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MAGAZINE · INTERVIEW

Pierre De Valck

Pierre De Valck is a Belgian designer based in Ghent whose practice explores the dialogue between contemporary collectible design and geological history. Inspired by a lifelong fascination with archaeology and historical artefacts, he creates handcrafted furniture that transforms ancient minerals into sculptural objects, allowing natural materials to become vessels of memory and storytelling.

Working exclusively in Belgium, De Valck combines traditional craftsmanship with a restrained material language centered on bronze, stone, and precious minerals. His furniture preserves the raw character of each geological fragment, revealing the beauty of materials shaped over millions of years while creating timeless pieces that bridge the ancestral past with contemporary design.

Let's know more about

Interview

Where were you born and where are you from?

Belgium.

What is your first memory connected to the art world?

The terrible smell of the Cloaca Machine of Wim Delvoye.

Have you always worked in the art/design field?

I don’t see this as work.

What led you to design creation?

Creating is a heavily loaded word; it’s more like continued research and having fun.

How would you describe your creative process and its influences?

Try to design and create as little as possible.

Could you describe a typical day of your work?

Mainly reading and learning about history, anthropology, and sometimes coming up with some ideas for new designs.

Why did you choose the specific materials you work with?

I am quite conservative in my material use. I am a high-tech designer with a conservative taste for materials like bronze and stone.

What are the technical particularities of your creations?

I try my best to hide all technical particularities.

What advice could you give to beginning artists who would like to create sculptural design works?

Don’t try to overdo it and get off Instagram.

If your works had to belong to a design movement, how would you define it?

Anything except modernism, please, no.

What designers and artists have influenced you?

I am more into time periods, 19th century France deisgn was interesting.

What contemporary designers do you appreciate?

Ben Storms.

What contemporary artists, in any kind of art, have you been inspired by?

Wim Delvoye.

If you had to summarize your creations in one word or sentence, what would it be?

Stating the obvious.

Is there anything you would like to add?

I don’t do collaborations, but if there were a new cult or religion, I am open to talking.

“Creating is a heavily loaded word; it’s more like continued research and having fun.”

The Questionnaire

The Questions

(The Proust Questionnaire is a set of questions answered by the French writer Marcel Proust.
Other historical figures who have answered confession albums are Oscar Wilde,
Karl Marx, Arthur Conan Doyle, Stéphane Mallarmé, Paul Cézanne…)

What is your idea of perfect happiness?

Horn of plenty

What is your greatest fear?

A big white shark

What is the trait you most deplore in yourself?

Being defined by traits

What is the trait you most deplore in others?

Not being defined by traits

Which living person do you most admire?

A friend which name I can’t tell

What is your greatest extravagance?

Daily baths

What is your current state of mind?

Flying

What do you consider the most overrated virtue?

Frugality

What is the quality you most like in a man?

Honesty

What is the quality you most like in a woman?

Honesty

Which words or phrases do you most overuse?

No

Which talent would you most like to have?

Multitasking

If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be?

Like a house, I You change one thing you have to change other things as well

What do you consider your greatest achievement?

Having quite a lot of freedom

If you were to die and come back as a person or a thing, what would it be?

Water

Where would you most like to live?

Belgium

What is your most treasured possession?

My Iphone book collection

What do you regard as the lowest depth of misery?

No freedom

What is your favorite occupation?

Reading

What is your most marked characteristic?

Persistent

What do you most value in your friends?

Honesty

Who are your favorite writers?

Jung

Who is your hero of fiction?

I don’t read fiction

Which historical figure do you most identify with?

Who are your heroes in real life?

Writers

What are your favorite names?

Next

What is it that you most dislike?

Bad timekeeping

What is your greatest regret?

Ask me later

How would you like to die?

Quick

What is your motto?

Waste not want not

“I am a high-tech designer with a conservative taste for materials like bronze and stone.”

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