Jean-François d’Or: Golden Child of Belgian Design
Thirty-seven-year old Jean-François d’Or (a name that befits the sunny, luminous quality about him) is considered one of the most talented, prolific and appreciated designers in Belgium.
In 2010, he was chosen to represent his hometown, Brussels, during the national design week (Design September), and a retrospective selection of his works was displayed in one of the shiny spheres of the iconic Atomium. On this occasion, critics praised his “simple, unpretentious, logical objects that appeal as much for their evident, clearly perceptible design as well as their discrete poetry”. “Humble” is quite the epithet for Jean-François d’Or — and he proudly claims the label, turning these words from Belgian poet George Linze into his motto: “A strange phosphorescence covers the humblest objects as if poetry were only what is extraordinary about the ordinary”.
Droog design, Domani, Interni Edition, Konstantin Slawinski, Jongform, Ligne Roset (his terracotta Maternity pot was recently released during the Milan Salone, another landmark in the collaboration he started a few years ago with the Roset group) or The Conran Shop are among the brands his name has been associated with. Lately, he has designed a bed for Magnitude (which was introduced during the Kortrijk fair) and a series of door handles for Vervloet (on display at Maison&Objet in Paris). A large panel which somehow illustrates his versatility, as well as his ability to absorb himself into raw material, whether clay, glass, metal or wood is involved.
Graduated from the renowned La Cambre School of design in Brussels (1998), he started his own studio, Loudor design, five years later. In between, he had managed to achieve a project in New York with textile designer Caroline Ray, then to work in his homeland with star designers such as Maarten Van Severen and Hans De Pelsmacker. Already granted a Henry van de Velde award (Belgium’s most coveted prize in the design field), this deeply grounded young man’s creations are now everywhere, through his brainchild: Loudor design has set up ongoing collaborations with the most prestigious design labels in Europe. A gifted, modern day alchemist, well-named Jean-François d’Or seems to turn everything he touches into gold.
– Elodie Palasse-Leroux
(French journalist Elodie Palasse-Leroux is the founder and editor of Sleek design, launched in 2009)
Bonbonne hanging lamp, Bonbonne floor lamp, Arlequin, Bonbonne, Drop, Mezzoluna, by Jean-François d’Or, Loudor design
Monday, June 20th, 2011
DEX Desk by Reinier de Jong
The Whitehouse Chicago by Bruce Bolander
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