Zaventem Ateliers: A Playful Manifesto
Fourteen of the Zaventem Ateliers residents collaborated to create a ping-ping table as a manifesto to express their commitment and collaboration.
In September 2018, Brussels designer Lionel Jadot opened Zaventem Ateliers, which he installed in a 6000 square meter, nineteenth-century paper factory in the center of Zaventem, near Brussels. Recently, fourteen of the ateliers’ residents collaborated on an extraordinary piece: a ping-pong table.
Zaventem Ateliers contains 32 workshops, ranging from 80 to 400 m² in size, dedicated to the production and transformation of materials, communal leisure areas, a surprising terrace, and in the near future also a new restaurant concept intended as a laboratory, which is in keeping with the spirit of the property. At the heart of Zaventem Ateliers, visitors can now find the ‘Grand Hall’, a central, communal, 800 m² lane dedicated to ‘showcases’ and exhibitions. Lionel Jadot conceived Zaventem Ateliers as a meeting space around a common concept: to allow craftsmen, designers, and other creative minds to inspire each other.
Today, almost all workshops are occupied by a group of exceptional craftsmen, working with ceramics, leather, metal, marble, or wood. They hail from Ghent, Antwerp, Brussels, Ostend, and even Paris. There is a pleasant village atmosphere and, together, all these very different personalities form an eclectic and stimulating group. Sure enough, the group came together collectively to develop the ping-pong table project which was realized by means of an ambitious and visionary renovation and transformation of the building, which had been abandoned for over 40 years, into a contemporary arts and crafts center.
The object radiates intense energy and connects the talents of Zaventem Ateliers. Thought, drawn and produced entirely by fourteen of the residents of Zaventem Ateliers. Fourteen strong personalities have come together to produce an extraordinary piece, a manifesto that expresses the commitment and collaboration of talented designers. A work that is the DNA of Zaventem Ateliers. This ping-pong table is a unique experience, available as a dining room table, screens, lighting, sculpture. She has several functions, she can live several lives and she tells hundreds of stories on her own, so much the diversity of talents that compose her is rich in passions and experience. Welcome to Zaventem atelier to discover it.
All images: Mireille Roobaert
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