Glam Work Kitchen, Belgian Style by Joris Van Apers
Joris Van Apers grew up amid rescued marble mantels, parquet flooring, and stacks of old tiles: his parents ran a busy Belgian salvage business. Photography by Jan Verlinde courtesy of Joris Van Apers (@jorisvanapersstudio). Located in the town of Reet, just south of Antwerp, the studio occupies the 17th-century French farmhouse that Joris’s father, Andreas, relocated, piece by piece, from Normandy 40 years ago. The design melds centuries-old elements with contemporary sensibilities: that’s brass fronting the new bar and the curtained partition offers direct access to the kitchen (which occupies the old kitchen’s footprint). The floor is lined with 17th century French terracotta tiles and reclaimed Italian nut wood was used for the bar countertop and open shelves. Joris describes the design as an exploration of “materials with various textures, and of shadow and light.” The walls are painted with limewash in an atmospheric brown, shown here, and gray-blue on the back wall. “We like the idea of a kitchen island/bar where we can drink a coffee together or have a quick look at building plans with clients,” says Caroline. The sink is black slate and the faucet is a Quooker, a Dutch system that offers filtered cold, hot, plain, and sparkling water, all from a single tap. Joris’s experiment with brass continues in the kitchen: the patinated cabinet fronts are incorporated into a wooden framework finished... ...with Mortex black microcement and seamlessly topped with a black slate countertop. The reclaimed hexagonal floor tiles are 17th century French. The pattern on the door (to a maintenance room) was inspired by reclaimed Italian painted doors that the firm used in a client’s house—since they no longer had an original, the studio re-created the look. The kitchen’s stone walls are finished with Mortex to create a multi-toned, rough texture.