The Wonderful World of Monsieur Flamant

The Wonderful World
of Monsieur Flamant
He is always on the lookout for special things. Home
furnishings with a patina surround him at his Belgian country
house. He sells them in his international stores.
A weekend idyll. Alex Flamant takes his horses Farouk and Sundance (left) to the meadow behind his house on the hill in Onkerzele.
48
Text Esther Strerath
Production Marc Heldens Photos Mark Seelen
49
Alle Namen und Adressen finden Sie auf Seite xxx.
50
Photo: in versalien in versalien in versalien in versalien in versalien in versalien in versalien in versalien in
versalien in versalien in versalien in versalien in versalien in versalien in versalien in versalien in versalien
Photo: in versalien in versalien in versalien in versalien in versalien in versalien in versalien in versalien in
versalien in versalien in versalien in versalien in versalien in versalien in versalien in versalien in versalien
Statues and other objects from China, Thailand, India, Africa and France form a still life in front of the floor-to-ceiling windows looking out on the garden.
The twelve silver candlesticks on the coffee table and the armchairs come from Flamant’s own company. The stone is something he found himself.
Alle Namen und Adressen finden Sie auf Seite xxx.
51
H
An African mask stands between a child’s drawing and an antique Louis-Vuitton traveling box. There are statues of horses almost everywhere.
ome... The word alone exudes softness and gentle-
as far removed from each other as Dubai and Hamburg. It will be openness,” says Alex Flamant. And that is why the ing new stores this year in Düsseldorf, Marseilles and Maastricht.
furniture, accessories and materials designed,
he company’s head office is located 30 kilometers west of Brussels
produced and sold throughout the world by
at Geraardsbergen. It is a gray box very similar to all the other
this Belgian businessman and his two younger
featureless gray boxes in the town’s industrial zone. For anybrothers Georges and Jacques have nothing ag- one making a first pilgrimage to this “mecca of style” it seems a bit
gressive or cool about them but are soft and of a letdown. But behind the glass doorway comes the reception hall
gentle. There are some 10,000 different items with its own sandy beach, a romantic fishing boat, deckchair and
in the Flamant Home Interiors collections, canopied sun bed. Entering the Flamant headquarters is like walking
each of which has the charm of a long-forgot- into a giant 3-D catalog.
ten treasure discovered in the attic or a souvenir from a journey to dis- Alex Flamant comes hurrying down the staircase dressed in gray flantant parts. Tables that look as though they have been varnished, sanded nels and a light-blue shirt, cell phone at his ear. He closes the phone
off and lovingly restored time and again.
conversation with a goodbye in French,
Leather sofas like those in the best Lonwelcomes us in English and says somedon clubs and accessories that you would
thing in Flemish to the lady at the receponly expect to find at a junk shop or a flea
tion desk. It is lunchtime and Flamant
market. The basic concept is patina or,
takes us to a large room with long tables
alternatively, new editions – new furnicovered with white tablecloths and an
ture copying an antique design. This is
open country house-style kitchen. A buythe idea behind one of Belgium’s largest
er from Harrods of London is sitting
and best-known companys with 260 emnearby and there are also some customployees and sales of around 36 million
ers from Moscow, not to mention a large
euros, of which 75 percent are exports.
part of the workforce, which eats its
he brain behind all this is CEO Alex
lunch most days in the “canteen” where
Flamant, a man who is driven by
Sarah is serving a noodle and vegetable
curiosity. He is constantly on the
casserole. Alex Flamant first says hello to
road searching for knicknacks and still
everyone personally before sitting down
discovering them after 30 years in the
and filling our glasses with mineral wabusiness. He was so taken by an ancient
ter and white wine and starting to tell us
telescope that he had a limited edition
about his company.
produced by specialists. Some small
Flamant produces his furniture in
wooden doors that he acquired in China
Shanghai, his glassware comes from Roare now being displayed as coffee tables
mania and the ceramics from Portugal.
