As creative director of Recor Group, Frederik streamlines the five Recor Home collections. A difficult featto pull off, because altogether\u00a0it involved more than 60 new products, many of which were by his hand. As a designer, however,it was not his first time around.The designer, with roots in Alken (Limburg), divides his time between Recor and his design studio in Antwerp. A portrait of the Designer of the Year 2018.<\/p>\n
The past years have been like series of rapids for Frederik Delbart. Labels such as \u2018upcoming talent\u2019, \u2018great promise\u2019 and \u2018one to watch\u2019 followed in their wake. Particularly after the launch of RectoVerso\u00a0in Milan, a refined marble trestle table that he created for the label Van Den Weghe\/Items, all eyes of the international media followed his every move. The table is in fact remarkable. Made entirely of marble and by no means unwieldy or ponderous. \u2018It was the very\u00a0first marble table with trestles in the world,\u201d says Frederik Delbart, pointing out its news value. In an ingenious way he developed an aluminium honeycomb core for the table top, which was then covered in Indian and Italian marble.<\/p>\n
A great introduction to the international design forum. In Belgium, he set his seal with The Siblingsin 2014, for which he took home several awards at trade fairs such as the Salone del Mobile and Design Miami. The Siblings represent a versatile lighting system in which an LED lamp is incorporated\u00a0into laboratory glass as a diffuse light source. You might see it asa modern reinterpretation of the construction lamp. When the Belgian label Per\/Use introducedit to the market, it immediately received a Henry Van de Velde label, a prestigious quality mark for good design. An important recognition, because it was a commercial translation of Frederik\u2019s graduation work at La Cambre in Brussels.<\/p>\n
\u201cI knew from an early age that I wanted to become a designer,\u201d says Delbart. \u201cI felt attracted to designing things through the intrinsic beauty of objects when they make actually a difference in form and function.\u00a0Then my father mentioned La Cambre, a school founded by architect Henry Van de Velde in the spirit of the illustrious Bauhaus. And Bauhaus, that was something I knew about.\u201d He took his chances. \u201cI did not have a plan B. It just had to be La Cambre.\u201d\u00a0The demanding and intensive creative training required a lotof perseverance and resilience. \u201cI constantly had to push my limits to survive: first that en- trance exam, then the first year … In retrospect, I think that this open-mindedness might have strengthened me, because I want- ed to know absolutely everything about the world of design.\u201d\u00a0Dictating a survival strategy, he thoroughly brushed up his French, adopted Brussels flair, and made the mentality of the infamous school his own. \u201cIf you can explain at La Cambre why you are doing something, and it holds up, then you are on the right track. Your arguments must be as strong as reinforced concrete; if they are not, you can forget it.\u201d<\/p>\n
He took his first steps as an assis- tant to the top Limburg designer Bram Boo \u2013 hailed as Designer of the Year, that same year \u2013 and who was overwhelmed with inquiries and projects.\u00a0A dream schooling for Delbart, who assisted Bram Boo like a Swiss army knife. He started immersing himself in new technologies and developments while he was still graduating, such as the (then still) brand-new LED technology.\u00a0That led to his thesis project \u2018The Siblings\u2019, actually passing the prototype phase and going into production. His great interest in LEDs and lighting earned him a job at Philips\u2019 professional lighting department, where he built up significant experience in project management. Simultaneously, since obtaining his diploma, Frederik has spent all his free time working on his own independent design studio. For example, Delbart entered into joint ventures\u00a0with Quincalux, a West Flemish family company specialising in door fittings, and for the Brussels BISLighting, he brought the Aluci sub-label back to life. In 2016, he was the Belgian representative at the Design Biennale in London and in 2017 he was the guest of honour at BAD – Belgian Art & Design, a highly esteemed exhi- bition in which art and design coincide. \u201cDue to the rapid devel- opments in technology, lighting remains an interesting domain, but these door handles are also quite interesting. I sketch ideas every day, as an exercise. A bit like a violinist does finger exercises. Seats, chairs, but equally, cars …\u00a0I never set limits for myself. As a designer, you must be able to look at things with an open mind and be inspired by everything.\u201d<\/p>\n
This open-mindedness, in combination with guts and perseverance, is characteristic because it also came in handy for Recor. The fact that he, as a young art director \u2013 born\u00a0in 1988, was given the responsibility for defining Recor Home\u2019s market profile was not a matter of course. \u201cMy role as art director is\u00a0not just focused on\u00a0delivering product ideas,\u201d he says. \u201cThere is more to it\u00a0than the creation of the label and the various collections, since the strategy around the brand also has to be elaborated and followed up. Where is Recor Home headed, what goals do we set out to get there, and how will we use our expertise in product development and production to be successful? Recor is a family business that has built up so much know-how over the years that it is an honour to be allowed to work here as an art director.\u201d\u00a0In the meantime, he has gathered a whole team of experts around him to allow the label and the collections to continue to grow. His appointment has been one of the biggest in the Belgian furniture industry, offering a pretty good idea of what is yet to come.<\/p>\n
As creative director of Recor Group, Frederik streamlines the five Recor Home collections. A difficult featto pull off, because altogether\u00a0it involved more than 60 new products, many of which were by his hand. As a designer, however,it was not his first time around.The designer, with roots in Alken (Limburg), divides his time between Recor and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":10404,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[71],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10409","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interview-en"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n