Antwerp & Vervoordt: the Belgian school of wabi-sabi
Before global wabi-sabi there was Axel Vervoordt in Antwerp. Raw materials, patinas, inhabited emptiness: the Belgian grammar that shaped everything.
1 MIN · 20 July 2026Long before wabi-sabi became a hashtag, an Antwerp antique dealer and decorator had made it a religion: Axel Vervoordt. Belgium is, quietly, one of the strongholds of contemporary taste.
The Vervoordt style
Raw linen, weathered plaster, old wood, bronzes, and a great deal of emptiness. A luxury that does not announce itself, built on material and time rather than the signed object. His Gravenwezel estate and the Kanaal (former distilleries given a new life) are places of pilgrimage.
A school
This aesthetic — deep neutrals, living surfaces, rare objects set in silence — has spread among decorators the world over. Greige and warm minimalism owe it everything.
Hunting in Belgium
Antwerp for the galleries, Tongeren for the markets: Belgium combines a school of taste with prices that remain reasonable.
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Gallery
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