The Tastemakers: Axel Vervoordt

There are many advocates of artful living, some more metaphysical in approach than others. Then there is Alex Vervoordt. One of the most important fashion trendsetters in the world, Axel Vervoordt wears many hats; he is a well-known art collector, antique dealer, interior designer and curator. In the field of design, he is perhaps the most recognizable advocate of wabi-sabi in the West.

Vervoordt adopts an “objects-based” approach to his practices. He often speaks of resonance as the key to an artful lifestyle. Objects and artworks are integral to his approach, as is architecture and even emptiness, but they must dance to the same frequency. If they don’t, they don’t belong together – regardless of their price, provenance or prestige. To him, a primitive sculpture from Africa, a Lucio Fontana, and a Miro painting can coexist seamlessly in his spaces if they share an understanding of time, matter and spirit.

Deeply influenced by the Japanese aesthetic concept of wabi-sabi, Zen Buddhism and pre-modern European craftsmanship, Vervoordt rejects novelty for novelty’s sake. Wear, erosion, cracks, oxidation – these are not flaws but evidence of life. Time is not the enemy of beauty; it is its co-author. Crucially, he does not see art as separate from life. But art must not be elitist or pretentious – there is no white cube here, nor any hierarchy between art, objects, furniture, floor or wall. Everything participates in the dance. Silence is treated as a material. Empty spaces isjust as important as stone or pigment.

Interior decoration in this view becomes an exercise in restraint; it means

less ownership and more stewardship.
less display, more dwelling.
Less explanation, more listening

In a market obsessed with fickle trends, Vervoordt’s philosophy is calm, considered and restrained. It asks the collector not “what do I want to do with what I’ve collected, but how do I want to live?”