‘Zangra’ – Commerce Design Brussels Awards

08/10/2024

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.

Off Voices by South-African artist Candice Breitz

Hailing from South Africa, Candice Breitz (1972, Johannesburg) has, since the early 1990s, persistently examined and deconstructed her experience as a white woman in an effort to identify and challenge the mechanisms of whiteness. Through the marginalised voices of...

BRAFA 2025 guest of honour – portuguese artist Joana Vasconcelos

BRAFA 2018 guest of honour, Bulgarian-born American artist Christo wraps buildings and arches of triumph. Portuguese artist Joana Vasconcelos, guest of honour at the 2025 art fair - crocheting objects, statues, snails. She flew to Brussels with ‘Valkyries’, a project...

‘Ceramic Brussels’ 2025 in Tour&Taxis

‘Ceramic Brussels’ (22-26 January 2025) brought together ceramic enthusiasts for the second time under the roof of Tour& Taxis. The co-founder of the fair, the courtly Gilles Parmentier, explained why Brussels became Europe's first specialised ceramics venue in an...

Francis Metzger is the architect for the renovation of Villa Empain

Brussels' Art Deco jewel Villa Empain, the creation of legendary architect Michel Polak, vandalised in the second half of the 20th century, would not look so luxurious today if its restoration had not been undertaken by a meticulous talent like contemporary architect...

‘Hecuba, not Hecuba’ by the director of the Avignon Theatre Festival Thiago Rodrigues in Antwerpen

Thiago Rodrigues, director of the Avionyon Theatre Festival (the number one forum in the Francophone theatre scene worldwide), brings his new play 'Hécube, pas Hécube' to Antwerp 17 and 18 January at De Singel. The production was shown in Avignon in 2024, which is a...

Polish art and design in the Council of the European Union

On 1 January 2025, the Polish Presidency of the European Council began and, as last time, in 2011, Poland captivates Europe with its rich cultural programme (more than 100 events in European countries). In the main building of the European Council Justus Lipsius, the...