Inside Villa Empain | A Living House of Collectible Design by Zaventem Ateliers
For ten days, 32 designers and artists from Zaventem Ateliers transform the iconic Art Deco residence into a lived-in environment for contemporary collectible design and art. The project is conceived not as a traditional exhibition, but as a functioning house. Cooking, working, hosting and daily movement all take place inside the space, allowing the works to exist in real time rather than as static displays.
The objects presented are not staged. They are used, handled, and repositioned as part of everyday activity. Visitors enter a setting that is already active, where design and art operate within daily life rather than being observed from a distance. The project proposes an alternative to conventional fair or museum formats by introducing a more intimate and embodied rhythm of experience.
Exhibition at Villa Empain
Avenue Franklin Roosevelt 67, 1050 Brussels, Belgium.
11-19 March 2026 / From 11 am to 6 pm
More info : Villa Empain Zaventem Ateliers
Objects Activated Through Daily Use
Within this setting, collectible design is presented as functional, experimental and social. Tables and chairs are shown in use, emphasizing interaction and presence rather than isolated form. The house itself becomes a working model demonstrating how design and art can exist within lived environments instead of behind glass.
Craft, Process and the Human Hand
Each piece shown at the venue in Brussels is handmade. Materials, gestures, time and process remain visible, highlighting the role of craftsmanship and the trace of the human hand. The works are produced intentionally and are not mass-manufactured.
At Zaventem Ateliers, practitioners work across disciplines including architecture, sculpture, furniture and installation. The approach blurs boundaries between fields and results in pieces that examine how people live, gather and inhabit space. By placing these works inside a domestic setting, the presentation raises the question of how art and design function when integrated into daily life.
Founded in 2019 by Lionel Jadot, Zaventem Ateliers is an unconventional creative hub housed in a former 19th-century paper mill. This vast 6.000 m² industrial site, reimagined as a center for creative production, now brings together around thirty artisans, artists and designers. Conceived as a place for making, experimentation and exchange, Zaventem Ateliers embodies a contemporary vision of design, deeply rooted in materiality, gesture and craftsmanship.
Images Zaventem Ateliers
This article is part of The Collectible Edit
vosgesparis is an independent online interior design magazine with an international focus.
For features, brand collaborations or sponsored projects, see how to work with vosgesparis
Het bericht Inside Villa Empain | A Living House of Collectible Design by Zaventem Ateliers verscheen eerst op vosgesparis.