For 2024 Delvaux continues its long tradition of discovering and nurturing artistic talent by initiating a dialogue with Belgian artist Kasper Bosmans to create a new shared mythology and a series of boundary-breaking and profoundly meaningful works together.
The unexpected partnership generates an oeuvre totale in a vibrant exchange that blurs the boundaries between product and art, fluidity and structure, technique and inspiration to create instant objets du désir that embody the shared values of two separate yet deeply connected creative entities.
Bosmans’ work – graphic, bright, exuberant, yet densely meaningful – is inspired by a wide variety of historical signs and symbols. During a visit to the WIELS Foundation in 2022, Jean-Marc Loubier, CEO of Delvaux, discovered Bosmans’ work and found overlapping and deep connections with that of Delvaux, particularly around heraldry – the crests, coats of arms, flags and banners used as graphic identifiers in a bygone era. This shared preoccupation and research went beyond a simple nostalgia to inform their philosophies around identity, culture and community. A creative exchange was born, the result of which shows how mutual ‘infection’ of the other’s identity can lead to a harmonious and surprisingly creative exchange.
The collection born from this exchange grapples with rich themes – particularly the synergies that arise when two entities from opposite ends of the spectrum – the young artist and the oldest luxury house in the world – collide to create a new language together.
Each of the 10 interpretations of Delvaux’s emblematic designs stretch the boundaries of the atelier’s exceptional savoir-faire, fusing some of the most advanced with some of the most ancient techniques, to tell a story of heroism, integrity and wisdom; of a past enriched, rather than preserved; of the courage to connect rather than isolate; and of the beauty of an identity always in flow.
Unlike contemporary ‘collaborations’ which leave no lasting residue on either party, the rigour of Delvaux’s designs and the integrity of its ethos allows for the ultimate to occur: mutualism. Each party enriches the other, without losing any of their own essence.
As such the 500-year-old Aubusson atelier of Robert Dufour weaving the intricate tapestries for the Tempête Chimera; the extraordinary feats of marqueterie du cuir achieved by our ateliers; or the last remaining Belgian émaillerie hand-rending the exquisitely wise enamel Gecko Eyes for the Cool Box Stargazer are as central to the creative process as Bosmans himself.
After all: Identities are forged in connection rather than in solitude.