in his stores. Many of his discoveries are
The main logistics center is located in
used for a purpose not originally intendPoland. The company has its own restaued. For example, an old theodolite, rerant in Antwerp and some of its stores
novated and polished up, is now on sale 30 years ago Alex Flamant joined his father’s antique busi- have their own cafés, bookshops and
as a lamp stand. One of his most recent ness. Now he manages a family business with his brothers. flower shops in addition to the main furfinds, at a flea market in Beijing, is an old “Flamant is hot – but we plan to stay in our niche,” he says. niture and accessories business. A cusChinese fisherman’s vest made of bamtomer can order a coffee to drink while
boo. He took it home and mounted it
making a sketch of how one of the items
in a plexiglass case. He doesn’t talk aon display would look in his own home.
bout “decoration.” It’s a word he doesn’t
And there is such a wide choice that just
particularly like. He prefers “inspiration”
about everyone will find something they
and he can find that just about anywhere.
like. Anyone doubting this only has to
He is not a great collector. The only thing he collects is stones.
take a walk through the 50,000-square-foot showroom to be persuaded
“We expand, we improve our service. But we never produce items in the otherwise. It contains a variety of scenarios, for example, hotel rooms,
hundreds. Only 20, maybe as many as 50 units and that’s it. That is why banqueting tables, work rooms, living rooms, idyllic gardens. Alex Flawe shall always be a niche operation,” explains Alex Flamant. He started mant sets a fast pace as we follow him through a fascinating mosaic of
studying business administration in Brussels but broke it off in 1978 epochs and cultures – here a bit of Old England, there a bit of French
when his father got sick and needed help in his antique business. His first country house style, a touch of Baroque next to an example of Swedish
big order was to find twelve antique iron garden chairs. After drawing a simplicity. It is an eclectic mix where a Californian beach house rubs
blank everywhere, he dug up an old illustration, from which he drew his shoulders with a scene from the Orient and everything is seasoned by a
own design and had the chairs made new in Spain. That was the start of a host of articles displayed haphazardly between the main scenarios.
company that now has agents across the globe, some 500 “corners” in “Harmony!” he explains. “We look for natural harmony in every culture
department stores and other retail outlets and 15 stores of its own in cities in every part of the world. No matter how sophisticated you are, you can
T
Photo: in versalien in versalien in versalien in versalien in versalien in versalien in versalien in versalien in
versalien in versalien in versalien in versalien in versalien in versalien in versalien in versalien in versalien
T
“Interiors are just like fashion.
Everything is possible.”
Alle Namen und Adressen finden Sie auf Seite xxx.
52
52
53
„We camped out in that building.
It used to be a ruin, and we first had to decide
what we were going to change.“
All the colours chosen for this interior by Alex Flamant emanate from a palette of soft natural tones: winter white, clay, terra and doe. White wooden
54 54
beams on the ceiling, a vast light-coloured sofa for total relaxation and a table for souvenirs from all over the world and for books, books and more books.
Die vier trapezförmigen Elemente des neuen Piquadro-Headquarters liegen wie eine riesige Raupe aus Glas und Stahl mitten in der italienischen Provinz Emili hat.
Text Vorname Name
find maybe a piece of driftwood washed up on the beach, take it now no longer just the man who has given his name to a successful comhome and put it on an antique bureau. And it fits. Coming home from pany. He is also a man living in what that company represents.
a party or a reception, my wife often used to go to the stables still wearis business and private life are merged into one. “I work because I
ing an evening gown from Valentino or Armani. That is my definition
really love working. It is my great passion. I am constantly
of lifestyle.”(His wife died in 2006.)
thinking up new designs and developing new ideas – when I
“Feel good,” is one of his favorite expressions. He has seen a lot of fine get up in the morning, when I go to bed, when I’m playing golf or drivhouses crammed full of art and antiques like an article in a lifestyle ing the car.” He goes nowhere without his leather notebook in which
magazine. “But they had no soul.” “Interiors are like fashion,” explains he writes down or sketches his thoughts and ideas. His homepage
Flamant. “My grandmother was always shortening or lengthening her is currently announcing four “coming soons.” He has just opened a
skirts. Sometimes they were just over the knee, then just under it and new store in Belgium selling only children’s furniture. His stores will
the next time right in the middle of it. It’s different nowadays. A white shortly be launching a new line in faucets.
T-shirt, cool shoes and a dream handbag are just fine. Everything He has recently revised his negative opinion of plastic. “People are
is possible. Fashion dogma no longer exchanging,” he says. “A few years back we
ists. And it’s the same in the home. The
were all throwing out our carpets beonly rule is that your house’s interior
cause they attract dust. It had to be parAlex Flamant
should make you feel good.”
quet. Then, when walking barefoot in his
Can Alex Flamant name someone whose
hotel room, my son discovered how wonstyle he admires? “Axel Vervoordt,” he
derfully soft carpet can be to the feet and
answers. Verwoordt is a Belgian antique
told me he wanted one like that, too.”
dealer who lives in a chateau. “But not
Flamant is inordinately proud of his
because of his chateau. More because of
children Thibault (18) and Noemie (16),
the incredible variety of things that he
both of whom are at colleges abroad,
collects. Of all the people I have ever met,
and thinks they have a Classical style.
he is probably the one who most inspired
Perhaps they have inherited it from him,
me. Rombouts, the architect as well. He
just as he and his brothers and sister inrestored my house and his well-organherited it from their father, who used to
ized Bohemian style is really great.”
let them play among his precious anBack in his glass-walled office on the sectiques. (The sister does not work in the
ond floor where a dark blue blazer hangs
company.) “Last weekend the house was
from the knob of a large bureau, Flamant
full of young people between the ages
tells us about his home. “We camped out
of 18 and 24 who had been invited by
there when we moved in, because the
my children. We all went into the kitchen
building was a ruin and we first had to
and cooked a meal, and one of them
decide what we were going to change.”
found a good book in the library. It was
Originally a hunting lodge built in the
all very pleasant and jolly.”
18th century, the main house was enlamant is convinced that style is somelarged in the 19th century. He and his
thing that accompanies you as you
Alex Flamant taking a walk in the parkland near the
wife fell in love with the place ten years
grow. “At first you are all by yourself,
company’s head office with his dogs Gini
ago. It took them months to restore the (a Golden Retriever, front) and Boheme (a Coton de Tulear). then you get a girl-friend with whom you
floors, lay out a garden and choose furshare a few things during your student
niture and other interior decorations
days, then you get married and turn bourduring their travels in France, Holland,
geois. Then, as you get older, the rebel in
Africa and China. “Actually, it’s not realyou comes out again, you slide into your
ly finished even now.”
mid-life crisis and decide you need someIn the evenings he drives the three kilothing like a motorbike. But, during this
meters back to his home at Onkerzele in his Range Rover. There he is whole process, your taste in style remains the same.” Alex Flamant still
effusively welcomed by his golden retriever Gini and they go together to has the same Louis-Quinze chairs that stood in his very first apartment.
the stables to say hello to his chestnut gelding Sundance and his bay “They used to stand around a table by the Italian designer Willi Rizzo,”
gelding Farouk. He strolls across the grass, opens the house door and he recalls. And he still has among his possessions a small English dressgoes into the entrance hall with its black and white tiles dating back to er that came from his father’s former antique business. the 18th century, throws his jacket onto an antique bench and goes up the But he thinks style also has something to do with the environment
stairs to the second floor. On the landing hangs a painting by the Chinese and the occasion: “On weekends I hang up my suit and loaf around in
artist Zhang Hui. He walks past a collection of African statues and masks corduroys and a two-day beard. And who wants to sleep in white bed
to light the wood fire in the building’s original fireplace, over which stand linen during the winter? It’s the same with music. I love opera. But I
the framed baby shoes of his two children. Then on to the custom-built also love chansons – and rock’n’roll. But one thing I can’t stand is hearkitchen, where one of the cats rubs up against his legs. Alex Flamant is ing sad music when I get up in the morning.” ES
H
Produktion Vorname Name Fotos Vorname Name
Alex Flamant’s corporate philosophy still applies in his own home. “Seek out the best that different cultures can offer.”
Photo: in versalien in versalien in versalien in versalien in versalien in versalien in versalien in versalien in
versalien in versalien in versalien in versalien in versalien in versalien in versalien in versalien in versalien
“I am constantly
thinking up new designs and
developing new ideas –
when I get up in the mornings,
when I go to bed,
when I’m playing golf
or driving the car.”
4
F
“I work because I love working.
It is my great passion.”
Alle Namen und Adressen finden Sie auf Seite xxx.
56
7
8
All names and adresses can be found on page 250.
9
57