burks refers to ‘little
items with more personality’, one imagines
things that really brandish who and where
they come from. Authenticity has a market
value these days, and the big test of authenticity is being able to demonstrate your origins.
03.
Bowl from the Cappellini Love
Collection by Stephen Burks
for Cappellini, wrapped in South Africa's
Mail and Guardian.
© Marcel Wanders Studio
Tell Me Something About Your Country
Delftware does not fit in to the modern Dutch
self-image. As it exists in the popular imagination, the decorated blue crockery strikes
bull’s eye shots at all the old low-country
clichés; blonde milkmaids, tulips, shepherd
boys, clogs and canal boats. Delftware came
into its own in the mid C17th century after
the supply of Chinese porcelain to the European market was interrupted; with some
poetry, one imagines that the Delftwarestyle tat now being sold to tourists is reliably
imported from factories in China.
“I have tons of countrymen who hate it
if Holland is again represented using tulips, cheese and cows,” says designer Marcel
Wanders. “I don’t have a problem with it, I
don’t mind using the symbols myself. I think
by now people know Holland has some other
things to offer.” Delftware has come in to
Wanders’ personal design collection this
year, as well as the collection for his label
Moooi. For the fi rst, a Delft figurine has
become the victim of one of Wanders’ ‘one
minute’ paint jobs – the insouciant shepherd boy receives a blue splattering that is
either genius or infantile (or both) depending on what worth you put on a piece being
touched by the hand of the master.
The collection available from Moooi is
officially produced by Royal Delft and is
by turns an elegant and daffy update on the
company’s traditional output. Wanders is
not just paying reverent homage to his country’s artisan heritage, but neither is he just
cocking a snoop at Delft’s settled, somewhat
stale image.
“In design we have tried to be very industrial, democratic and international,” says
Wanders of his work with Moooi. “There’s
nothing wrong with that, but I think it took
away a little bit of the personality of objects,
it took away a bit of their life. We are looking
at ways for the industry to create things that
have a certain uniqueness.”
Wanders equates design with giving
gifts; a considered gift should always say as
much about the giver as it does the receiver.
It is a point of communication. “Design is so
fabulous because it is an international language,” he enthuses. “We can communicate
with people all over the world, but what are
we communicating? What are we going to
give? Some parts of our local tradition and
some qualities we have are very interesting to
work with and give away. Delft Blue is such
a beautiful part of our cultural history and
this company is still there.”
Two years ago 50% of Moooi was bought
by B&B Italia. During this year’s Salone del
04.
Mobile, this most Italian of design companies was proudly displaying the Moooi
Delftware figurines in its central Milan
showroom. Wanders and Moooi have come
beyond being defi ned by their Dutch roots;
both the man and the marque are proper
international brands. It is hardly surprising
that it has become attractive to re-connect
with a form of production that is slow, handmade and above all, local.
This Page
04.
1 Minute Delftware Farmer
by Marcel Wanders Studio,
should have been wrapped in
Holland's Volkskrant.
Next Page
05.
Starfl ower Blue Rug
by Barber Osgerby for The Rug Company,
wrapped in Nepal's Nepali Patra.
THE FOURTH WORD — 67
design Wrapper's Delight
05.
I Love it When a Plan Cocks Up
Coming in to the entrance hall of the Royal
Institute of British Architects in London,
you are greeted by a desk so perfect that it
might be projected by the digital effects
department of a big budget sci-fi fi lm. It’s
an undulating wallop of hi-gloss curves, a
stable form created from apparently liquid
metal. The work of Jay Barber and Edward
Osgerby, it is an immaculate expression of
the pair’s perfectionist output. This year
they presented a series of tables for Established & Sons in machined aluminium that
was anodised to create colour spectrums –
in tones of green, blue, grey, red and pink
- as individual as the human iris, but impeccably controlled.
“Our process comes from a background
of working with engineers,” say the pair, who
trained together as architects before setting
up a design studio in West London. “With
plastics and metals you are looking at things
down to the last quarter millimetre.”
