Roel Vandebeek - It's a Roel

About the book:

Design object or book? Sides with a slanted cut and black edge painting create a black object that is immediately recognisable as a book. Still it makes the viewer do a double take to make sure that first glance was right. Fragile due to the deconstruction of the classic book shape and yet also emanating a sense of mysterious power. Handle with care.

In It’s a Roel, we are given an overview of designer Roel Vandebeek’s career. What makes his designs so extraordinary? What makes them special enough to deserve their own name: a Roel? The design method of his new project Objet Portrait perfectly illustrates this.

Roel designed two objects based on conversations he had with 9 Belgian public figures: Stijn Meuris, Tom Van Dyck, Guy Mortier, Tom Lenaerts, Phara de Aguirre, Kim Clijsters, Lieve Blancquaert, Lize Spit and Wouter Torfs. For each of these nine persons he developed two objects, one practical and one art installation. One is functional, the other symbolic, but both express something of the soul of the people involved.