There’s a tendency among writers to lean on confirmation bias when profiling successful individuals, suggesting that their path was predetermined. In Glenn Sestig’s case, however, the assertion feels apt. His love of architecture started as a child, when his parents would comment on homes that they passed in the car. His father aspired to be an architect, but was unable to afford the education. Sestig fulfilled that long-deferred dream.
By the age of 13, he had already designed rooms for his parents and grandparents. Even then, his work showed glimmers of what would become his signature style – functional and tactile, taking cues from the likes of Mies van der Rohe, Frank Lloyd Wright and Carlo Scarpa. ‘When I go back to see the designs… it’s the same way of thinking and designing as I do today. They look like modernism,’ says Sestig.
That he would pursue architecture wasn’t a foregone conclusion, however. Sestig’s other passion was fashion, and, for a time, he stood at a crossroads. But he managed to find a way to integrate fashion into his practice, working with designers such as Raf Simons, Pieter Mulier and Olivier Theyskens. ‘You cannot really separate fashion, architecture, photography, music… they all need each other,’ he says.
Sestig’s breakthrough came with the design of the now-iconic Soap hair salon in Antwerp, and he founded his practice, Glenn Sestig Architects, the following year (1999). Today, he is known for architecture that is not minimalist per se, but monumental, symmetrical and sophisticated, having worked on projects such as the Thirty Lane modernist villa, a rural retreat for the Pringiers family, and the La Réserve hotel in Knokke.
Sestig’s residence, which he shares with his husband, Bernard Tournemenne – an artist and creative director of Glenn Sestig Architects – was originally designed in the 1970s by Ivan Van Mossevelde for an art collector. ‘Visually, it’s very brutalistic. It’s totally concrete, and the plan is very minimalistic,’ says Sestig. ‘So when I saw [it], it was something very close to me.’
The house first caught his eye during a walk 25 years ago. He asked the owner if he could have a tour, which they declined, but Sestig remembered the residence. Years later, in 2017, he acquired it. What followed was a restoration that carefully preserved the building’s shell: ‘I didn’t want to change anything about that beautiful, strong architecture,’ he says.
Sestig’s home is filled with sculptures and sculptural forms, from a ceramic by Guy Bareff, to a structure from Pierre Caille of which there are only three in the world, and stone-hewn Italian street furniture from an unknown designer. Then there’s the ‘living sculpture’: Sestig’s cat, Tanit, named after the goddess of Ibiza, where he rescued her from.
Elsewhere: light fixtures from the ‘Tennessee’ collection that he designed for Ozone, a vast metal candelabra from Aether/Mass, and a chair for the Ostend Post Office designed by architect Gaston Eysselinck. Sestig’s seating collection also comprises an Oscar Niemeyer ‘Marquesa’ bench, a Zaha Hadid ‘Moraine’ sofa, and the ‘Cornaro’ sofa from the ‘Ultrarazionale’ series, the only sofa collection that Carlo Scarpa ever designed.
Art is used sparingly. A portrait of Robert Mapplethorpe shot by Patrick Robyn, the husband of Belgian fashion designer Ann Demeulemeester, hangs on the wall. The only remaining piece from the home’s original owner is a wall mural by Sol LeWitt.
Sestig chooses his objects based on a feeling rather than criteria – what matters most is that an object is well-crafted and resonates with him: ‘It’s difficult to explain why I like an object, but it’s important for me that it’s really well done. You will find a lot of different objects in the house, but in the end, you will feel it’s very me.’
This space is both the architect’s sanctuary and muse – a lived-in archive of ideas and inspiration for projects to come. We hope you enjoy stepping inside.
In The Stuff That Surrounds, Wallpaper* explores a life through objects. Welcome to the third instalment of the new Wallpaper* video series, The Stuff That Surrounds. Watch as we’re invited into the intriguing and idiosyncratic homes of creatives and makers catching a glimpse of their interior lives via the objects with which they surround themselves, all of which tell a story. This episode, we’re invited inside an architectural gem – just what you’d expect from one of the most distinctive voices in the field today
DOP: Bas Van Hoof
Focus puller: Mathew Lau
Sound engineer: Laurens Desmet
Edit assistant: Giulia Bassanese
Architecture & environment director: Ellie Stathaki
Head of video: Sebastian Jordahn
Director of digital content: Charlotte Gunn
Editor-in-chief: Bill Prince
Image credit: Wallpaper
