Graanmarkt 13 - Antwerpen , Belgium

A white facade, 3 floors, 14 windows, a balcony and an open door. Graanmarkt 13 The House Graanmarkt 13 is a special House, where each and every floor tells a story. It’s more than just a place to buy fashion. It’s a place where you’re invited to move beyond the labels or the dressing room. Graanmarkt 13 is a House with a very special edge to it. A mythical place so to speak, that makes you forget your troubles once you enter the front door. Time seems to stand still at Graanmarkt 13 – all that’s left is peace & quiet. In the downstairs restaurant, you can have lunch or dinner but you’re welcome in the afternoon for a glass of champagne or a great piece of pie as well. The ground floor invites you to discover fashion with an extra – well-known labels but even new, upcoming designers. Women’s wear sits next to must-have accessories, exclusive perfumes and handmade design objects. The open space on the first floor will host new fashion talent or an artist’s installation, but can be rented for private parties or a special board meeting. For Ilse Cornelissens and Tim Van Geloven, the Graanmarkt 13 project is a dream come true. They strongly believe in a place where dreams become true. A place for the good things in life. A place where beauty is even visible in the slightest of detail. Graanmarkt 13 is a puzzle where each and every piece fits. Because Graanmarkt 13 is teamwork. Of course there’s the owners who found the House, renovated it, and had their initial dream, but then they gathered round them some very talented artists for eg. art direction, kitchen, architecture and graphic design. To name them: Bob Verhelst, Seppe Nobels, Vincent Van Duysen and Base Design. The architecture Vincent Van Duysen Graanmarkt 13 is an architectural project of Vincent Van Duysen. The Belgian architect is well-known for projects in his home country but also gathered an international client base – for private projects as well as public spaces. He was one of the first people who stepped into the Graanmarkt 13 project and fully enjoyed brainstorming. “The House is crucial in the entire story”, says Van Duysen. “It’s a private House where – on the top floor – a family lives, but at the same time it has several public functions that we wanted to bring together in the same flow. It hasn’t been an easy project because the interior of the House had been wasted by former owners and all of us are very much into the beauty of things. We didn’t go for spectacular architecture, on the contrary.” Van Duysen opted for beautiful open spaces with a strong linear yet warm and cosy feeling. He collaborated with several artists from Italy and Lebanon. The restaurant Seppe Nobels Seppe Nobels and Sharon Hofmans are the couple behind the restaurant at Graanmarkt 13. Seppe Nobels was hailed as Belgium’s ‘best junior chef’ in 2005. This talented young ‘chef de cuisine’ learned the trade in the kitchen of among others Wout Bru, the star chef with whom he still collaborates – eg. for the catering firm BruNobels. Sharon Hofmans will be the restaurant’s host. “It’s back to basics at Graanmarkt 13”, says Nobels. “An honest kitchen with very high-level quality products. A gastronomical kitchen with highlights from France, Italy and Japan. Forget about molecular dining, it’s all about the real terroir kitchen. We offer an excellent lunch at 25 euro. But even after lunchtime you can get a great club sandwich with a glass of wine or some caviar with a glass of champagne here. Needless to say the wine list will be exquisite. Nice wines starting from 20 or 30 euro, but also delicate Bordeaux wines. Together with my team I stand for a very personal service. Not too stiff, but classy all the way.” The restaurant at Graanmarkt 13 will offer a total of max. 50 ‘couverts’, inside or outside. THE look & feel of the House Base design The look & feel of Graanmarkt 13 has been designed by Base Design, the well-known Belgian studio for graphic design with offices in New York, Paris, Madrid, Barcelona and Santiago. “We’ve almost created the anti-brand”, says Dimitri Jeurissen from Base Design. “Which doesn’t mean we weren’t working on the branding, but the initial start was so much more intimate than it usually is. We were looking for a style that fits the House like a glove. The House is very special – it speaks a language of its own – and that’s where we started from to design the name and the logo. Graanmarkt 13 is not just the address of the House, it triggers all communication. We wanted to communicate a certain feeling and will use words and sentences to go with the name. Especially in packaging, this will be visible. Graanmarkt 13 is a place where everything is for sale, but where service and beauty are for free. You enter that front door and you’ll get the picture immediately.” Art Direction BOB verhelst Graanmarkt 13 has an art director: his name is Bob Verhelst. Bob is no stranger to the Belgian and international fashion scene. For years he worked behind the scenes of the avant-garde fashion house Maison Martin Margiela in Paris. At the same time, he excelled in unusual scenography, collaborating with renowned institutions such as Musée de la Mode in Paris, Landesmuseum in Zurich, and the MoMu in Antwerp. Bob Verhelst also works as a consultant for luxury houses as Hermès and Cartier, and has collaborated with Viktor & Rolf. He’s a visionary artist in his own right. A man of impeccable taste, who has helped Ilse Cornelissens with the buying part. “My job here has been much more than just buying fashion”, says Bob Verhelst. “We’ve all taken the brainstorming to another level. There’s not going to be a shop window full of clothes, there’s no list of labels on the door, no, it looks as if you’re entering a private home – that’s a feeling you’ll have on every floor. And about the labels: we’ve chosen pure beauty. Well-known fashion names but also new talent that Antwerp can discover. In our open space on the first floor we plan installations of new designers, and even the possibility of a ‘couture’ salon in which a talented designer can receive his clientèle. It’s clear we want to do it our way, not the fashion system way as we know it today.”