LIFE BEYOND FIRST CLASS
ARTS & COLLECTIBLES
PERFECTLY IMPERFECT
Roos Van de Velde’s home - where she both lives and has her studio - is more than a physical place conducive to producing art; it is the nexus of the artist’s life.
TRICIA DREVETS
PHOTOGRAPHY BY: JEAN-PIERRE GABRIEL
Artist Roos Van de Velde in her studio. Many objects from Roos’s collections are displayed in her home and garden between Antwerp and Brussels.
.
Distinguished artists and collectors welcome natural imperfections that emerge on ceramic vessels during the firing process. The landscapes of each piece, such as a scorch marking, fine cracks, and extra glaze, add to its beauty and depth. While for most, this is an acceptable accident, but for multidisciplinary artist Roos Van de Velde (b 1961), this is her ingenious plan. As Roos puts it, “I strive for the perfect imperfection.”
Born and raised in the Pajottenland, the southwest region of Brussels, known as the Tuscany of Belgium, Roos, whose name in Flemish means “Rose from field” literally grew up in nature immersed in the area’s vast farmland and rolling hills. So it comes as no surprise that this is where she draws inspiration. As a child, she observed nature and the clay ground used at a brick factory across her house. In the garden, her mother made fresh bread in a brick oven. Motivated, it is here that she first began molding and baking soil in her mother’s brick oven.
Born and raised in the Pajottenland, the southwest region of Brussels, known as the Tuscany of Belgium, Roos, whose name in Flemish means “Rose from field” literally grew up in nature immersed in the area’s vast farmland and rolling hills. So it comes as no surprise that this is where she draws inspiration. As a child, she observed nature and the clay ground used at a brick factory across her house. In the garden, her mother made fresh bread in a brick oven. Motivated, it is here that she first began molding and baking soil in her mother’s brick oven.
Blending natural elements, art, and ceramics, artist Roos Van de Velde’s live/ work studio is a work of art in its own right. Tree trunks gather on a lime-grey sand wall separates the kitchen and living room. The bespoke coffee table made with wafer-thin and transparent Japanese Kozo paper.
Her love for the arts led her to art schools in Brussels and to the Royal Academy of Arts in Antwerp where she ended ceramics with distinction after only 2 years. Through paintings, sculptures, jewelry, her own clothing, garden designs, and lifestyle, Roos creates her own universe.
Although she does not limit herself to any one medium, she found a special soft spot for ceramics that we use in everyday life, primarily tableware. And today, she is a formidable designer for Serax selling her ethereal china service globally, and her creative process begins at home.
The kitchen table was made by artist Roos Van de Velde using live-edge planks. Field of Flowers lamps inspired by poppies, Roos’s favorite flower.
It is said the Roos will not create unless she is inspired. One glance at her live/work studio, and it is unimaginable that she gets any sleep. It is as if you leaped into a portal to reach a magical fairytale somewhere between Alice in Wonderland and a Hans Christian Anderson story. Truly amazing and I have never seen anything like it before. Enter the enchanting world that Roos calls home.
Unique pieces and Roo’s “Perfect Imperfection” collection produced by Serax can be found throughout her live/work studio.
Roos’s home between Antwerp and Brussels positively reflects her talent and style and is a work of art in its own right. The unique handmade art pieces and her ‘perfect imperfection’ collection eloquently displayed throughout the home is just the crust. Tree trunks gather on a lime-grey sand wall that separates the kitchen from the living room. Two live-edge planks placed on table legs created from twisted boughs serve as the kitchen table. A bespoke coffee table was created using wafer-thin and transparent Japanese Kozo paper.
Unique pieces and Roo’s “Perfect Imperfection” collection produced by Serax can be found throughout her live/work studio.
Natural elements and salvaged pieces, such as stones reclaimed from the basement of a Brussels museum, give the home an almost ethereal feel. Poppy-inspired light sculptures delicately transform the interiors, evoking a sense of harmony and freedom once surrounded by nature. This is creation and imagination at its apex and very few ceramicists do it as well as Roos Van de Velde does.