MILAN — Belgian fashion designer Kris Van Assche, known for his own brand and his work at the creative helms of Dior Homme and Berluti, said he was uncertain how the design world would receive his first bronze sculptures.

The otherworldly botanical vessels were envisaged as blossoming flora and were conceived with Laffanour | Galerie Downtown, which was started in the ’80s by Paris art dealer François Laffanour.

“With fashion, I have of course more experience, and I can better prepare for what reactions are going to be. I literally had no idea if people would actually show up, if there would be any interest, because of course, it’s not my public,” he said of the solo exhibit he held last June in Paris.

Van Assche was elated when Fondazione Sozzani reached out to him to showcase during Milan Design Week at their space on Via Enrico Tazzoli, which kicks off here April 20.  Fondazione Sozzani in Milan is the cultural institution helmed by Franca Sozzani’s sister Carla and niece, Sara Sozzani Maino.

Titled “Nectar Vessels Bronzes,” the series of bronze vase sculptures designed by Van Assche will be conceived as “a moment suspended in time,” the designer explained, adding that he’s also preparing a pink garden from which the vases will emerge as if they are flowers themselves blossoming from the ground up. The installation aims to offer a contemplative respite amid the frenzy around Milan Design Week, which is anchored by upscale design trade show Salone del Mobile.Milano.

Van Assche said he approached the sculptural designs with technical precision. They were first designed on paper, then were 3D-printed as a way for him to evaluate and elaborate on the volume, texture and shape. The actual bronze was constructed at the Fodor Foundry in Port-sur-Saône, France, by craftsmen. “That bronze is like a thousand degrees hot when you do it,” he said.

Each piece is fashioned with intense, matte colors on the outside, and gleaming metal and lacquer on the inside visible through portholes, which beckon viewers in the way nectaries sheltered inside flowers attract bees.

“With these vases, it is the same: they have a matte powdery lacquer on the outside, with a different color on the inside, polished off so the natural pink-gold color of the bronze partly shows. This makes for a luminous effect on the inside, in stark contrast with the outside. One is therefore immediately attracted by the inside — like bees,” he said.

This presentation extends a dialogue initiated with Laffanour in 2017 around Isamu Noguchi’s famous Akari lamps, revisited on the occasion of the launch of Dior Homme’s Black Carpet collection, and another collaboration around 17 pieces of Pierre Jeanneret’s furniture in 2019.

Composed of 14 pieces (seven shapes each available in two colors) in an edition of eight pieces, the Nectar Vessels Bronzes series is the fruit of a two-year dialogue between the designer and Laffanour, who gave Van Assche carte blanche.

A Growing Relationship With Serax

Elsewhere, Van Assche’s second collection with Belgian firm Serax has also come to the fore. Following his initial collection of vases named “Josephine” — a tribute to his grandmother — he also has expanded his work with ceramic interior objects. “Rosamar” is a series of sculptural urns, jars and pots in which personal memories and contemporary design meet once again. 

“From the ages of 8 to 18, I spent every July with my parents in Rosamar, a small coastal village on the Costa Brava [in Spain],” Van Assche explained, adding that his mother would bring home a traditional ceramic pot with dripping glaze, each year. That memory was the sentimental starting point for the collection.

“I reworked that initial idea into something more contemporary: the clay looks like concrete, and the glazing is as sharp as can be, forming strict blocks of color. Each object has a square base, which breaks with the traditional throwing process,” he said.

It was his grandmother who inspired his affinity for fashion and taught him that fashion comes from someone’s own story and spirit. His love for flora also comes from his grandmother, who made her own dresses and patterns in floral prints and with whom he created floral arrangements for everyday family dinners and celebrations.

“I understood that she was actually deciding herself what she was going to wear, what she was going to look like. When I was about 12, she started making me my first pleated trousers because all kids were wearing jeans and I wanted to look chic. Flowers and fashion have always been part of my life because they were part of my grandmother’s upbringing, and I was very close to her,” he reminisced, adding that if he hadn’t become a fashion designer he would have become a florist.

In terms of fashion, British heritage brand Fred Perry and Van Assche unveiled a collaboration on a 13-piece collection. He is also finishing up a second season for Anta Zero, the sustainable sub-brand of leading Chinese sportswear company Anta.

Looking ahead, he doesn’t have any plans to abandon fashion, though he looks forward to new design projects and he enjoyed spending a significant amount of time at the foundry, challenging himself with new materials. “It’s a very humbling experience but also very fresh and nice. It’s great to work out of my comfort zone. It doesn’t mean I no longer love luxury fashion. If the right proposal comes along, I’ll be sure to pick up the phone. But I will not go back exclusively to fashion. It’s too much fun to be diverse.”