New Hope is Brussels’ treasure trove of 20th century design
Olivier Dwek creates gallery New Hope, a treasure trove of 20th-century design in Brussels
- (opens in new tab)
- (opens in new tab)
- (opens in new tab)
- Sign up to our newsletter Newsletter

With its rich artistic heritage, Belgium is fertile territory for art and design collectors, and two of them – Belgian architect Olivier Dwek and businessman Frédéric Hanrez – recently united to create a stunning new gallery space in Brussels. Called New Hope, it opened its doors during the Brafa Art Fair in January.
Dwek is a tousle-haired character with a wickedly good eye and the confidence to take a morning Zoom call in his bathrobe. Architect to Belgium’s crème de la crème for the past 20 years, he is still something of a secret beyond the country’s borders (though, with seven Parisian projects under way and the release of a monograph published by Rizzoli, this will soon change). Growing up in a business-focused family, Dwek was an outlier with a passion for art.
He devoured autobiographies of Impressionists and Post-Impressionists, learned to draw nudes at the Académie des Beaux-Arts, then studied architecture at the Institut Victor Horta. He is a collector, too. ‘Art helped me to sharpen my eye,’ he states. At only 28, he was commissioned to refurbish Louis Vuitton’s Brussels store, and in 2000, he founded his own studio, creating light-filled, modernist-inspired homes for well-heeled clients, often curating the art and design within.
Furniture by George Nakashima, Ado Chale and Poul Kjærholm sits alongside ceramics by Suzanne Ramié, Jacques and Dani Ruelland, Gustavo Pérez and Jean Girel.© SABAM Belgium, 2021; courtesy Galerie Arcanes
Hanrez is a Belgian entrepreneur as discreet and low-key as Dwek is bold and exuberant. A scion of an illustrious Belgian family with a lifetime passion for collecting, Hanrez realised about 20 years ago that he could get more bang for his buck with design. ‘I prefer to have the best in design, rather than second best in painting,’ he says. Having spent part of his childhood in Wisconsin, he was attracted to the craft spirit of American design, and now owns one of the world’s finest private collections of American 20th-century furniture, notably from New Hope, Pennsylvania.
In 2003, Hanrez inherited a building in central Brussels. Part of a family estate, the building had been turned into a ballroom by his great-great-great grandfather in 1865 to celebrate his 25th wedding anniversary. By the time Hanrez took it over, the ballroom was a ruin. It sat directly across the street from one of Brussels’ most iconic pieces of architecture (and a Unesco World Heritage Site), the former home of art nouveau master Victor Horta, which is now the Horta Museum. In fact, Hanrez says, Horta chose the address because the ballroom was low enough to afford him a view of its splendid garden. When Hanrez asked for a permit to raze the ballroom and construct a new building, the local authorities ordered him not to build any higher, in order to keep Horta’s beloved view intact.
Furniture includes ‘Ours polaire’ (Polar bear) sofa and armchair, and ‘Flaque’ coffee table by Jean Royère; ‘Alta’ armchair by Oscar Niemeyer; and rug by Maurice Pré. Artworks include Two Guys Twice by Richard Prince, and Untitled Sculpture – (Gong), Bally, PA by Harry Bertoia. © SABAM Belgium, 2021
Hanrez commissioned Dwek, a friend, to come up with a new space for what he calls his ‘three-dimensional art’. They tore down the old structure, leaving the street façade, which the authorities also required be left intact. They then searched out extraordinary materials – black lava floor stones from Malta, Swiss-made floor-to-ceiling windows, and black ‘Kolumba’ bricks handmade by family firm Petersen Tegl in Denmark.
New Hope took nearly five years of construction. Though it measures only 550 sq m, it feels larger, thanks to plenty of natural light, a double-height ceiling and multiple levels. Out back, the parallel lines of the awning and patio wall frame the park’s mature trees like a painting.
Graphic black and white tones provide a neutral backdrop for the collections, with a dramatic dash of colour from a massive green marble wall. Dwek meticulously selected the stones so that the veins would create a mirror effect, like a two-way Rorschach inkblot (the green wall also makes a nod to Mies van der Rohe’s Barcelona Pavilion).
Artworks include Elevational Weights, Vertical Mass by Richard Serra, and an aluminium mobile by Jacques Jarrige. Furniture includes ‘PK55’ table by Poul Kjærholm, ‘Métropole 305’ chairs by Jean Prouvé, and ‘chaise pivotante no 23’ by Charlotte Perriand. © SABAM Belgium, 2021
Overlapping stone steps to a raised ground-floor level create a flowing effect, like flat rocks in a stream. A skylight is supported by black steel beams that Dwek compares to the legs of a Jean Prouvé table. The black lava flooring extends beyond the sliding glass wall to the patio, creating continuity inside and out. ‘There is no difference between architecture and interior architecture,’ insists Dwek, noting that predecessors such as Horta and Mies van der Rohe would not have dreamt of doing a building’s envelope and leaving the interior to someone else.
Standing in the garden, he points out the parallels between New Hope and the Horta house rising behind it: rooftops that are peaked on the left and lower on the right, three vertical windows on one side, bay windows on the other.