Three years ago they started creating carpet designs for The Rug Company, a London based fi rm that produces hand-knotted
rugs with Tibetan refugees living in Nepal.
The Starburst pattern is a two-dimensional
rendering of a 3-D tile that they created for
Stella McCartney’s stores. In its rug form it
68 — THE FOURTH WORD
becomes a study in tone on tone colour, but
also relates strongly to traditional geometrical patterns from the Islamic tradition.
Working on the rug, the designers had
to learn to embrace a number of random
elements; the weaver’s interpretation, the
variations in the colour of the dye, and the
potential for simple human error. “In mass
production you don’t get that warmth that
you get in wood or a carpet,” explains Jay
Osgerby. “With anything that has a natural
aspect to it, you get an inherent warmth.
You also get that serendipitous quality that
comes from working with someone else.
When you have one guy hand knotting a
carpet, you can’t reproduce that industrially, it adds depth to a project.”
Working on their Cupola table for the
Meta collection this year, Barber Osgerby
found that it is not only in collaborations
with the developing world that you must
learn to accept the beauty of chance. It also
comes when working with the fi nest artisans
in Europe. Their table features two vast
hand-blown glass bulbs, one in turquoise
blue which forms the base, and the other in
translucent opaline white which provides the
shade of the reading lamp. “The maestros can
interpret the drawing quite accurately,” explains Edward Barber. “But even they can’t
always predict what the glass is going to do;
the fl aws give it the depth and the interest.”
In mass production, there simply isn’t space
for serendipitous cock-ups– you need something predictable and immaculate. The place
for chance comes where you can produce a
small number of editions, which for designers of this calibre, means they are destined
for high-end consumers, whether the artisans
they work with are in Kathmandu or Venice.
“At one end of the market people are tired of
buying things that are very samey,” says Edward Barber. “I guess people do want to have
things that talk about place; they’re in search
of something that is more authentic.”
Consume Furniture Like You Consume Food
The relationship between traditional production and high-end design need be no
more jarring than that of scientifically-inspired chef nevertheless insisting on traditionally produced ingredients. One can contribute to and enhance the other. As with the
return to quality ingredients and ‘real’ meat,
the emergence of the Slow Design movement
marks a shift towards the idea of consuming
better and consuming less. Better, in this instance, meaning not simply ethically better,
but better made, better developed and better rooted.
Booking Your Getaway shelf absorbed
shelf absorbed
Booking
Your
Getaway
— From intricate
illustrations to cubic
invasions and in-theknow suggestions,
our summer reading
promises to be a
stimulating – and
sometimes frankly
childish - companion to
poolside cocktails (with
tiny little umbrellas
that is) and half-opened
parasols.
Although he had initially began his professional life as a painter, Czech-born writer
and illustrator Miroslav Sasek is best known
for his This Is series of books, for which he
won several awards - one of which was the
prestigious New York Times Best Illustrated
Book of the Year in 1959. Welcomingly light
on words although extremely detailed in imagery, the series – a whopping 18 issues strong
- offers a kind of Catch Me If You Can rendition of most major cities. Spanning the entire
globe - from Wahington DC to Venice and
Edinburgh – his books offer a much-needed
alternative to weekend city-trips whilst in the
comfort of your own home. We've gone for
London, New York and Hong-Kong…
L’Affolé de son Art (2008)
By Katsushika Hokusai
Musée Guimet
A self-proclaimed “Art-crazy old man”,
Hokusai was a prolific painter who mastered
the art of Japanese woodblock printing. His
most famous picture – The Great Wave
– is widely regarded as the high point of
Japanese prints and depicts fi shermen being
tossed around by a gigantic breaking wave
with Mt. Fuji lurking in the background.
Published in time for a fitting retrospective
of the artist’s work at Paris’s National Museum for Asian Art, the book is a beautifully
and respectfully produced volume sure to
adorn the most high-browed of libraries.
