The phrase ‘retirement’ doesn’t sit properly with Dries van Noten. It’s over a 12 months for the reason that designer stepped again from his his eponymous label – a 38–12 months tenure that put Belgian design squarely on the style map and made him probably the most influential members of the Antwerp Six. ‘I bought very nervous when folks would say, “you’ll have extra time to your backyard now”,’ he says, trying exasperated. ‘The backyard for me was at all times an excellent stability with trend – you realize as a result of trend is quick, however within the backyard, you’re slowing down.’
Fairly the other of going quietly into retirement, Van Noten is plotting an bold new chapter. The 67-year-old designer has spent 2025 laying the groundwork for his new position as a cultural custodian, with the opening of his personal basis in Venice – a non-profit establishment dedicated to celebrating, sustaining, and platforming endangered crafts.
(Picture credit score: Camilla Glorioso)
Earlier this 12 months, when it was revealed that Van Noten and his associate, Patrick Vangheluwe, had bought a fifteenth century Venetian palazzo from the Sammartini household, it was identified that it might be used for cultural functions (honouring the previous homeowners’ want to not see it became one other luxurious lodge). In the present day he formally publicizes its true goal: the Fondazione Dries Van Noten, opening in April 2026.
(Picture credit score: Camilla Glorioso)
Sitting in a fantastically patinated eggshell-blue room contained in the Palazzo Pisani Moretta, reflections from the Grand Canal dancing throughout the frescoed ceiling, Van Noten tells Wallpaper* that he was drawn to Venice as a spot that ‘isn’t just a weekend vacation spot, however a residing metropolis… there’s a whole lot of younger folks coming again now to Venice, and one thing is effervescent right here.’ It is this sense of continuous inventive renewal that he hopes to faucet into.
Craftsmanship, for me, is a whole lot of various things. It’s issues that you simply do together with your fingers, sure, but additionally together with your soul
In a metropolis constructed on craft – and now host to international occasions reminiscent of Homo Faber, Venice Glass Week and the Venice Biennale – the Fondazione will current exhibitions, residencies, talks and cross-disciplinary initiatives spanning every thing from meals to trend. For Van Noten, a 3rd technology of a household of tailors, craftsmanship isn’t a slim or nostalgic class. ‘Craftsmanship, for me, is a whole lot of various things. It’s issues that you simply do together with your fingers, sure, but additionally together with your soul… Some folks categorical themselves with their fingers, some with their voice; cooking, glass, jewelry, trend – even music. For me, meals and wine are additionally a part of that inventive freedom.’
He’s equally eager that the programme appears to be like forward, moderately than backwards. ‘We’re not residing within the 18th century. 3D printing, AI – they can be instruments for creativity. I need to open all of it up.’
The Palazzo is an unbelievable ensemble of 18th-century craftsmanship. The very last thing we need to do is put our stamp on it.
Dries van Noten
Architect Alberto Torsello is working with Van Noten on the palazzo’s restoration – principally interventions that guests won’t ever see. Venice’s planning legal guidelines are notoriously sluggish and meticulous, so dramatic alterations are neither potential nor desired. As Van Noten factors out, ‘The Palazzo is exclusive as a result of it was redecorated [in Rococò style] by Chiara Pisani within the 1730s, and every thing remains to be intact – an unbelievable ensemble of expertise of that interval. The very last thing we need to do is put our stamp on it.’
As an alternative, the Fondazione’s extra seen experimentation will unfold at its second website, Studio San Polo – a gallery-like, industrial area redesigned by architect Giulia Foscari. It should host the primary presentation in April 2026 whereas restoration begins on the palazzo. Particulars of the April opening aren’t but introduced, although Van Noten says it’s going to introduce the complete breadth of the Fondazione’s programme.
(Picture credit score: Camilla Glorioso)
The thought for a basis, Van Noten reveals, has been quietly brewing over the previous decade, across the time he started in search of a purchaser for his enterprise (which he ultimately bought to conglomerate Puig in 2018). ‘I at all times knew I wished to do one thing else in my life – trend could be very full on, you’ll be able to’t do anything. I wished to offer again, to indicate folks the fantastic thing about craftsmanship. And possibly younger folks will need to be taught it, proceed it, respect it.’ Creating one thing for the long run generations is a key driver for him; he remembers fondly his talks on the Antwerp Faculty of Vogue: ‘I hope they realized one thing from me, however the fact is I realized much more from them.’
Magnificence will be in on a regular basis issues, in a dish or a glass you employ day by day.
Dries van Noten
If something ready him for this new position, it was his life in trend – notably curatorial initiatives such because the Inspirations exhibition he curated on the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in 2015. It was there – the place he introduced collectively historic clothes, Balenciaga items, artworks from Damien Hirst to Van Dyck, movies, objects – that the breadth of his inventive world grew to become clear: ‘As a dressmaker you’re surrounded by set designers, craftsmen, folks working in music, lighting, decor. You’re spoiled – you are able to do so many various issues.’
The timing of the Fondazione additionally overlaps with a cultural pivot towards slower, extra elemental methods of residing and making. Van Noten traces the shift by meals. ‘Ten years in the past, an excellent restaurant was three stars, twelve waiters, and a wine record of fifty pages. Now luxurious is when the chef decides what you eat, pure wine, homegrown meals. The identical is occurring with objects – magnificence will be in on a regular basis issues, in a dish or a glass you employ day by day.’
It’s not about my title on a constructing. I simply felt too younger to retire and work solely in my backyard – please don’t do this to me
Dries van Noten
It’s a sentiment echoed elsewhere within the business – Scottish gallery Bard’s current Bardware present being one instance – and it underpins Van Noten’s want to carry craft again to floor stage. He desires the Fondazione to take away craft from the lofty pedestal and place it into folks’s fingers, exhibiting that it may be woven into the material of on a regular basis life.
(Picture credit score: Camilla Glorioso)
And is that this, in the end, about legacy? Van Noten pauses. ‘Possibly sure, however that’s not the aim. It’s not about my title on a constructing. I simply felt too younger to retire and work solely in my backyard – please don’t do this to me,’ he laughs. ‘I believe I nonetheless can do one thing that is smart. We will’t be too bold and say we’re going to vary every thing. But when we will help shift the mentality just a little bit… that may be unbelievable.’
As for trend, he insists he doesn’t miss it. ‘Not likely,’ he says, smiling. ‘The style, I believe we had a whole lot of it. And I believe we’ve discovered the proper alternative.’
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Supply: Wallpaper
