IN CONVERSATION WITH FIEN MULLER AND HANNES VAN SEVEREN

Belgian artists and founders of Muller Van Severen, Fien Muller and Hannes Van Severen spill the beans on their approach to design dominated by experimental material investigations

- KASHISH KAUSHAL

Coming together is a new beginning but keeping together is progress. Who knew while taking art lessons together, Belgian designers Fien Muller and Hannes Van Severen would share interests, common ambitions and also lay the foundation of Muller Van Severen. Built on the virtue of trust, artistic chemistry and shared love for design, the studio was founded in early spring of 2011. Let’s rewind a little and explore how the couple met!

The years were 2001-03 and the place was Ghent, Belgium’s university town and cultural hub. Fien studied photography and later enrolled in sculpture classes, and that’s where she met Hannes. The duo worked as separate artists before that and it was only after a gallerist named Valerie Traan asked Fien to put a show together involving another artist, that Hannes came into the picture.

As fate would have it, around the same time the duo was in the middle of the renovation of their private home, thus, no other sign was required for them to establish a practice together. Driven by diversity and endless possibilities of materiality, today, the couple is famed for crafting sculpturally interesting furniture objects—always including the space around it, distinguished by an insightful research in art, architecture and materials.