Invasion in the U.K (2007)
By Space Invader
ED
We’ve been fervent followers of the mighty
Space Invader from his early days in Paris but
this here street cat has now officially gone global. From Berlin and Bangkok to Mombassa
and Montpelier, there isn’t a stone left unturned
by Mr Invader – literally that is. Applying his
pixel-perfect mosaics to the most obscure yet
visible of spots, Space Invaders’ cemented
canvases seem to effortlessly blend into its surroundings, as though they were always meant
to be there – and firmly stay there. His latest book, Invasion in the U.K, documents his
many hits in London, Manchester and Newcastle, and confirms this most hard-working of
street artist’s wizardry – both in his choice of
medium and his choice of spots to hit.
Things I Have Learned In My Life So Far
(2008)
By Stefan Sagmeister
Abrams
We’re still not entirely sure whether it was
the book’s ingenious set of 15 interchangeable covers which drew us to it or whether
it was its profoundly personal and intimate
content. Either way, this is one gem worth
spending a couple of hours contemplating
on a rainy Saturday afternoon. Begun as a
list Swiss graphic designer Sagmeister kept in
his diary, the book includes such sentences
as “Worrying solves nothing” and “Trying
to look good limits my life”. He then set out
to illustrate his random thoughts through
what can only be described as “installation
graphic design”. One that is sure to become a
fi rm fi xture on the office coffee table.
Louis Vuitton
European City Guides
(2008)
Some books are best described with hard
facts. A set of nine soft-back guides. Over 34
European cities featured. More than 1,800
pages filled with the continent’s best hotels,
restaurant, cafés, art galleries, museums,
shops, monuments and excursions. Extensively researched, immaculately laid out and
beautifully produced. It is official: we have
finally found a viable alternative to those
other stylish city guides we cannot name for
obvious reasons.
<
—
From Left to Right:
Artists’ Handbook by Ludion,
Miroslav Sasek’s This Is London, This Is New
York and This Is Hong Kong,
Man About Town’s Spring/Summer ’08 Issue,
Hokusai’s L’Affolé de son Art,
Carl’s Cars' Environment Issue,
Space Invader’s Invasion in the U.K, 032C’s
Spring/Summer ’08 Issue, Stefan Sagmeister’s
Things I have Learned in my Life So Far,
Louis Vuitton’s European City Guides,
photographed on Grundig's all-in-one stereo.
All books available from Cook & Book
www.cookandbook.be
©Yassin Serghini
Writer Nicholas Lewis
Photography Yassin Serghini
This Is London (1959), This is New York
(1960) and This is Rome (1960)
By Miroslav Sasek
Universe
70 — THE FOURTH WORD
THE FOURTH WORD — 71
The Garden BBQ diners' check
diners' check
The
Garden BBQ
Who Was There
Malika Hamza is a chef and founding
member of Karikol, the Brussels branch of
the slow food movement.
Justine Glansfield is a former knitwear
designer for Burberry and Burberry Prorsum, she has just opened a Bed & Breakfast
and is about to become an interior decorator.
— The food for the barbecue was meant to match the lace and
embroidery hanging on the washing lines. The idea would be that
it was all vaguely black, white and grey. Due to our unfortunately
amateurish barbecue skills, the food was a lot more black than
white on the plates by the end of the meal. Ooops.
Vincent Fournier is a photographer.
His most recent show Space Project was on
at Acte2galerie in Paris last month.
Marie Henrard is an aspiring architect.
She is Delphine’s friend.
Writer(and Head Barbecuer) Hettie Judah
Photography Sarah Eechaut
Melisande McBurnie is a friend of Hettie's and is quickly becoming The Word's
go-to-girl.
Delphine Dupont is, together with
pleaseletmedesign, responsible for the
graphic design side of the magazine.
Benoit Berben is our much-needed moneyman. He likes his meat well-cooked.
