Koen, King of Belgium

Safety Signs (1981-1988) for Avmor Ltd.

We must immediately reassure those who think that they missed some important information about this small kingdom. The King of the Belgians remains Albert II. No coup d'état in this curious European country. No, we just want to refer to the prestigious award received a few days ago by Koen De Winter. Design Vlaanderen has given him the Henry van de Velde 2005 Career Award, the highest token of recognition a designer can hope to receive in Belgium. Which makes Koen the King of Belgian design.

We do not particularly enjoy long ceremonials where speech follows speech, but for nothing in the world would we have missed this prize-giving. It was with a true emotion that we lived the moment when Koen received his trophy in front of an enthusiastic audience composed of Flemish and Canadian officials, of fellow designers, friends and family who came from all over the world to share this moment with him.

The first thing that Koen told us after the ceremony was: 'They must have made a mistake by awarding me this prize'. This excessive modesty will not surprise those who know him. Yet one can objectively say that rarely was an award so justified. Bob Daenen, Vice-President Innovation at Tupperware, has brilliantly exposed the different facets and qualities of Koen De Winter in his speech. It would be too long to relate here the whole story of his career, even a book would not be enough.

So, here are the highlights:

- 1943 Born in Mortsel, a small Flemish town near Antwerp (Belgium)

- 1957-1962 He studied ceramic technology at the École des Métiers d'art de Maredsous (Belgium)

- 1969 He completed his studies at the Akademie voor Industriële Vormgeving Eindhoven (Netherlands)

- 1970 He started his career in Sweden, working for Volvo

- 1971-1979 He worked for plastic manufacturer Rosti/Mepal in Holland. In 1978 MoMA in New York acquires some of his objects for the museum's collection. On a lighter side, a set of his plastic plates were used to serve food to the astronauts in Stanley Kubrick's film '2001: A Space Odyssey'.

- 1979 He moved to Canada

- 1979-1990 He became Vice-president of Design for Danesco Inc. and professor at the University of Québec design faculty in Montreal

- 1990 He opened his own design office, Hippodesign Inc., with his associate Ginette Rochon and developed products renowned for their quality and innovativeness, for a large number of Canadian, American and European companies.
The choice of Hippodesign as a name tells a lot about Koen's personality. Koen did not wish to give the bureau his own name. The suggestion came from Enzo Mari, who said: '...Well, you know, in the world of design Koen is a bit like a hippopotamus: you don't see much on the surface, but there's a lot of him under the water'.

- Recently he opened a ceramic production, Atelier Orange, in a region of Québec that has otherwise few choice of employment.

Even though his career and the varied list of more than 400 products designed for the market is impressive, one can not keep quiet about the other aspects of this man. Koen is a living encyclopedia for design. He willingly shares his knowledge with others. Regular readers on Design Addict's forum know this well. The variety and the depth of his knowledge is amazing and the generosity to share it equally deserves our admiration.
Koen has taught design for many years at the University of Québec design faculty in Montreal and was appointed to the position of Director by the faculty board. And he also received many young designers in his studio, Hippodesign, allowing them to experience the realities of a tough profession. As for us, Design Addict, it is with enormous gratitude that we have received so often his precious advice and encouragement. His contribution to this site is priceless.

Design Vlaanderen has made a very relevant choice by deciding to honour this great designer.
Personnaly, we wish to take advantage of this occasion to demonstrate our admiration for a wonderful man.

Proficiat, Félicitation, Congratulations Mr Koen De Winter.

Alix and Patrick Everaert