Hanrez is using the gallery to host temporary exhibitions, often in dialogue with his own collection, which is rich in pieces by Americans (George Nakashima, Phillip Lloyd Powell, Paul Evans and Sam Maloof ) and Belgians (Ado Chale and Jules Wabbes), as well as rare Scandinavian design. ‘I’m trying to keep this space dynamic so that people come,’ says Hanrez. ‘They know something will be happening here, and it’s always different.’
The view from New Hope’s garden, showing the architectural parallels between the gallery and the Horta Museum. © SABAM Belgium, 2021; © NIEMEYER, OSCAR / SABAM Belgium, 2021
For the images on these pages (and in his new book), Dwek filled New Hope with works from Hanrez’s holdings and two other major Belgium-based collections. Hanrez’s American masterpieces, including an elaborately sculpted bronze cabinet by Paul Evans, shared the space with furniture by the likes of Jean Royère and Alexandre Noll from the collection of Frenchman Daniel Lebard, another low-profile figure. ‘He denies it, but he is the world’s biggest collector of French furniture from the 1950s,’ Dwek says. On the walls, Dwek put artwork by Richard Prince, Richard Serra and Philip Guston, all belonging to the collection of his friend Charles Riva.
Including New Hope, three of the nine buildings that Dwek selected for the book are foundations or centres for art, and he is keen to design more. ‘There aren’t many architects who know how to do it well,’ he says. ‘A piece of artwork releases vibes into the atmosphere – positive, negative, happy, sad. Architecture plays an enormous role when it can make those vibes resonate.’
Texas by Ed Ruscha hangs above a bronze cabinet by Paul Evans, on which stand works including Black Botanica 1 by Helle Damkjær, and Ensemble de trois arbres by Jacques et Dani Ruelland. The desk and chair are by Alexandre Noll. © SABAM Belgium, 2021; courtesy of Helle Damkjaer / Galerie Carole Decombe; © Ed Ruscha. Courtesy of the artist and Gagosian; courtesy Galerie Arcanes
INFORMATION
New Hope, 26-28 Rue Américaine, Brussels
Olivier Dwek: In the Light of Modernity, $65, published by Rizzoli
rizzoliusa.com (opens in new tab)
A version of this article appears in the November 2021 issue of Wallpaper* (W*271) on newsstands and available to subscribers (opens in new tab).
-
Photo book explores the messy, magical mundanity of new motherhood
‘Sorry I Gave Birth I Disappeared But Now I’m Back’ by photographer Andi Galdi Vinko explores new motherhood in all its messy, beautiful reality
By Hannah Silver • Published
-
Rimowa violin case with Gewa strikes the right note
This new Rimowa violin case created in collaboration with Gewa is made of hard-wearing grooved aluminium
By Hannah Silver • Published
-
Nordic Knots opens Stockholm showroom in a former cinema
New Nordic Knots Stockholm showroom makes the most of the dramatic interiors of the early-20th-century Eriksbergsteatern
By Pei-Ru Keh • Published
-
Laure Prouvost unveils inaugural Light Hall commission at National Museum in Oslo
The Turner Prize-winning artist takes over the cavernous space atop Oslo’s new National Museum with an ethereal installation
By Will Jennings • Published
-
2022 NGV Architecture Commission is an evolving, artist-led reimagining of a Greek icon
Temple of Boom, the 2022 NGV Architecture Commission, is an evocative reimagining of The Parthenon designed by architects Adam Newman and Kelvin Tsang with interventions by Australian artists
By Martha Elliott • Published
-
Francis Gallery Los Angeles is a haven of harmony, natural materials and Korean art
We speak to gallerist Rosa Park, founder of the new Francis Gallery Los Angeles, which has opened with a show of six emerging and established Korean artists
By Tilly Macalister-Smith • Last updated
-
Gathering: the new Soho gallery blending art and social activism
Gathering, the newest gallery resident in London’s Soho, will focus on contemporary art exploring systemic social issues. Ahead of Tai Shani’s inaugural show, we speak to founders Alex Flick and Trinidad Fombella about their vision for the gallery
By Harriet Lloyd-Smith • Last updated
-
Valley Gallery by Tadao Ando is Naoshima's newest art pilgrimage site
The latest addition to Japan’s Benesse Art Site, Tadao Ando’s Valley Gallery is a geometric gem that makes the most of its remote setting
By Joanna Kawecki • Last updated
-
Kunsthalle Praha: the electric new addition to Prague’s art scene
Housed in a former electrical substation, Kunsthalle Praha is sparking new creative energy in the Czech capital. Its striking inaugural group show celebrates 100 years of electricity in art
By Harriet Lloyd-Smith • Last updated
-
Food, sexuality and domesticity: Anthea Hamilton reconsiders the familiar in Antwerp
Subversive and playful, Anthea Hamilton’s first survey exhibition, ‘Mash Up’ has opened at the Museum of Contemporary Art Antwerp
By Hannah Silver • Last updated
-
Forty years of the Barbican Centre: an art utopia made concrete
Building Utopia: The Barbican Centre, published to coincide with the institution’s 40th anniversary, explores the birth of the Barbican, its storied history and its unparalleled impact on contemporary arts and culture
By Harriet Lloyd-Smith • Last updated