An inclusive design world needs role models, credits and balanced archive. As part of the exhibitions Untold Stories – Women Designers in Belgium 1880-1980 and Here We Are! Women in Design 1900 – Today at Design Museum Brussels, the museum organized the discussion “Rebalancing: Gender bias in the design world” in collaboration with PAF. An impression.
Text: Elien Haentjens
Four experts, each with a different perspective on gender balance in the design world from their professional background, are kicking off the evening’s discussion. For instance, Caroline Lateur and Mathilde Pecqueur are both in practice, respectively as interior designers at Doorzon interior architects and textile designers at Maak & Transmettre. Researchers Benoît Vandevoort and Nina Serulus highlight the theme from a more historical perspective. As one of the curators of Untold Stories, Nina Serulus explains the female voice in design through her research for the exhibition.
“Until now, little was known about women’s creativity in the period from the first to the second feminist wave in Belgium. As part of the expo, we are showing about 120 objects, but that is only the tip of the iceberg. Hardly any archives of women have been preserved. When we find objects, it is often a matter of luck,” Nina Serulus says. “Visibility often goes hand in hand with privilege. In the Belle-Epoque, only women from higher circles sometimes signed with their full names. Another strategy for being visible is exhibiting through women’s exhibitions that emerged during the first feminist wave or joining artists’ groups. In the exhibition, we also show how activists strengthened their message through graphic design. However, most women remained invisible because they worked behind the scenes in factories or companies, in domestic or colonial contexts or in duo with a male partner. For example, Henry Van de Velde is world-famous, but the name of his wife and artistic partner Maria Sèthe is barely mentioned,” Nina Serulus says.
The invisibility of women’s work is also linked to the fact that it was often regarded as a lower form of craft or artisanal activity. “Within a paternalistic society, there was little attention to this. Although during the second feminist wave, more and more women were just putting that skill to use to express their discontent, standing up for abortion rights, for example,” Nina Serulus says.
“In addition, in Brussels in particular, there are some fascinating women who have themselves made access to education possible and thus contributed to professionalization. For example, Bischoffsheim played a crucial role as the first professional school for women, and women were also allowed to study and teach at the Ecole de La Cambre from its very beginning. Textile designer Elisabeth de Saedeleer opened her own school, and Henriette Bosché founded her own school “Atelier Henriette Bosché”. She also founded the first association of women decorators in 1905.”
In search of identity
For his PhD, Benoît Vandevoort studied the professionalization of interior design in Belgium, focusing on the impact of education on the identity development of the discipline. He also worked for the Flemish Architecture Institute on the so-called Bronnengids Interieurontwerp België 1945-2000. What struck the researchers was that even in periods when there were already many women working as interior designers, the archives were still much more male-colored. “Since the beginning, interior design has been searching for its own identity, somewhere between architecture and industrial design. In the 1950s, the first higher education programs saw the light of day. From a more decorative angle, the study of interior design has since evolved into the overall design of the interior. Those difficulties in identifying itself as a discipline are still there, but take on specific forms depending on which educational context is examined. In Catholic schools, for example, interior design was considered a morally charged, ideological task. Therefore, it was originally more of a male profession. It was not until the 1950s that female students found their way into professionally oriented higher education in large numbers. Although that also implied a gender-related shift: architecture remained linked to men, making interior design increasingly a place for women. Until today, the discipline is often considered inferior. Although many women now work in both fields, the idea of a professional interior designer still remains identified with male designers. This is also reflected in archival institutions; the ratio of archives of professional interior designers remains stuck at 30/70. So women are also underrepresented in a discipline often described as feminine.”
A need for role models
As a collective studio, Maak & Transmettre turned the technique of tufting to their advantage to create curtains, carpets and installations. For this, they were awarded the Young Artist Prize in the design category of the Parliament of the Fédération Wallonie-Bruxelles in 2024. “We consciously play with the connotation of textiles as a cottage industry. We even wrote a manifesto about it. At the same time, we find that we often have to justify our prize because people do not fully understand the professional aspect of our work,” says Mathilde Pecqueur.