Sarah Eechaut is quickly becoming
known as our cover girl, as every picture she
takes for us always seems to end up on it. She
was in charge of visuals.
08.
Hettie Judah writes for the weekend editions of The Financial Times and The International Herald Tribune. She is The Word
magazine’s Editor at Large.
Isaac ‘Eggy’ Dymond is a keen amateur
chef. He learned to read earlier this year.
Cynthia Lewis is mother-in-chief and
hosted the barbecue.
03.
On the Table
Serving dishes, plates, champagne glasses,
serving spoons, cutlery, water jugs and water tumblers all from Habitat. Crystal serving bowls
from A La Page. Floral arrangements and petals
by Rosy Rosa. Candle holders by Xavier Lust.
In the Garden
Bistro chairs and table from Habitat. Vintage linen
from A La Page. Plastic garden furniture, Mum’s own.
06.
What we Ate
>
—
Vegetables on the Barbecue.
Chicons with balsamic vengar
and olive oil. 02. Courgette with
mint dressing and ricotta.
03. Aubergines with Brussels honey.
01.
72 — THE FOURTH WORD
Flesh on the Barbecue.
Squid brochettes.
05. Chicken kebabs with poppy
seeds and currants.
04.
Fruit on the Barbecue.
Red plums.
07. Pineapple.
06.
Rice with black sesame,
pumpkin and pomegranate
seeds. 09. White beans with
thyme dressing. 10. Watermelon
with feta cheese and black olives.
08.
The Sweet Stuff.
Vanilla pavlova with blueberries.
12. Espresso marscapone cream
with chocolate biscotti.
11.
12 + 13.
What we Drank
>
—
Absolut Vodka.
Absolut Pears.
15. Vedett Beer.
16. Evian Still Water.
17. Badoit Sparkling Water.
13.
14.
THE FOURTH WORD — 73
The Garden BBQ diners' check
diners' check The Garden BBQ
The Words on Hettie’s Lips
We want to start thinking of our Word dinners as nomadic restaurants that pop up
every two months in a different place, full of
new ideas. We had been inspired by Californian company Outstanding in the Field
who produces organic farm dinners in fields
served on linen napery and fi ne china. For
our fi rst nomadic restaurant, we invited Chef
Malika Hamza, member of Brussels’ slow
food movement Karikol, to come and talk
about how to do a meal together using slow
food and an unusual location. She brought
a jar of honey produced in Brussels with
her, which got us thinking about creating a
meal made entirely with produce reared and
grown within the Brussels city limits.
The Words on Delphine’s Lips
I remember Malika saying “mox” instead
of mix, when talking about Tom Barman’s
live DJ set at the Ecolo’s Vert Pop party that
same night. Hettie then said the Vodka Pear
we had might actually be good with a little
Pomegranate juice so we tried it and it turned
out to be delicious, so we called it the Mox.
I also remember talking Polaroids with Vincent, men (and how they can never accept
criticism) with Marie and asking Sarah how
The Word was doing in Gent.
The Words on Marie’s Lips
We talked architecture and how everyone
always seemed to say the same thing when
they realized you were an architect: interior
or exterior?
We also talked about Basle where I had just
come back from and about contemporary art
in general.
We also discussed photography and enjoyed
Isaac’s Polaroids. Oh, and we invented a
cocktail with Malika and Delphine!
The Words on Meli's Lips
We had been planning and organizing the
barbecue for the past three weeks or so but,
as usual, it all seemed to happen in the week
preceding the big night. Stressful. We used
Berghoff’s ’32-piece Barbecue Set’ for the
grill (pictured below left), ate on Habitat
china and sat on their garden furniture. All
this on Meli-made, over-pixilated laced paper tablecloth and in between vintage linen
from A La Page.
04.
The Words on Malika’s Lips
15.
03.
