In the age of digital everything, when auctions and antiques can be accessed with a few taps on an iPhone, where does a would-be collector even begin?
Trick question.
“The average collector does not exist,” says Boris Vervoordt, the founder of Antwerp-based Axel Vervoordt Gallery. “Collecting comes from passion. Everybody is passionate out of a very deep need for energy. Art and the artists’ thoughts cultivate this energy for everybody in a different way. It’s like falling in love, again and again.”
When Vervoordt opened his gallery’s doors, he did so on the spot where his father, the renowned Belgian designer (and AD100 Hall of Fame honoree) Axel Vervoordt had mounted exhibitions by Günther Uecker and Jef Verheyen more than three decades prior. Both men have a keen insight into the world of collecting, not just at the level of business, but also that of emotion—something that both say is an integral part of amassing a meaningful collection of art and objects.
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Now, the elder Vervoordt is committing some of his thoughts on the subject to a new initiative from the European Fine Art Fair, or TEFAF, just in time for the latest edition’s online launch. As part of an effort to illustrate the intermingled lives of collectors and the precious items they keep, the platform has launched a multimedia venture titled Living with Art, which showcases the real homes of some of their members on a monthly basis.
Known for his storytelling in addition to his creative work, Axel is one of several logical subjects for such a series. (Xavier Eeckhout, Niels de Boer, and the Chenel family have their own editions.) “I think I was very small—seven, eight, nine—when I started collecting stones and little objects I found,” he shares in his interview, the camera trailing him. As it does, viewers take in the sumptuous and idiosyncratic interiors that make Axel’s house a home. “When you’re very young and start collecting rocks, it’s just because you like it,” he says. He has a theory, however: “I personally think it’s rediscovering yourself in it.”
Aside from sharing insights into the members that make up the TEFAF network, this content shows how horizontal collecting—that is, accumulating objects that span different eras or styles—can create a highly textured and personalized dwelling. “Collecting across periods, perspectives, cultures, and categories is the future of the art world,” explains TEFAF chairman Hidde van Seggelen. Not only that, but it also reveals how precious objects might coexist with us mere mortals. “Numerous works of art found at TEFAF were originally made for domestic settings, to be cherished and enjoyed at home. Seeing them in this intimate context reveals their inner magic, the way they can speak to you and become part of your life.”
For Axel, this sentiment certainly rings true. Toward the end of the first Living with Art video interview, the designer shares that many of the objects he loves most only grow more beloved with time. Touch, patina, light, all of these things add character: “Living with art is not like going to visit the museum,” he says. “It’s a different feeling, it’s a different thing.”
