The 2024 Commerce Design Brussels Awards, initiated by the annual Brussels Design September design festival, took place in the new flagship boutique of the winning design brand ‘Zangra’. The aim of the award is to emphasise the importance of collaboration between retailers and design professionals when creating the commercial space in Brussels. The award presentation coincided with the opening of the boutique at Quai au Foin (Hooikaai) 39 in Brussels.
There are a lot of components of Zangra’s success and let’s try to put them on the shelves, by the way, in the boutique they are created from the panels of the famous Belgian brand Kewlox, an icon of style in the design of demo platforms.
The Zangra location puts you in an artistic mood: it is located behind the Royal Flemish Theater (KVS) and overlooks the famous work of provocative Belgian artist Wim Delvoye’s Gothic-style cement truck. Any shop starts with a window, and this, and three chandeliers to go with it, was designed by Dutch graphic designer Nynke Tynage, playing with coloured glass that will change according to the changeable Belgian weather.
Zangra was founded by husband and wife, designer Thierry Donnay and architect Eve Van Dyck. The perfect creative and personal tandem. Sociable Eve and reserved Thierry. Flemish and Francophone surnames.
Zangra was founded by husband and wife, designer Thierry Donnay and architect Eve Van Dyck. The perfect creative and personal tandem. Sociable Eve and reserved Thierry. Flemish and Francophone surnames.
In 2008, the couple bought the former hotel-restaurant La Maison Blanche (1850) in the Ardennes. During the renovation process, Eve and Thierry became increasingly fascinated by the array of porcelain switches, fixtures and fittings they discovered there. As happens in renovations, one piece needed replacing, but the search for a new one was unsuccessful and… The couple decided to create their own collection of fixtures and bathroom accessories. Naturally in retro style, but super modern. The world saw a symbiosis of finds for comfortable daily life of the epoch of progress of the 19th century and aspiration to minimalism of the beginning of the 21st century. Thus appeared the brand ‘Zangra’, which supplies quality products made of environmentally friendly materials such as porcelain. It is also important for the company that the products are manufactured in European factories. Over the years, many developers, interior designers have become clients of the brand. Simplicity, elegance and quality are the three pillars of Zangra’s design philosophy. And, to use an oxymoron – a restrained and bright colour scheme. If you see the photo, you will understand me.
We fell in love at first sight with a series of enamelled tableware, like our mothers and grandmothers had , but in a new way. Retro kettles, ladles, cans, mugs. In our homes they lived their long life in times of total scarcity, getting rusty and scratched. The design should be cosy and functional. Retro design fits us into our family’s timeline. Zangra’s updated enamel in pastel fashionable colours fits well into modern interiors and who knows, maybe our children will take it into their future lives.
