It is a real dream world that the Belgian interior designer Axel Vervoordt (77) created in the village of S-Gravenwezel near Antwerp: in 1984 he and his wife May bought a dilapidated castle from the 12th century, which was surrounded by a picturesque park is. And that has changed over time again and again. His reserved splendor today goes back to the 18th century when the architect Jan Pieter van Bauerscheit transformed it into a hunting residence. "I love old houses," says Axel Vervoordt during a conversation in Munich. “The many years, styles and life in it shaped them. And I want to harmonize that harmoniously. "
Foto: Jean-Pierre Gabriel
The Jagdschloss S-Gravenwezel in the snow. It has 50 rooms on four floors in which lives, works and "travels from room to room", as he says
How this works very gently, he demonstrates in his home, in which he gave the rural architecture ahead and in all their imperfect beauty visually uphob. With an artistic Wabi Sabi style that holds back elegantly. And the Vervoordt's trademark has become. "I discovered him in Japan. It's about looking at things sensitively. To develop an appreciation for nature and its idiosyncrasy. Working with found, ”he explains.
Photo: Salva Lopez
A look at the "Oriental Salon" on the first floor. With a table from the Chinese Ming era, a sculpture of the Indian deity Vishnu on it
Photo: Laziz Hamami
Nice and airy: the "oriental salon"
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Translated into the interior, this means relying on monastic clarity and a lot of freedom. With just a few, exquisite pieces made of natural materials and with a fine patina. Like an armchair, related to a coarse, crackling linen. Reduced wooden furniture in ARTE POVOVERA style. Large ceramic vases on the floor and filigree branches. And graphic ink, which optically never pushes itself out to the eye.
Photo: Salva Lopez
Axel Vervoordt began to collect antiques at the age of 14
In this way, settings creates a very quiet way, the reduced charm of which is underlined by the old wooden floorboards and pure limed walls. “I am more concerned with the feelings and moods that they radiate. Less about what you see in the furniture. I don't consider them as a showroom, ”he reveals, adding with a smile,“ Gold and glitter cannot be found with me. ”What also seems to inspire stars that these almost sacred resting place appreciate: Robert de Niro let his New York penthouse from Planned.Her villa in Los Angeles.
Photo: Laziz Hamami
Axel and May's bedroom vervoordt on the first floor. A Japanese paravent from the late 18th century hangs over the bed with a poem
Photo: Laziz Hamami
Axel has been collecting Asian antiques for many decades. And presents them at home museum
“For me, a home should be your favorite place on earth. Protect you, but not to be showy and radiate timelessness. ”So Vervoordt put on, long before there was. “I am not a friend of fashionable trends that pass. The world turns fast enough, so it doesn't have to do it at home, ”he explains, leaning back in the armchair. “But freshness and modernity is important to me. That's why I also set up the castle asian instead of aristocratic. "
Photo: Salva Lopez
The corridor in the garden pavilion. With a ceramic vase by Kosi Hidama and a built -in cabinet, designed by Vervoordt
Photo: Laziz Hamami
Pure calm radiates the living mix à la Axel vocal
Isn't this artistic approach very Belgian? "Yes, maybe a little. Through our location between France, England and the Netherlands, we take the most beautiful of all our neighbors stylistically, ”he admits with a laugh. “Antwerp with his large harbor and many cultures has been very cosmopolitan for centuries and that shaped me. I stayed a child who is curious and enchanted by strangers. ”And consciously created his own wonder world ...