74 — THE FOURTH WORD
I remember Hettie’s Middle Eastern-cumTurkish-cum-Iranian-inspired cooking, inventing a new word (the MOX), talking about
the first love letter I had ever written (full of
grammatical errors but so sincere), and the
fabulous and passionate accounts of Vincent’s photography. I also can’t forget Isaac’s
Polaroids, his Polaroids of Polaroids and his
Polaroids of my shoes.
16.
THE FOURTH WORD — 75
eye-opener
Whilst You Were Sleeping eye-opener
— With our near-psychopathic urge to doodle on every little
inch of paper we find still very much alive, a Getaway-themed
issue seemed like the perfect opportunity to indulge in one
of our earlier teenage passions: bombing. Here’s what the
underworld looks like today…
Photography Paviani ©
76 — THE FOURTH WORD
THE FOURTH WORD — 77
eye-opener Whilst You Were Sleeping
78 — THE FOURTH WORD
Whilst You Were Sleeping eye-opener
THE FOURTH WORD — 79
eye-opener Whilst You Were Sleeping
Whilst You Were Sleeping eye-opener
Thanks You’s Smey, Dothewriting and Daer
80 — THE FOURTH WORD
www.paviani.be
THE FOURTH WORD — 81
the word on the street
Color Me Bad the word on the street
— Delphine often has bright ideas and introducing us to
Léopoldine Roux was no exception – literally. A French artist
with a studio to die for in the heart of Brussels’ Dansaert area,
Léopoldine’s specialty is color-crazy interventions. Be it her
street-gumming sessions or – more recently – her fluorescent and very public - splashes, we knew she’d be a perfect pick for
our Word on the Street pages.
Collages Léopoldine Roux
82 — THE FOURTH WORD
THE FOURTH WORD — 83
the word on the street Color Me Bad
84 — THE FOURTH WORD
Color Me Bad the word on the street
THE FOURTH WORD — 85
the word on the street Color Me Bad
86 — THE FOURTH WORD
Color Me Bad the word on the street
THE FOURTH WORD — 87
the word on the street Color Me Bad
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our playlists
Songs
We Listen To
Alex’s Playlist
MadeInJapan — Babyspace
José James — Nola
03. Luigi (Infi nitSkills) — Untitled
04. Bad Mothafuckas ft. Incksalonious — Sweet Rendez-Vous
05. Jay Electronica — Hard To Get
06. Mike Dunn — Phreaky MF
07. Tay Zonday — Chocolate Rain (FS Green Remix)
08. Pepe Braddock — Intriguing Feathered Creature
09. Kid Sublime ft. Camp Lo — Rappin’ Blak
Benoit’s Playlist
01.
02.
The Kinks — Dedicated follower of fashion
Beastie Boys — Namaste
03. Ten Years After — Help Me
04. Janis Joplin — Summertime
05. JJ Cale — Cocaine
06. Duke Ellington & John Coltrane — Take the Coltrane
07. Ice-T — I'm Your Pusher / Pusherman
08. Sugerhill Gang — Rapper's Delight
09. Cypress Hill — I Ain't Going Out Like That
01.
02.
Hettie’s Playlist
Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons — The Night
Soul Men — Sister Sue
03. Santogold — Shove It
04. Kish Mauve — I'm In Love With A German Film Star
05. The Pointer Sisters — Send Him Back (Pilooski Edit)
06. Jamie Lidell — Out of My System
07. Mono Mono — Kenimania
08. Sons of The Kingdom — Modernization
09. Curtis Mayfi eld — (Don't Worry) If There's A Hell Below
We're All Going to Go
10. Alela Diane — Can You Blame The Sky
01.
02.
Nicholas’ Playlist
In Medicine
The White Stripe s — Girl, You Have No Faith
Time
32nd
—
r
Taylo
01. Otis
Little Heat
01. The Black Keys — Just a
Control
Lost
She's
—
01. Joy Divisi on
Go Up
01. Seasi ck Steve — Thing s
servesamanwhotreatsuhowulike
01. Plant Life — Agirlli keude
IV
Lova
aman
Soop
—
an
01. Redm
01. Dawn Penn — No, No, No
01.