Besides their own creations, the trio sets up social-artistic projects in which they work with children or women from diverse backgrounds. “For Théatre National, we worked on a participatory project with a mixed group of female newcomers. This not only stimulated mutual dialogue – even without words, but also gave them extra strength to believe in themselves.”
In addition, Maak & Transmettre organized three series of evening conversations on women in design under the title Celles qui font le design. “Each time, we invite only women to speak on topics such as inclusivity in museums or industrial design. Sometimes it is really difficult to find speakers, because women often suffer from imposter syndrome and are insecure about their own vision, for example if they share a studio with their partner,” Mathilde Pecqueur states.
“That’s why projects like Wiki Women Design by the Flemish Architecture Institute, which put forward role models, are very important. We need to share our knowledge more among ourselves, and ensure that that info is passed on from generation to generation. Creating networks and archive knowledge plays a crucial role.”
Disciplinary boundaries
As an ambassador of the project Wiki Women Design, Caroline Lateur wanted to be the role model she had been missing in the past. “Collaboration has been a conscious choice within our practice from the beginning. Not just between Stefanie and myself, but always in close relationships with other designers and related disciplines. Architects like Jan De Vylder played an important role in this. He was the first to include us in the Open Call. This contributed to the visibility of interior design within such competition procedures, where the discipline is not included by default,” says Caroline Lateur. “Also, the exhibition project for a new neighborhood mosque in Flanders, in the Young Makers, Thinkers, Dreamers series, was an exceptional opportunity to explore the boundaries of our discipline. We were the only interior designers – and women, moreover – who participated in this project at the invitation of Katrien Vandermarliere, then director of the VAi.
“The fact that we, as interior designers, question the context, and therefore the architecture, is not always received positively. This is why it is essential for us to be at the table from the beginning of a design process. This can cause friction, but can also meet with approval from both architects and clients. Although interior design is often seen as a discipline that focuses exclusively on the finishing touch and despite the fact that as a woman you need more time to build credibility, at least now a debate is possible.”
Collective brings hope
The fact that women often work in collectives is no coincidence. ‘Working together gives you more power, which may make people take you more seriously,’ Mathilde Pecqueur argues. ‘Although we may then have to better adapt our way of archiving, researching and publishing to that, if it turns out that so many women disappear into oblivion just because of that,’ Nina Serulus adds.
That the time of star architects and designers seems to be quietly passing, and the collective seems to be gaining in importance, Caroline Lateur sees this as a hopeful evolution. “In education, too, we have to bring this vision: the myth of the genius designer is outdated in a society like today. Designing is not a solo practice, but a process of collaboration between different disciplines. Therefore, it is crucial that students are not only trained as individual designers, but learn to work in collective and interdisciplinary contexts.”
Benoît Vandevoort adds: “In history courses, the emphasis is still often on individual authors, and these are often architects – so therefore they often offer a more male perspective. We should rethink the courses, and put much more emphasis on collaborations and interdisciplinarity.”
Group discussion: authorship or collective practice?
The group discussion on authorship or collective practice highlights the intense intertwining of the two. Participants state that as architects or scenographers, they work alone on the one hand, but at the same time they always work as a team. ‘Since my former associate became a mother, I have been on my own,’ states one architect. ‘Although it would be nice to have a soundbox again and make decisions together, finding the right partner is not easy.’
“You have a final responsibility, but at the same time you don’t. To have such a team of individual partners working together towards one common goal is quite challenging. In that sense, perhaps it would not be bad to better define the roles, as is done in the film world. Such a colophon could give each collaborator the right visibility,” argues a scenographer. ‘Also, the division of roles between craftspersons and designers could sometimes be communicated more clearly.’
Awareness of the importance of such credits is growing. For example, the term designer is increasingly taking precedence over the term architect, because it appeals to a larger target group. Or sometimes a conscious choice is made to mention all employees of a project – making it easier for them to add the projects to their own portfolio, rather than just the name of the office and thus often the founder(s). Although not everyone is convinced of this yet, clients still often mainly choose a name – even if the person in question no longer works in the firm.
