For the latest installment of its "In the Studio" series, The New York Times pays a visit to Dries Van Noten at his office in Antwerp, Belgium. The respected designer, who doesn't give many interviews, offers a rare look inside his "dream building," which he took over in the early 2000's. Noten shares how the history of the space has influenced his collections and his creativity. He also shows off his massive collection of fabrics. Noten says he often comes to the office very early to spend a few hours with the material, which explains how he has so perfectly mastered the art of pattern mixing.
You can watch the video above and read his interview here, but these are the five things we learned about him and his studio.
1. His office building was previously a warehouse for museums, so it was filled with some pretty weird things before he emptied it. "It was completely crammed full of stuff. There was a 13th-century mummified man, a 1950s hairdresser salon, big paintings made completely in postage stamps."
2. He has so many rolls of fabric that not only is his studio filled, but he had to make use of a second storage facility. “In fact we have a warehouse, where we we have all the fabrics, which for me are important. I have often a fight with the people who are working there because it is getting crazy there, the quantity. Of course, working fabrics and having all the leftovers, I don’t want to sell them all. I want to keep a few, because it’s always interesting if you can go back to it.”
3. During the '80s, the inspiration for his sweaters came from his carpets. "In the 1980s, I was quite well known for my knitwear, and a lot of inspiration came from carpets, where I found ways to use structures and colors and depth of colors. Sometimes, the fastest way to explain to my manufacturer here in Belgium how I wanted it to look was not saying, ‘O.K., one roll of this and stitched like this and the yarn like that.’ It was just showing the carpets. And that carpet was one of the sweaters.”
4.Some mysterious, questionable things may have happened in his home. "The house where Patrick, my partner, and I live in is an old house with a lot of history. Good and bad things happened in the house." Tell us more?
5. He wants to keep you guessing. "We have nice things; we have ugly things. I don’t want that things are predictable. I think it’s clear in my collections. It’s also clear in the house and everywhere where we live. But for me, it’s important to have all those things around me. It’s something that, I think it gives me strength. I think it gives me ... energy."