THE FOURTH WORD — 91
stockists
Stockists…
and
Others
We Love
Gallery Excelence
www.cinema-excellence.be
Jean Paul Knott
www.jeanpaulknott.com
Cook and Book
www.cookandbook.be
Number 76
www.number76.be
Yojhi Yamamoto
www.yohjiyamamoto.co.jp
Louis Vuitton
www.louisvuitton.com
Walibi
www.walibi.be
Sonia Rykiel
www.soniarykiel.com
Berghoff Worldwide
www.berghoff.be
The Holvoet Brothers
www.holbikes.com
Chanel
www.chanel.com
Habitat
www.habitat.net
Bob Berben
www.montgolfiere.be
Samsonite Black Label
www.samsoniteblacklabel.com
Evian
www.evian.com
Mercedes
www.mercedes-benz.be
Delvaux
www.delvaux.com
Vedett
www.vedett.com
Porsche
www.porsche.com
Calvin Klein
www.calvinklein.com
Absolut Vodka
www.absolut.com
BMW
www.bmw.be
Juun. J
www.juunj.com
Leopoldine Roux
www.leopoldineroux.com
Mini Cooper
www.mini.com
The North Face
www.thenorthface.com
The Winery
www.wineryonline.be
Pierre Bergé
www.pba-auctions.com
Leatherman
www.leatherman.com
Artecnica
www.artecnicainc.com
www.mobach-groothandel.nl
Christian Louboutin
www.christianlouboutin.fr
Tommy Hilfiger
www.tommy.com
Limi Feu
www.limifeu.com
Cappellini
www.cappellini.it
Hermes
www.hermes.com
Marcel Wanders
www.marcelwanders.com
Agnes b.
www.agnesb.com
The Rug Company
www.therugcompany.com
Marc Jacobs
www.marcjacobs.com
Stephen Burks
www.readymadeprojects.com
92 — THE FOURTH WORD
A.S. Adventures
www.asadventure.com
Entre Terre et Ciel
Place Stéphanie Plein, 20
1050 Brussels
+32 (0)2 502 42 41
advertisers' round up
advertisers' round up
pages 2 - 3
page 4
page 41
page 45
page 69
Absolut
Burberry
Aspria
Frey Wille
Cerruti
www.absolut.com
www.burberrythebeat.com
www.aspriaclub.be
www.frey-wille.com
www.cerruti.com
www.blanpain.net
page 7
page 9
page 11
page 15
page 89
page 90
page 93
Audi
Essentiel
Instore
Bozar
The Word
Schweppes
Colophon 2009
www.audi.be
www.essentiel.be
www.instore.be
www.bozar.be
www.thewordmagazine.be
www.schweppes.be
www.colophon2009.com
page 21
page 27
page 31
page 97
page 99
page 100
Carpe Diem
EHSAL
Volvo Cars
Brussels Bussines Flats
Peugeot
Chanel
www.carpediem.com
www.ehsal.be
www.volvocars.be
www.bbf.be
www.peugeot.be
www.chanel.be
94 — THE FOURTH WORD
THE FOURTH WORD — 95
The New Generation Travel Agent the last word
the last word
The New
Generation
Travel
Agent
tinues. “And by the latter we mean holidaygoers who plan “A la Carte” holidays in
exotic countries, those who buy packages
for far fl ung destinations and of course the
business travellers.”
So what exactly are the products being bought over the internet? Well, and in
general, it is online sales are approximately
split as follows: 50% go directly to airlines
and 25% go to neighbouring countries’ hotels (thanks to the booming trend that is city
trips). As you can imagine, all this didn’t
then – and still doesn’t - quite dent the industry’s business model, as these weren’t
exactly the services that made for travel
agency’s sound fi nancial health.
