Photography FRANÇOIS HALARD
TO THE HAND
ON MY SHOULDER
They didn’t come with plans.
No grand gestures.
Nothing but calm. An opening.
Like a door left ajar.
You don’t push it. You enter or not.
I went in.
They listened.
Really listened.
Not to respond,
not to judge.
To hear what isn`t said.
What flows betweeen the lines.
Between two silences.
I recognized their silences
Mine too.
Same edges.
Same taste for simplicity.
the line that seeks nothing
but its necessity.
To create, yes.
But without showing the seams.
Not to add,
to reveal.
To create with restraint.
With slowness.
With awareness ofthe gesture.
I saw things come to life,
not like products, no.
Like breaths.
A cushion, a light, a coffee table,
that arrive, settle in,
as if they were already there.
Always had been.
We never rushed.
Why would we?
Time performs better than we do.
It polishes.
It sharpens.
It erases too. All the better.
What remains is the essential.
And this connection?
It`s there.
No need to touch it.
It persists.
With the grace of a true word,
of a gaze without insistence.
Inexplicable, but firm.
Like a hand resting on your shoulder.
— Vincent Van Duysen
ART ACCOMPANIES ME IN SILENCE.
I collect to build myself an inner landscape,
made of gentle tension and mystery.
Each chosen piece reminds me of who I am,
or who I seek to become.
It is never mere decoration,
but an intimate dialogue.
A WAY TO STAY AWAKE.
SOFA 01 — Light beige linen
LOVE SEAT 01 — Pale yellow; SIDE TABLE 06
OBJECT ACCESSORY 04
STOOL 02; TABLE ACCESSORY 02
A NEED FOR AIR.
FOR REAL THINGS.
Wood. Stone. A moving leaf.
It soothes. It brings you back.
OBJECTS?
Not things. Presences.
They know. They speak in the hand. Without words.
THEY CALM. THEY PERSIST.
THEY ENDURE.
I DO NOT SEARCH,
I RECOGNISE.
When it’s right,
it asserts itself quietly.
A texture, a weight, a warmth.
It’s not a decorative choice,
it’s a necessity.
A DEEP CONNECTION,
A SILENT GROUNDING.
A KIND OF CALM
YOU CAN TOUCH.
TABLE ACCESSORY 02 — Black rubberwood
I DO NOT SEARCH,
I RECOGNISE.
When it’s right,
it asserts itself quietly.
A texture, a weight, a warmth.
It’s not a decorative choice,
it’s a necessity.
A DEEP CONNECTION,
A SILENT GROUNDING.
A KIND OF CALM
YOU CAN TOUCH.
CHAIR 03
THERE ARE FORMS THAT SOOTHE.
A perfect curve, a void in the right place,
and everything breathes.
I seek balance, a silent presence.
NOTHING SPECTACULAR.
JUST A GENTLE CERTAINTY,
THAT SETTLES IN WITHOUT SOUND,
AND STAYS.
SIDE TABLE 05; DAYBED 02 — Custom finish; SPOTLIGHT 01
DON’T THINK.
LET IT COME, LET IT GO.
Keep breathing, nothing more.
Thoughts pass, the body softens.
In this almost-nothing,
something persists.
A GENTLE PRESENCE.
AND THAT IS ENOUGH.
SOFA 01 — CUSTOM SIZE; SIDE TABLE 01
AROMATIC CANDLE 01
A BOOK WAITS,
SILENT,
ALIVE.
I don’t read to learn,
but to get closer to myself,
or to forget myself a little.
BOOKS SOOTHE,
SHIFT,
AND QUIETLY ILLUMINATE.
They open inner doors,
where words know how to fall silent.
WIND. LEAVES.
MURMUR.
Echo. Bark. Distance.
Water. Breath. Clarity.
Bird. Silence. Soothing.
Mist. Light. Detour.
THE WAY I BUILD
Born in Lokeren in Belgium in 1962.
He leaps forward. He observes. He listens.
Studies in Ghent, at Sint-Lucas.
Then Milan — Cibic.
Antwerp — De Meulder.
He learns, he forgets, he begins again.
A studio is born in 1989.
Not a structure. A breath.
Architecture. Interiors. Objects.
Pánta rheî. Everything is connected.
He seeks the essential.
Not a cold minimalism.
Clarity.
Comfort as grounding.
Material as truth.
Today, over forty souls unite each day.
Projects that cross borders,
but maintain the same serenity.
Residences, places of passage,
spaces of waiting or returning.
Always inhabited. Always on point.
Awards don’t tell stories,
but they affifirm.
Flemish Culture Prize.
Henry van de Velde Lifetime Achievement Award.
A regular presence on AD100,
Elle Decor A-List.
Anno domini 2016, artistic director at Molteni&C.
2022, a new dialogue with Zara Home.
And others still.
Always faithful to material, to craft, to the intimate.
Tomes tell his story.
Thames & Hudson. Rizzoli.
But what he builds,
exists elsewhere.
In the gestures we repeat.
In the walls we inhabit.
In what soothes
without ever imposing.

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