Limited Edition & Fashion Museum Antwerp launch rug by Dirk Van Saene

The domestic and intimate scenes painted by Rik Wouters provide the groundwork for the MoMu’s new autumn exhibition: ‘Rik Wouters & the Private Utopia’. The exhibition presents more than 60 of Wouters’ works under the same roof, flanked by contemporary fashion, applied design and art installations.

In a utopian quest for the essence of the good life, contemporary fashion designers and artists went in search of what makes people happy. This is expressed in handmade, ‘slow’ objects, natural materials and a rediscovery of the luxury of simplicity. Craftsmanship and natural materials are the common theme running through the whole exhibition.

Dirk Van Saene, a fashion designer and member of the Antwerp Six, took up this challenge to translate his own picturesque visual language into a design for a rug. Like Wouters, he painted elements from his own private world and surroundings: the cats in the neighbours’ garden, pigeons building their nests and his own flower garden. The rug is 5m in diameter and is presented as a piece of seating furniture in the installation created by Van Saene for this exhibition.

It was produced by the family-owned company Limited Edition which makes high-quality rugs in artistic editions. This Moeskroen-based firm makes hand-tufted carpets in artistic editions. Limited Edition distinguishes itself on the market through its craftsmanship and a type of luxury that is characterised by simplicity. The colours of the hand-dyed yarn were created especially for this unique piece at the firm’s own dye works. Crafted using exclusively 100% superior-quality wool in collaboration with The Woolmark Company, this hand-tufted rug is a product entirely Made in Belgium, from design to production.  

This unique rug is on display in the ‘Rik Wouters & the Private Utopia’ exhibition at the MoMu Fashion Museum of the Province of Antwerp until 26 February 2017. A rug derived from this one is also on display during the Biennale Interieur in Kortrijk until 23 October at the Limited Edition booth, Hall 3 Stand 318.