— Rewind back five years
ago, and it seemed every
newspaper, magazine,
blog and forum were
rife with rumours
spreading the demise
of the intermediaries
– be they photography
developers, holiday
bookers or music shops
– due to the noticeable
dents technologies such as
the internet were making
in their bottom line.
Although we had initially
thought the contrary, one
industry sector – that of
travel bookings – seems
to have emerged unhurt
from the web’s sometimes
devastating reach.
" A wealth of clients
have left the vicinities
of the classic
travel agent "
As for the remaining 25%, it is taken up
by that crop of travellers for who money
saved means everything – regardless of the
time spent looking for that perfect trip. This
is where the travel agency really could have
lost revenue. But up to now, as Christophe
Solé states, 70% of travel bookings in Belgium are still made through agencies.
And they have reasons to. Travel agencies still provide better and fuller services
than their online counterparts. And they
have adapted theses accordingly to suit their
clients’ every desire, whatever they might
be. They have also gradually specialized in
specific journeys and tailor-made activities
which go a step further than your usual holiday package.
Among his proudest trips he has helped
organise, Solé vividly remembers that of
Belgian Baron Albert Frère’s trip on a Concorde, Deutsche Bank’s lottery journeys or
the special trip put together for a group of
people who wanted to sail up the river Sénégal in an old 1950’s boat. It is here that an
agency’s added value really steps up.
What is more, secure payments and insurances, the full spectre of travel offers and
perfect personal consultancy are the three
must-haves that are unfortunately rarely
found online but always guaranteed at your
local agents’. And unlike conventional wisdom usually states, these services are not
more expensive than on the Internet. It even
proves cheaper most of the time.
In the middle and long term, the Internet
has oddly enough even proved to send customers straight back to established agencies.
People are now using the web to gather information on the getaways they want to plan,
then seek face-to-face advice with the agencies and end up buying their holidays at the
same time.
But this is not to say that the boutique
travel agency is not at risk, especially from
bigger players, such as big tour operators,
which could seriously compromise the future fi nancial stability of travel agents. Indeed, the Belgian market is shared at 90%
by two big actors: Thomas Cook and Jet Air
upon whom travel agencies depend to ensure
most of their revenues. These tour operators
have started to open their own travel shops
and now extend their offer to the Internet.
They will soon sell the very same products
than that of classical travel agencies but at a
slightly discounted price as agencies need to
add on their commissions. This would precipitate the end of the “golden years” and
the agencies could fi nd themselves in a one
hell of a pickle. This is why in the long term,
they will have a lot to gain from revisiting
their travel offerings in order to provide a
more personalised and customised service
to their loyal clients.
Although we’re not planning on taking
any holidays quite yet, we can only hope to
be one of them very soon…
www.voyageseole.be
Writer Séverine Vaissaud
Photography Geneviève Balasse
My mother-in-law regularly gives me her
French Elle’s and, the last time she did so,
I couldn’t help but notice a 10 pages long
feature revealing all the tips to fast and easy
holiday online booking. Slightly taken aback
by the importance given to the subject, I
couldn’t help but wonder what this all meant
for the good old fashioned travel agent. And
befitting my knack for exploration, it took me
no time to fi nd the right person to speak with:
96 — THE FOURTH WORD
Christophe Solé. Owner and manager, with
his brother, of a medium size, family-run
and established network of travel agencies Voyages Eoles/Giga Tours – he’s been in the
industry for over six years now.
“Strangely enough, at the turn of the millennium, when people started to turn to the
internet in masses to book their holidays,
our sector saw a 20% increase in year-on-
year sales” says Solé. The reasons for this
progression were two-fold: people had been
– and still are - spending more on holidays
whilst at the same time they hadn’t stopped
using the travel agent as an intermediary between them and their sun-fi lled getaways.
A wealth of clients had nevertheless left
the vicinities of the classic travel agents although, fi nancially speaking, “these were
not the most interesting ones” as Solé con-
THE FOURTH WORD — 97
what's next
Mouth-watering, crispy and
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98 — THE FOURTH WORD