Discover Benelux | Design | Top Belgian Architecture and Design Guide
A top-class contemporary interior is attainable for everybody TEXT: KOEN GUIKING | PHOTOS: LOFT 4C INTERIEURARCHITECTEN
Walk into the apartment of interior designers Filip Deslee and Keith Baert and you will immediately notice that every detail in this home is meticulously thought through. There is order, balance and harmony, but it is not inhospitable. On the contrary, it feels cosy. “That is what LOFT 4C is all about,” says the designer duo. “We don’t want to turn people’s interiors into showrooms, we want to help our clients to create a pleasant environment to live or work in.” ‘Minimal interiors, maximal experience’ is LOFT 4C’s slogan. Filip Deslee, a Belgian TV personality, is well known for his tight, clean, contemporary designs, while 22 | Issue 30 | June 2016
Keith Baert is specialised in adding that “personal twist”. Both designers had their own companies for many years, but since January 2016 they have been working together from their home at LOFT 4C, a stylish apartment in Antwerp’s trendiest area Het Zuid. Receiving all their clients at home has been a deliberate decision. “We invite them into our home and in return they open up their hearts to us. That is essential, because we are going to really work together in the period to come to design an interior that suits their lifestyle,” Deslee explains.
Interior design to match personality Sitting around the dining table or in the lounge of LOFT 4C, Deslee and Baert
have conversations with their clients about their design wishes; but it goes further than that. “We need to understand what clients want, but we also want to know how they behave when at home,” Deslee says. Hence, LOFT 4C clients can expect to get homework. They will have to make mood boards and fill in a questionnaire with questions like: If you come home with your groceries, do you instantly pack them away? “If you are the type of person that doesn’t immediately pack the groceries away, you shouldn’t want an open kitchen,” Deslee clarifies. Some clients want their entire home redecorated, others just come to LOFT 4C for advice about a new lounge set, or a new bedroom. “But even if people only