{"id":35,"date":"2026-02-08T20:45:21","date_gmt":"2026-02-08T20:45:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/35\/"},"modified":"2026-02-08T20:45:21","modified_gmt":"2026-02-08T20:45:21","slug":"walter-van-beirendonck-welcomes-little-strangers-to-his-play-gym-in-belgium","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/35\/","title":{"rendered":"Walter Van Beirendonck welcomes ‘little strangers’ to his play-gym in Belgium"},"content":{"rendered":"

Walter Van Beirendonck just can\u2019t be pinned down. The provocative Antwerp fashion designer has applied his exuberant style to book illustration, scenography, furniture design<\/a> and generally bringing a boyish levity to menswear. So his latest design project \u2014 an indoor playground for the C-mine<\/a> creative campus in Genk \u2014 was less a matter of What?! than \u2018What took him so long?\u2019<\/p>\n

Last weekend the postindustrial theme park launched Welcome Little Stranger in its Playground space, a new interactive soft-play for children ages four and up that showcases the work of artists and designers. The unique pairing of venue and talent pushes the boundaries of what a play space can be, spurring imagination, creative stimulation and, it announces, the wearing of two different socks.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Photography: Selma Gurbuz.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Photography: Selma Gurbuz.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Photography: Selma Gurbuz.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Photography: Selma Gurbuz.<\/p>\n

Van Beirendonck\u2019s signature colour and storybook forms are right at home in the room, which he\u2019s dressed up in extraterrestrial motifs. \u2018I wanted to design an environment that encourages children to use their own imagination, without screens or digital distractions,\u2019 he says. \u2018Welcome Little Stranger is about wonder, the joy of discovery, and playing together \u2014 without limits.\u2019 He chose as a young collaborator the social designer Emma Ribbens, a student at the LUCA School of Arts campus at C-mine. Ribbens led a series of creative workshops and talks over the inaugural weekend. The space will host regular crafting and reading sessions, along with \u2018calm\u2019 sessions for sensitive children.<\/p>\n

Located 50 miles east of Antwerp<\/a>, C-mine inhabits a decommissioned mine where coal was discovered at the turn of the last century. Its industrial buildings have beeb repurposed by a team of curators who invite all types of play \u2014\u00a0in old mine tunnels, pit towers and a steel labyrinth designed by Gijs Van Vaerenbergh. The project draws on insights from the 2016 book The Playground Project by Gabriela Burkhalter, which emphasises the lost art of play to activate creativity.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Photography: Selma Gurbuz.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Photography: Selma Gurbuz.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Walter Van Beirendonck at C-mine. Photography: Selma Gurbuz.<\/p>\n

Read next: LEGO opens a kids\u2019 art gallery called Superpower Studios<\/a>
\nHave a ball at Cj Hendry\u2019s temporary warehouse playground<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Walter Van Beirendonck just can\u2019t be pinned down. The provocative Antwerp fashion designer has applied his exuberant style…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":36,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[4],"tags":[15,7,16,17],"class_list":["post-35","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-belgium","tag-adaptive-reuse","tag-belgium","tag-genk","tag-walter-van-beirendonck"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/36"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}