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Cultural Diary 3

2012 sera une odyssée gastronomique ou ne sera pas ! Tous les trois ans, la capitale belge se choisit un thème qu’elle fait résonner haut et fort et de mul-tiples façons. En 2003, c’était l’Art nouveau qui était à l’honneur, en 2006, c’était la

mode et le design et en 2009, place à la BD. En 2012, on fait honneur à la gas-tronomie dans tous ses états et bien sûr à la gas-tronomie belge. Le tout placé sous un mot qui parle aux papilles : “Brusselicious”.

Lors de la première présentation officielle de cette année, Charles Picqué, ministre-Président de la Région bruxelloise, Christos Doulkeridis, ministre-Président de la Cocof (Collège de la Commission communautaire française), chargé notamment du Tourisme et des Relations inter-nationales et Jean-Luc Vanraes, ministre des FInances, du Budget et de l’Image de Bruxelles ont tous rappelé que ce thème était fédérateur au niveau belge, à l’étranger et également au niveau des compétences. Bref : tout le monde est emballé par ce thème !

Brusselicious devrait se traduire très visible-ment dans la ville : des choux géants, des gaufres monumentales, des cornets de frites costauds

seront disséminés dans Bruxelles,. les Musées des Beaux-Arts préparent une expo sur les “tableaux de bouche”, un food tramway circulera pour manger en voyageant, le mondial du vin sera organisé à Bruxelles de même que la finale des Bocuse d’Or 2012, en mars. On aura également droit à un concentré de ce qui se fait de mieux en cuisineen août 2012, durant le festival gastrono-mique ! Et que serait une année de la gastronomie sans un “rallye des cafés à bières” ? Il se passera en septembre ! Tandis qu’une semaine du choco-lat aura lieu en novembre pour nous enlever tout cafard pré-hivernal. Enfin (mais c’est loin d’être tout !) le tapis de fleurs de la Grand-Place et les plaisirs d’Hiver 2011 se mettront aussi aux cou-leurs de Brusselicious !

Un seul bémol... c’est en 2012.

E.W.

Le ministre-Président et les KiekefrettersLors de la conférence de presse de pré-sentation de cette année Brusselicious, le ministre-Président de la Région de Bruxelles-Capitale a présenté les atouts économiques et touriqtiques d’une année à thème, l’engouement commun pour ce thème fédérateur qu’est la gastronomie et sa convivialité et visiblement inspiré par le sujet s’est amusé à raconter à l’as-semblée l’origine du mot «Kiekefretter».Kiekefretter étant un terme désignant les Bruxellois dans leur ensemble. Il y a plusieurs légendes qui courent, voici celle qu’à livrée Charles Picqué.

L’histoire ne date pas d’aujourd’hui et on l’a ressorti d’un livre. L’aventure de triste mémoire se déroule au mois d’août de l’an 1371. Le duc Wenceslas se trouvait à la tête d’une armée de Brabançons. La noblesse était venue rejoindre son duc à Louvain et toute la troupe prit la route en direction du pays de Juliers. Si le duc Wen-ceslas passait pour être un prince à la fois léger et insouciant, par contre, le duc de Juliers, lui, s’enrichissait en donnant asile à des pirates et autres bandits de grands chemins. Ces brigands détroussaient les marchands et partageaient leur riche butin avec celui qui les protégeait. Voulant faire respecter les lois et les privilèges, les Bruxellois prirent les armes et sous la conduite de leur duc, se dirigèrent vers ce lointain duché que personne ne connais-sait. Les soldats emportèrent avec eux des victuailles, beaucoup trop de provisions, Des volailles par centaines, Il y avait des réserve pour six mois. L’armée du duc de Brabant, fait appel aux Bruxellois, le corps d’élite de l’armée brabançonne, afin d’ex-terminer des bandes de pillards?

Mais entre-temps, le duc de Juliers s’allie au duc de Gueldre et c’est ici que le vent va touner au grand désavantage des Bruxel-lois. L’affrontement aura lieu à Bastweiler, près de Gelenkirchen, le 21 août 1371. Et c’est dans ces plaines que les Brabançons connurent une solide défaite. Sept mille soldats et sept cents nobles furent tués et le duc Wenceslas, luimême, fut fait prison-nier. Ce fut la panique.

Plus tard le duc de Brabant sera libéré contre une rançon de 3.000 moutons d’or. Après leur victoire, les ducs de Juliers et de Gueldre découvrirent dans les bagages des combattants bruxellois, une quantité incroyable de poulets et de nourritures. Au soir de la bataille, les vainqueurs, grâce aux victuailles abandonnées sur le champ de bataille organisèrent un repas somp-tueux. Voilà pourquoi les Bruxellois doi-vent supporter le sobriquet de « mangeurs de poulets «, ou Kiekefretters !

Brusselicious !g Un an de bon, de délicieux, de croquant, de doux, de rencontres conviviales, d’événements originaux et de manifestations gourmandes à Bruxelles pour l’année 2012 consacrée à la gastronomie. Et cela se prépare dès maintenant...Coup d’oeil dans l’arrière-cuisine.

Cultural Diary4

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La Foire du Livre de Bruxelles toute féminineOn dit qu’un Belge sur six achète un livre par an, on dit que 60% des livres imprimés partent au pilon, on dit que les gens ne lisent plus, on dit que les jeunes ne lisent plus, on dit que ce sont les femmes qui lisent, on dit d’un livre que c’est un objet du 20ème siècle, on dit que le livre disparaît, qu’il est mort… On dit, on dit... Ce qu’on sait en revanche, c’est que la FOire du Livre de Bruxelels aura lieu du 17 au 21 février prochain. Une 41e édition placé sous le thème «Le monde appartient aux femmes», il y a beaucoup à dire là-dessus !

U www.flb.be

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Le nouveau numéro de la «kidsgazette» est sortiCe petit magazine est bourré de bons plans et de news pour les enfants avec un agenda allant jusqu’au 20 mars. Son objectif premier est de

faciliter la vie des familles et inviter les enfants à découvrir la diversité culturelle offerte en Région de Bruxelles-Capitale. On y trouve une multitude d’idées et des activi-tés pour éveiller, élargir l’horizon de ses bambins : du théâtre, du cinéma, des festivals, des stages, des ateliers… La gazette est disponible dans le réseau culturel (bibliothèques, musées, théâtres, cinémas art et essai, centres culturels); le réseau institutionnel (administrations com-munales, bureaux d’information jeunesse, offices du tourisme); le réseau européen et international (institutions européennes, écoles internationa-les); le réseau commercial (magasins spécialisés, librairies jeunesse).

U www.kidsgazette.be. En fr, nl et ang.

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Share with me !“Truc Troc”… Ce concept, né il y a déjà trente-cinq ans a le mérite de rendre l’art accessible et même ludique. Comme le résume parfaitement le titre, on amène des “trucs” en faisant du “troc” contre une œuvre d’art. A l’origine, certains visiteurs emportaient leur frigo ou leur canapé contre un tableau qu’ils verraient bien trôner dans leur salon. Aujourd’hui, exit les objets encombrants et place au post-it. Du 4 au 6 février, des dizaines d’artistes contemporains exposent donc l’une ou

l’autre de leurs œuvres au Bozar. A charge pour les visiteurs de leur faire une proposition sur un petit bout de papier. L’idée la plus sédui-sante selon l’artiste remporte alors la pièce exposée. A votre imagination.

U “Truc Troc”, Bozar, du 4 au 6 février. Rue Ravenstein 23 - 1000 Bruxelles. Entrée : 5 €. Tél. : 02 507 82 00 ; www.bozar.be.

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La BD met l’Europe à l’honneurDans la foulée de notre, désormais feu, présidence belge de l’Union européenne, le Centre belge de la bande dessinée en a profité pour mettre l’ac-cent sur l’Europe. Jusqu’au 6 mars, ce havre dédié au neuvième art expose quelques trésors de la production BD européenne des cent dernières années. Une sélection minutieuse et exception-nelle de planches origi- nales s’offre au public qu’il soit féru ou novice. Parmi les cin-quante auteurs hissés au panthéon : Hergé, Denis Deprez, Hugo Pratt, David Lloyd ou encore François Schuiten. Rarement sortis des collections privées, ces coups de cœur se dévorent des yeux.

U Trésors de la BD européenne. Centre belge de la bande dessinée, rue des Sables, 20 - 1000 Bruxelles. Entrée : adulte 8 €. Tél. : 02 219 19 80, visit@cbbd.be

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La fièvre du samedi soir… au muséeDix-neuf musées bruxellois et plus de 500 jeunes sont en train de travailler d’arrache-pied pour concocter une programmation débridée dans le cadre de la désormais célèbre Museum Night Fever. Cet événement a l’habitude de bouleverser les codes en invitant notamment des musiciens à se produire dans les lieux culturels de la capitale. Résultat : un savant mélange qui ravit les yeux et les oreilles. On parle déjà de Suarez au MIM, de fashionistas survoltées devant les uniformes du Musée de l’Armée et de danseurs virevoltant entre les dinos au Musée des Sciences naturelles !

Les activités s’étoffent encore avec des perfor-mances électro-architecturales, des visites gui-dées animées par des étudiants ou des workshops inédits. Pour couronner le tout, un dance floor s’improvise en plein Bozar pour goûter à la fièvre nocturne jusqu’au bout de la nuit. Rendez-vous le 26 février.

U Museum Night Fever, www.museumnightfever.be

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6 Cultural DiaryGalleries6

Figurative-abstraction or abstract-figuration?

Alex Brown is an inven-tive American painter who manages to combine in his work photorealism and Vasarely-style abstraction. The artist does not like pure abstraction as such, mainly due to the lack of orienta-tion in his opinion. Thus he decided to create his own pictorial method and style. Brown disrupts our opi-nions and views towards figuration and abstraction. His work usually starts with several images to finally end into one sole image, the new one. His paintings have been done with the organic pattern, which is basically a picture in a picture, using the picture as a template. He begins with a real image and changes it into an abs-traction. Some paintings are based on a strict grid, sometimes tweaked ; other paintings combine two ima-ges. At first glance, it doesn’t reveal all its secrets, however after a while, more images do appear out of the pain-ting. Looking at this opti-cally mesmerizing, subtle work is almost like watching at a photo through a pat-terned shower curtain: the image is fragmented almost beyond recognition into a multilayered, complex grid-ded field of spots, triangles, ovals, cubes or blossom sha-pes. Brown masters his pain-ting and gives sense to it! MS

U 19.02.10Alex Brown - Free. DumbTwig Gallery - 74 rue Ten-bosch - 1050 BrusselsT/02 344 23 68 www.twiggallery.comTuesday to Friday 11am-6:30pm, Saturday 12noon - 6pm

Rebirth and enigmatic sensualityAlmine Rech presents the Korean artist Yeesookung and the Swiss sculp-tor Not Vital. Yeesookyung work anticipates the power held by traditions in contemporary art. She conceives art into a medium, which relieves woun-ded souls, and thus the artist has been taking upon herself the role of a contemporary shaman. Her drawings, extracted from the ‘Flame’ series, are a composition of flames emerging out of lines, waves, landscapes, and have been drawn in the same red ink, used by the shamans to inscribe talismans. Her other works ‘Translated Vases’ consist of china porcelain fragments, which were leftovers on the edge of the oven. She reassembled those pieces, reformatted them and covered them in gold leaf. Through her imagination, Yeesookyung renewed the life of these objects, which had lost their original

specific function. Fragile and yet powerful, Yeesookyung has given her work a new mea-ning, a new equilibrium out of this recons-truction process. At the essence of her work one finds the idea of rebirth by healing. Not Vital analyses the relationship between the form, the material and the meaning. In order to question the conventions of the form, he plays with the abstraction and the mutation, changing natural or animal forms into abs-tractions, especially by distorting the scale of the work. Tensions also emerge from the materials he decides to use (soft, waxy soap and hard, sharp crystal; or white brittle shell and shiny stainless steel). Vital self-contained objects are sensual, sensitive as well as truly enigmatic... Michèle Schoonjans

U 17.02.11 - Yeesookyung - Not Vital ‘Hanging & Waiting’ Almine Rech Gallery20 rue de l’Abbaye - 1050 Brussels - T/02 648 56 84 - www.alminerech.comTuesday to Saturday 11am-7pm

Recreation - Search of lost timeJean-François Fourtou (French born artist) exhibits his recent works and particularly his amazing project from Dar el Sadaka (Marra-kech) where he lives and works. Known for his unique sculptures of animals (such as lambs, giraffes, snails, ...), the artist also converts living- and working places into piece of art. Like a snail wraps in its shell, Fourtou builds houses like shelter, in which he can hide or get in touch with his inner world. He is also fascinated by the domestic living space. With his installations and pictures, the artist likes to play with scale’s differences, creating tiny or huge interiors, one that reminds us the experience of Alice in Wonderland. For his Dar el Sadaka project Fourtou has rebuild a typical Charente house, issued from the region where he used to spend his childhood holidays. “Falling out of the sky”, is actually a house build on the ground up side down, sitting thus on its roof! Furnitures rest on the ceiling and the ceiling is the ground! So no photoshop or other computer tricks in these pictures . The exhibition’s atmosphere has an over-natural aspect of play... MS

U 26.02.11 - Jean-François Fourtou - Tombée du ciel - Aeroplastics - 32 rue Blanche - 1060 Brussels - T/02 537 22 02 www.aeroplastics.net - Tuesday to Friday 11am-6pm, Saturday 2-6pm

Last testimonyThe exhibition presents Edmond Dubrunfaut’s works, chosen out of his last hundred drawings. These were carried out during a difficult time for the artist, caused by the death of his wife and followed by his own death, only 4 months later. Until the end Dubrunfaut was a committed artist, a heroic fighter, a humanist, creating work as it was a battle for life. He never gave up and he continued to draw using all his resources and spirit for the artistic creation.

At the same time he was trying to escape from the ter-rible reality of life and denounced some of its aspects (like wars, slaveries, injustices,…), but also created quite some more festive work (series on the circus for example). Dubrunfaut last drawings have a strong symbolic resonance, because these are his last testi-mony to humanity, to some extent a real swan-song of a devoted human artist. MS

Not Vital, ‘625’, 2010, Fiberglass and soap, 300 x 150 x 140 cm, Courtesy Almine Rech Gallery

Yeesookyung, ‘Translated Vase’, 2010, Ceramic trash, epoxy, 24k gold leaf, 135 x 85 x 85 cm, Courtesy Almine Rech Gallery

JF Fourtou, Tombée du ciel, 2010, Chromogenic print mounted on Diasec, Courtesy of Aeroplastics contemporary

Edmond Dubrunfaut, Sous les algues, March 2007, Lavis à l’encre de chine sur papier, 56 x 75 cm

U 16.02.11Dubrunfaut (1920-2007) - Les 100 derniers dessinsAlbert 1er – 45 rue de la Madeleine – 1000 Brussels - T/02 512 19 44Tuesday to Saturday 1–7pm, Sunday 11am-1pm

Alex Brown, Girl, 2010, Oil paint on canvas, 133,4 x 133,4 cm

7Focus 7

g If you’re working for the European institutions, do you sometimes feel that Brussels’ local life and people either pass you or your expat colleagues by? If you’re a Brussels local, do you sometimes feel that you don’t really know any expats? Is there some activity that you’d like to organise to bring expats and Brussels locals together? Do you need some funding to get the idea off the ground?

New Year’s Resolution idea: Set up a project to bring expats and Brussels locals together

Expats in Brussels by numbersThe institutions employ about 40,000 Europeans of various origins.

In addition, approximately 20,000 lob-byists, 1,400 journalists and 5,322 diplo-mats are active in the city. Brussels has nearly 300 regional representatives, 2,500 other international institutions, more than 2,000 international companies and 150 international law companies.

Source: King Baudoin Foundation

“Because of the often privi-leged socio-economic bac-kground of the expats, the segregation of this group is not often addressed, even

though there is a great poten-tial for enriching interactions

between this group and the other inhabitants of Brus-

sels,” says the Foundation on its website. “Initiatives from

inhabitants and organisa-tions could reduce the gap that exists between Euro-

peans who have settled down in Brussels for professional reasons, and other inhabi-

tants of the region.”

If the answer to these questions is yes, then have a think about whether to apply for some funding from the so-called ‘breXpat’ (Brussels expat) project run by the Fondation Roi Baudoin (King Baudoin Foundation). The main idea of ‘breXpat’, which is in its fifth year, is to encourage citizens and organisations to set up a project that will promote interaction between European expats and other inhabitants of Brussels.

You’ve got plenty of time to think through your idea and then fill in an online form, to be found on the website, or you can send in a form by post by 14 March. If you need a printed form, call/email the foundation to ask for one (Tel: 070-233 065; Email: proj@kbs-frb.be). An independent jury made up of people outside the Foundation, be they academics, expats or from Brussels-based French- or Dutch-speaking socio-cultural asso-ciations, will then announce the projects granted funding on 30 May. You can apply for funding for anything between 500 euro and 5,000 euro.

The projects can be submitted by inhabitants, de facto organisations, non-profit organisations or local government agencies.

Selection criteriaThe selection criteria can be read on the web-site too, but here are some of the key points to bear in mind if you’re planning to submit a proposal:

- Projects that enable lasting interaction between expats and local Brussels people are preferable to one-off campaigns;

- The more people, be they expats or locals, invol-ved in or dealing with the project, the better;

- Priority will be given to projects that promote interaction between people from different socio-economic backgrounds, from different generations, from different cultures;

- The project should be supported by residents as far as possible;

- The application file should be clear, e.g. in terms of the project timetable, the project’s geogra-phic scope, etc.

- The project should have sufficient resources to meet its objectives.

BreXpat growing in popularity

2007 2008 2009

Number of applications for funding 26 35 66

Number of applications given funding 18 21 24

Applications have been received in Dutch, French and English

Source: King Baudoin Foundation

8 Cultural DiaryFocus8

Zinneke takes its name from the Brussels river Zenne. Groups of twenty-five people (zinnodes) start from each of four squares in the city and then meet along the way. The word ‘Zinneke’ means ‘mongrel’ in Brussels dialect.

To give you some inspiration for your special project, here are a few examples of BreXpat projects that were granted funding.

Making a film/documentaryOne of the most eye-catching is probably a series of 12-minute audiovisual productions created and produced by Brussels Connexion, a four-person team who met through their love of video journalism. Expats Jonathan Brennan (Irish), Zoe Catsaras (English/Greek), Olivier Dodier and Aude Esperandieu (both French) came up with the idea of producing short films in which expats meet Brussels locals.

Each of the films is introduced by the four of them in Dutch and English and has some catchy music running in the background, which was composed and performed by Jonathan Brennan. The productions themselves are in a mix of lan-guages, but mainly in English as that was often the common language between the expat and the Brussels local.

The BreXpat funding was used to pay for things such as the rental of equipment (camera, micro-phones, tripods) and editing facilities at De Wereld Morgen [The World Tomorrow, formerly known as ‘Indymedia’], subtitling for TV Brussel (which agreed to broadcast the productions), organising a public screening in December 2010.

In one of the films, a British assistant to a Member of the European Parliament, Anna Kelway, meets Jelle Desmet, a founding member of the 123 Squat in Brussels. The pair take time out to explore and learn about two rather different environments - parliament and squat – together (see video here: http://www.vimeo.com/7706430).

The MEP’s assistant met her Belgian boyfriend through a variation of rugby cal-led ‘touch rugby’, which she describes as “rugby without contact, without the scary stuff”. She says that the locals she knows are mainly her boy-friend’s friends. Asked about Belgian politics, she said that when she is out with them the conversation inva-riably turns to that subject towards the end of the evening. She tends to keep out of it because it is such a sensitive issue and because she deals with politics all day long for her job. The squatter comes to visit the European Parliament while she goes to visit his squat. Interestingly, the squat and the European Parliament have things in common, such as that both have a crèche and both take decisions by a democratic vote!

In another film, Sheindy Edelkopf, librarian at the European Jewish Library in Brussels meets Rachida Aziz, a fashion designer. Rachida, who is Muslim, visits the Synagogue and later welco-mes Sheindy to her recently opened boutique. The pair talk about their faiths and what it takes to be a modern woman (see video here: http://www.vimeo.com/8239413).

The Zinneke ParadeThe Bureau de Liaison Bruxelles – Europe created the ‘Zinnexpa-trade’ project to encourage expats to take part in Brussels’ tra-ditional Zinneke parade, which has taken place in Brussels every two years since 2000. Each year, there is a different theme. In 2010, the theme was ‘folklore’. People orga-nise themselves into ‘zinnodes’ and work on choreography and costumes. ‘Zinnexpatrade’ was for a zinnode in Etterbeek. The organisers of this project estimate that around ten or so out of the 70 or 80 in the Etterbeek ‘zinnode’ were expats. The BreXpat funding was used to set up the workshops, mainly to pay for artistic coor-dinators to supervise work on choreography, dance routines, making musical instruments, costumes and make-up.

Public speaking and leadership skillsSwitching to more of a language theme, Irishman Denis Buckley is behind an idea to create new bilin-gual clubs bringing together expats and locals. The BreXpat project was called the ‘Toastmaster Bilin-gual Club Development Plan’. The clubs are designed to help people improve their public speaking and communication skills but also, in the words of Mr Buckley, “to help people to think on their feet, to manage meetings, to delegate, to plan meetings as well as subjects such as time management and motivation”. “People are also helped to develop their skills at speaking for television or for radio,” he added.

There are lots of bilingual groups already (e.g. the ‘Berlaymont’ (French-English), ‘Gdansk’ (Polish-English) and ‘Armada’ (Spanish-English)) but the aim is to set up even more. For the moment, the plan is to create an Anglo-Dutch group, called ‘Atomium’, but Dutch speakers are proving hard to come by. The meetings also help speakers of different languages improve their language skills, develop contacts and find jobs. An idea for the future is to set up a Charlemagne group, which will be trilingual (English-French-German) to reflect the Commission’s three working langua-ges. Here, Denis Buckley will be talking to Com-mission officials about the options.

The Belgian bilingual clubs are part of Toastmasters International, a non-profit educational organisation that was set up in 1924 and has nearly 250,000 members in 12,500 clubs in 106 countries.

Most Toastmasters meetings are attended by about 20 people for an hour or two. Participants practise and learn skills by fil-ling a meeting role, ranging from giving a prepared speech or an impromptu one to serving as timer, evaluator or a grammar specialist. There is no instructor. Instead, each speech and meeting is evaluated by a member in a positive manner, focusing on what was done right and what could be improved.

For more info, see: www.toastmasters.org

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9Focus 9

Other BreXpat projects included:Tree plantingThe organisation Sun-beams held a tree plan-ting event last spring (14 March) bringing

families and individuals, 12 international schools, 15 organisations, embas-sies and companies, people of all nationalities (Bel-gians and expats) together in a meadow to plant a forest in Neerlinter, east of Tienen.

“Our aim with Sunbeams is to show that every single individual, regardless of age, can make a real diffe-rence. Whether it is plan-ting a tree or taking small steps in daily life, we can all make this planet a better place,” wrote Ilke Pedersen-Beyst, the founder and president of Sunbeams, in a brochure about the day.

‘Carrotmobbing’‘Carrotmobing’ is a form of consumer activism where a community buys a lot of goods from one company in a small time period to reward a business’s commitment to making a socially responsible change (such as energy efficient upgrades) to their operations. The name is derived from the expression ‘carrot and stick’, which is a policy offering a combination of rewards (carrots) and punishment (sticks) to encourage a certain kind of behavior. Car-rotmobs are often explained as a reverse boycott and are thus known as ‘buycotts’! The movement began in 2008 in the US. A project called ‘Carrotmob Brussel’ was given BreXpat funding in 2009. The project was about encouraging locals and expats to do their shopping in a shop at the same time while encouraging the shop to invest in energy savings measures. This year, on 7 February, the organiser, Rob Renaerts, is doing the same kind of thing but with a bar and a restaurant in Place Flagey. He’ll be inviting as many people as possible to a party (look out on the carrobmob Brussel Facebook page or email Rob@roduco.be for more info). In exchange, the bar and restaurant will invest profits they make on the night to buying environmentally-frien-dly products such as energy efficient light bulbs or ovens.

A web initiativeBetagroup, a group of over 2,000 web entrepreneurs, has organised meetings between expats and Brussels locals to discuss experiences, ideas and opportuni-ties around the web. The group was setup in 2008.

Irish sport and cultureBrussels-based football club FC Irlande organised a number of events with the help of funding from the BreXpat project. One of them was a huge outdoor / indoor event to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day (17 March), with music, sport and culture. Everything was done for free. About 3,000 people came along to the Parc Cinquantenaire and many of them carried on celebrating in the 1898 Bar in Place Schuman. Sports included hurling, Gaelic football, soccer as well as a three-legged race and egg and spoon race for children.

The club also organised a big fund-raising event in the aftermath of the earthquake in Haiti in January 2010 and raised some 60,000 euro for Haiti. They produced calendars of FC Irlande footballers (the men and the ladies), held a big tombola with the winners going on a trip to Rome and organised a

karaoke night in which people made bids to go up and sing their favourite song. The karaoke night took place in Devaleras pub, whose staff worked for free that night and who put 100% of their takings from food and drink into a pot for Haiti.

A third event was an international football team, which saw a Turkish team called FC Turkiye run out winners against a team (presumably from northern France – remember the film ‘Bienvenue chez les Ch’tis’!) amusingly called ‘Chti United’ in the final. There was also a ladies exhi-bition game.

Multilingual theatre productionChâteau - Vár - Castle theatre productions put on two amateur plays in English, French and Hun-garian at Etterbeek’s cultural centre between 17 and 20 November 2010. The BreXpat funding was used for the theatre hire and the renting technical equipment.

The plays were ‘Heads for King Ferdinand’ by Gábor Görgey, an absurd economic comedy tackling cur-rent issues whilst transposing them to the 16th cen-tury, and ‘The Play’s the Thing’, P.G. Wodehouse’s adaptation of the romantic farce by Ferenc Molnár,

called Játék a Kastélyban (The Play in the Castle). The plays were subtitled in English, French and Hun-garian, with the subtitles projected on a screen above the stage.

“The idea was to bring together the three language communities, but also to build a bridge between the EU institutions and the Belgian community,” says Ms Zsuzsanna Dákai, a European Commission official and the president of the asbl www.arcfam.be, which was behind the project. Local Belgians made up about 40% of the cast and 15 different nationalities were involved in the production. “Most of the actors are amateurs, but they have so many years of experience that they perform at professional level,” says Ms Dákai. There were over 15 different nationalities in the audience.

A similar type of production is being planned for the end of 2011.

The purpose of arcFAM asbl, is to organise theatrical performances, concerts, balls, exhibitions, conferences, travel and other cultural events aimed at the English, French and Hungarian spea-king communities in Belgium. arcFAM will be organising a Hungarian Ball on 12 February in the Concert Noble, with three bands/orchestras, two dance performances and Hungarian Hussars receiving guests. There will also be a traditional Hungarian opening dance (Palotás) involving people from ten different nationalities and two fashions shows.

Contact: info@arcfam.be, +32 487 33 57 33

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10 Cultural DiaryReal Estate10

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Relocation – it’s in vogue! Whether it is to do with a job transfer from one country to another deci-ded by the company, or it is as a family, many are the foreigners who settle temporarily in a city. Consider the French who have come to settle in their thousands, mainly in Brussels (Uccle and its 11,000 new citizens are witness to this). The positive effects of the European Community are of this ilk and the recent opening of the old Union to 27 member states has seen a flood of relocation requests.

What are we concerned with if not responding to a request for help from individuals or compa-nies who are alighting in an unknown world - a world that of course is welcoming, as it among us that they are arriving? We take care of everything before the arrival of colleagues or employees, generally managers, for a stay that is brief but which can sometimes last for longer.

For those working professionally in this sector, being efficient is essential. Relocation is a small

world that one could look on as a mini-world of removals agencies, but which could also exist in complete independence from this sector whose net is spread all over the kingdom. Here, it is less the case. The net is cast principally over princi-pal urban areas, such as Brussels of course, but also Antwerp. For Laurent Seghers who works with the agency Home in Brussels, which spe-cialises in short-term relocations (from a for-tnight to two years), “we work in a particular context uniquely to do with rentals that deals with unusual timeframes and that is relatively demanding. Among our contacts we have two or three companies who provide logistics sup-port that allows us to enter into contracts with companies whose executives travel extensively throughout the world. But relocation in the true sense of the word is not our business. That sec-tor is expanding because the people who need it are under increasing time pressure and occupied with various tasks, and they prefer that formula to a long, hazardous voyage of discovery littered

with legal and administrative pitfalls.” At Art of Living, whose headquarters is in La Hulpe, the exact “core business” is dealing with relocation.

Marc van Zuylen is one of the two directors of this company, along with Bernard de Gruben. It will soon be 10 years that they have been operating in this sector. The arrival of Liège-born Marc van Zuylen in this world of service happened almost by chance, and it is because he enjoyed it that he decided in 2001 to make it his profession. “At that time I was employed by UCB and the com-pany had sent me and my family to Argentina.

The secondment lasted four years, after which we came back to Brussels. UCB allowed us to take advantage of these types of services on our return and something clicked in my mind. An opportunity presented itself at that moment and my partner Bernard de Gruben and I bought out one of the premier reloca-tion agencies in Belgium that had been foun-ded in 1991. Today we employ more than 10

The furniture offered for short-term rentals is of all types. It can also be used for a one-family house.

Relocations? Tailor-made!g To provide a service to clients from far away, to take care of all aspects of settling them in – that’s the goal of relocation experts. There are not many of them.

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11Real Estate 11

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people, which shows the potential that is still to be found in this sector.”

As is often the case with this range of services to be rendered to different clients, efficiency comes with time. One has to build up networks, become familiar with various government sys-tems, mark out everything that can help forei-gners to settle in a country smoothly, given them some good addresses, which can be anything from a school to a concert hall, from museums to restaurants, even books that provide solutions for expats along the lines of “Expats in Brussels”, published until recently by Clare de Crayencour and to which Art of Living made a big contribu-tion. “After 10 years of work and 20 years of the name existing,” says Marc van Zuylen, “it is clear that word of mouth is working and that conti-nuity in the world of “services” is a considerable advantage with respect to the trust of current and potential clients. Today we must be in the top three in the profession in Belgium, but the overseas market, via our network of partners, is taking on an increasing importance in our daily work. For us as for others, the internet has allowed us to develop greatly.

Senior and middle management are our nor-mal clients in the corporate sector. Their short secondments limit our searches. For them, their arrival in Brussels for example must allow them to go to work the day after their arrival. This is not the case with the families who come to settle for long periods, whether they are dependent on a European government or wish to leave their country of origin for reasons we can only ima-gine. For the former, we first have to find accom-modation. We plan approximately two days of

apartment or house viewings according to their budget (this item is relative in the discussions with our clients). In reality, we try to make the work easy by selecting properties that match the requested criteria and with the majority of estate agents in the market. Once the choice has been made, the clients go back to their country

of origin and we take care of all tasks such as the reviewing and signing of the rental agreement, the inspection of the property at the time of moving in, the subscriptions to services (water, gas, electricity, TV and internet), registration with the communes, work permits or importing a car. If necessary, we can take care of school registra-tion. Once everything is settled, we contact the clients and then the removals company, and we take care of the final details with the transport companies. Having said that, we sometimes have families who arrive with nothing. Do they need a furnished place? No problem, as there are com-panies (such as In-Lease) who rent out furniture according to the origins and tastes of our clients. Everything is possible.” Comfort and a seamless settling-in procedure are thus the goals of com-panies such as Art of Living or Map Relocations, or even companies such as Ziegler that only deals with removals, or also Nova, LTA, Crown or Brus-sels Relocation, to name a few.

All are members of the association Eura-relo-cation. They come to help individuals or family units so that their first few days in Belgium are the most pleasant. It is equally necessary that the employees who are in the process of moving are immediately at work in the case of a profes-sional “relocation”. This may seem like a luxury, but this can mean benefitting from a driver, a subscription to a taxi company or for large com-panies, transporting their bosses in private or rented planes if they so wish

Philippe Farcy

U All useful addresses can be found at www.eura-relocation.com or www.abra-relocation.com.

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12 Cultural DiaryReal Estate12

Macnash, best of Real Estate in Belgium!

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Macnash :13 agencies

at your service

BrusselsTribune(50x89mm) 17/01/11 16:21 Page 1

GRATUIT ET SANS ENGAGEMENTAppelez Latour & Petit au 02 777 19 19

pour une évaluation de votre bien.

“Notre maison s’est vendue rapidement et au meilleur prix grâce au professionnalisme de l’équipe de Latour & Petit”

Mr & Mme Leclère Woluwe St Lambert.

Av. Paul Hymans, 83 1200 Bruxelles 02 777 19 19 www.latouretpetit.be

The greater and lesser officers of multinationals and even certain high-ranking military people working for NATO or SHAPE are among the more usual clients of the In-Lease company, which has built up an impressive European network over more than 20 years. At the Belgian head-quarters in Ranst near Antwerp, they think of Philips, Dow Corning, UCB, Toyota, Volvo and even petroleum companies when considering these large groups that have global connections and whose executives travel the world like com-muters taking the train, even if a large chunk of these seasoned travellers settle in a geographic area for a fixed amount of time.

Generally, this can be from one month to five years. In that way it is often the whole family who moves for a long period from that time. This is what Kevin de Rop, Managing Director of the In-Lease group in Belgium, tells us. “Our role is to allow those arriving to integrate as quickly as possible into the economic fabric of the country welco-ming them. If one is used to American habits, there is leap of faith to be under-taken and comple-ted. The clients on our books choose the décor they are to be living in themsel-ves or through their companies. There

are three main lines, modern and consisting of hyper-resistant furniture, capable of withstan-ding removals and being taken apart and reas-sembled with a regularity which a certain Swe-dish company would envy us.

The ways we offer our clients to settle them in range from kitchen furniture with all applian-ces, and end in the laundry room with the airer. Our clients prefer that than having an apartment furnished with Grandma’s bed, uncle’s console table and a washing machine that dates from the time of Methuselah. We therefore offer a service, furniture, peace of mind, and all ready to use…, sideboards and wardrobes, bathroom linen, as even the towels can be rented.”

And if someone more demanding asks to live with more sophisticated furniture, what hap-pens then? The person looking after us on the telephone replies: “everything is possible. We have contacts in different areas who can supply

us with different furniture, sometimes antique. We can buy antiques and supply them like we would a rental car. Budgets are generally around €300 to €500 per month for a fully-furnished apartment. The clients of In-Lease generally come from America and from the Far East (China, Japan and Indonesia). But they also come from South America and sometimes from the Pacific. There are almost no Europeans in this group, as for them, the solution clearly includes a truck.

They relocate with their own furniture. “But for those coming from further afield, our formula is the best one,” emphasises Kevin De Rop, “as they don’t have to wait 4 to 12 weeks for their contai-ner to arrive.” To meet the sometimes urgent requests, the relocation company has a ware-house of 4,500 m² at Antwerp. And the most widely-served geographical areas are mainly Brussels and Mons. These will be followed by Ghent and Bruges. “Antwerp is an area that this sector does not have much to do with,” explains Kevin de Rop, “and that on average only signs five contracts per year out of more than 600, 250 of which are in Belgium.”.

Ph. Fy.

Furniture must be rented for a minimum of one month, from the vacuum cleaner through to the bed and bath towels.

All furniture is rented on a short-term basis, including the microwaveg Along with a short-term property rental, you can also rent the décor.

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Beautiful like a chefg This week, a column in the form of a homage to Richard Bohringer. It’s great to have a grocer who cooks like a chef (croak!). The proof is François Gillard.

OK, it’s not every day that we make tack at la Hulpe for the simple pleasure of having lunch. Nevertheless, the place whose description follows is well worth the trouble. