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Fearless Living
This is a book about design.
Every design project is an expedition in search of an unanswered question:
How do I want to live? Answer: I want to live my way. Originality is essential for discovery. Creativity is the method and the magic that allows unpredictable ideas to be discovered. To be revealed. To come into life.
This is a book about emotion, creativity, and the unpredictability of discovery.
It’s about making connections, following your heart, and challenging assumptions. About charting a new path and being open to fresh ideas. (Which means being open to yourself.)
This is a book about making curious, unlikely, and surprising connections.
It’s about taking chances. Finding beauty in mistakes. Celebrating risks. Building on ideas to make bigger ideas. Taking advantage of the unexpected. Training your eyes. Looking at things in new ways.
Of course, it’s not easy to be the first. ¦
pl. 4 This is a book about discovery.
Every discovery in life is unpredictable by definition. That’s how it works. If discoveries were predictable, they would be easy. Everyone could do it. But, thankfully, that’s not how it works. To be groundbreaking means you have no choice but to go to the places where others haven’t dared. It requires a sense of adventure.
This is the first book by Jean-Philippe Demeyer (Pl. 175), Frank Ver Elst (Pl. 56), and Jean-Paul Dewever (Pl. 88). In 2008, they co-founded their interior design office and for the first time in ten years, they’re presenting the living and working spaces they’ve designed for clients and friends. To examine what they do is to understand the source. Jean-Philippe, Frank, and Jean-Paul work in a landscape surrounded by the poetry of nature that’s inspired artists, thinkers, and dreamers for centuries. Their working space is a laboratory to experiment and test combinations, to blend elements and ideas from different places and times. More than a home, it’s a type of creative cauldron. A canvas which allows them to view furniture, art, and antiques through the lens of themes and styles. Ignited by Jean-Philippe’s design direction, their creative alchemy blends their individual talents into seamless storytelling that you feel from the moment you set eyes on a space they’ve created. What brings it all together? Architecture. Art. Materials. Colors. Textures. Nature. Each perform their particular dance. There is a rhythm and musicality to the combinations they make. Just like external world that surrounds us, Jean-Philippe is drawn to the natural mix. That’s why he’s chosen to reveal the projects through the lenses of renowned interior photographers alongside images taken by students and even images he took himself.
“It’s not about what’s expensive or cheap. I love the contrast. What’s universal is our eye — the unique way we see the world. I’m always searching for emotion that doesn’t feel forced.” These pages reveal the intimate spaces Jean-Philippe created for the interior lives and private dreams of people who are also sometimes featured in the images. One of the great pleasures of a book of interiors is that it allows us to see how people live. How they think. How they dream when they are alone. What does it look like when you leave the public world behind and enter the private world of family and home? These are the places where a person’s personality shines. Of course, style is subjective by definition. It depends on how one looks at the world. Whether an interior is enchanting, eclectic, or eccentric — above all else, a designer’s duty is to make people feel through their work. Their job is to put things together to arrive at an answer that you might never have expected — this is what dreams are made of. These interiors reveal a dazzling curiosity that’s particular to the whimsy and wonder of children, but with a style and sophistication that looks improvised, but is full of intellect and innovation. In these spaces, one must see. And feel. Be present in the moment. Be alive. Be happy. Be playful. Be very serious about having fun.
This is a book full about feeling. Thoughts. Pleasures. Intuitions. Desires. Fantasies. Emotions that are free of inhibition. This book is a delight. To devour. To enjoy. As Jean-Philippe says, “My philosophy is this: I work with my heart. I’m not cerebral. I’m a man of few words. These pictures tell my story.” Enough said.
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The Young Pope cushion collection. Cushions for me are important. Designing cushions gives an enormous sense of freedom. In a way, it’s like creating clothes. You follow your thoughts and make what you want. For this collection, I recovered clerical garments and reworked them into new assemblages. It’s my imagination of the pope at a disco. An interior isn’t complete without cushions. They’re the finishing touch.
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Mariana on the glorious Tivoli sofa in the studio. This is our place for work and experimentation. I want to be surrounded by people and objects that offer inspiration and positive energy. I think of each room like a refrigerator, where I can source what’s needed and prepare something new. It’s for trying, testing, and taking ideas to exciting places. A common question put to designers is: what’s your style? A suggested answer often would be: Eclectic? The only thing eclectic about me is that I have no particular style. In fact, I have lots and lots of styles. Mixed interiors feel natural to me. My method for working is to choose a theme for every p roject. Themes force you to narrow attention. Limitations stimulate creativity. I’m completely convinced about that. Pl. 3
The home and workshop of a florist and close friend exists in the middle of the countryside s urrounded by a cutting garden bordered by hedges. His architect combined the feeling of an o rangery, glass house, and gardener’s cottage into one living space. It struck me that the orangery has a low ceiling. So we painted large flowers on the surface area for depth. We cover floors and walls. Why not ceilings as well? It’s about taking folly to new heights.
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As usual we created custom fabrics and textiles for the curtains and upholstery. It’s like language, you have limitless ways to express what you want to say. Pl. 7–8
In any composition, furniture supplies the ingredients for spice and flavor. We painted the pink trellises to bring this flavor to the walls.
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The soft, cold northern light in the kitchen creates a sobering atmosphere that required balance. The textural tree trunks contrast with the orangery’s flower dream and ground the space, enhanced by a dark table and bench. It’s like setting the thick roots of nature and letting them grow. Pl. 9, 11–12
Working in the angled spaces of the first-floor bedroom and open-plan bathroom, I found a flavor of the Orient through a Turkish sofa and carpet, while playing with light and reflection when placing objects.
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pl. 22 In a seaside apartment, a sculpted white overhead lamp hangs in front of a large 1960s painting that sets the tone for all of the elements in the space. The feeling is vintage, French Riviera: sun, sea, sand, fun, and fantasy.
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I am a painter, but do not paint. Instead, cushions are my canvases. Each one is part of a series. They give space to express the ideas in my heart. Because each one is unique, they require a lot of time. I love that it’s an intimate task and I love to feel the reward of an object that completely corresponds with one’s design.
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Norfolk meets Tuscany. Every year, I visit dozens of English and European houses and gardens. This is a lasting source of ideas. I designed this bench inspired by the great William Kent. While maintaining its original proporitions, I adjusted the dimensions of one of his classic garden bench designs, making it longer, deeper, and lower to the ground. The banners of the city’s contrade in the Palio of Sienna inspired the cushion’s fabric and color choices. Pl. 20
This university club was built in the early 20th century in an eclectic European style. Working with the original architecture and its hues of whites and greys, we had to reinvigorate the atmosphere with color and life. So we introduced African and Asian themes and had them painted on the walls, while I designed the color palette for the ceiling from the intricate carpet. We also made custom fringe curtains.
pl. 23 The building’s several floors include long corridors. I reimagined each of the five corridors as a cultural atmosphere. In one space, large, multicolored Tudor roses symbolize the Anglo-Saxon world. Pl. 23
The club’s personnel pose on a balcony overlooking the main formal dining room. Throughout the building, there were sculpted royal busts. I placed them all together, as though they are the honored custodians, keeping watch from the minstrels’ gallery. Pl. 25, 27
In the middle of the building, there’s a room without windows that I turned into a garden room. To bring nature into view, I designed a one-of-a-kind woven fabric with pineapples for the upholstry. On the walls, I had trellises and trees painted. I’m always happy when I can bring a garden inside. Gardens are where I feel most at home. Pl. 28
Conjuring something from the depth of your imagination is what Surrealism is all about. I’m drawn to Surrealist expression. I adore this photo of Elisabeth draped in the fabric woven especially for the university club project.
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Cushions from the Canadian Smocking and Queen of Sheba collections. I like to mix a few things up and provoke my mind to stimulate creativity. Cushions as court attributes? As fashion accessories? As tribal costumes? Any idea can be a chance for pleasure and personality. Just find something that pleases the eye.
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