Atelier Ecru Gallery Presents Works by 22 Designer-Artists in a Former Ballet School in Antwerp.

Objects by Domingos Totora. Photo by Tijs Vervecken.

Work by Verter Turroni. Photo by Tijs Vervecken.

Arche fibreglass chair by Verter Turroni. Photo courtesy of the Gallery.

Flykt chair by Lucas Morton. Photo courtesy of the Gallery.

Work by Laurids Gallee. Photo courtesy of the Gallery.

Work by Bram Vanderbeke. Photo courtesy of the Gallery.

Atelier Ecru Gallery presents an ambitious exhibition with 22 designer/artists this May. Held in a former ballet school in the middle of the historical city centre of Antwerp, the Belgian based gallery invites guests to enter their world—where design is treated as art.

The showcase, dubbed Moving Traces 07, is a major presentation outside the walls of their own gallery space in Ghent. The two-floor penthouse has a total of 600 sqm, all found within a classicist bourgeois townhouse located between Oude Beurs and Kaasrui. A real hidden gem, the temporary home is a perfect background for the works with cinematic lighting and beautiful rough edges.

The gallery, founded by Stéphanie Frederickx and Christophe Urbain, likes to mix styles and embrace diversity, with a focus on avoiding the average. For this exhibition, the team chose to present well-known, established designers alongside lesser-known and up-and-coming names. Often the works are deeply connected to nature or natural elements, combining experimentation with craft leading to an earthy array of imperfect objects.

On the ticket we’ll find pieces by Maison Armand Jonckers, Pierre De Valck, Domingos Tótora, Adeline Halot, Lucas Morten, Frédéric Saulou, and Laurids Gallée—amongst others. What they all have in common is their position in the grey zone between art and functional design, eliminating superfluous frills down to the essence, the pure form.

By presenting works of these different generations of designer/ artists in an unusual, dramatic setting, Atelier Ecru Gallery is creating a collection of objects that display a sense of stillness and serenity. This feeling is strengthened by the use of raw and inherent beauty of natural materials.

Opening this Friday the show runs until the 29th of May. You can find more information at weareatelierecru.com/gallery.

Related: Belgian Lighting Designer Koen Van Guijze’s Exhibition in Antwerp.

Inside the exhibition space.

The former Ballet School in Antwerp turned Exhibition space.

[Images courtesy of Atelier Ecru Gallery. Photography by Tijs Vervecken.]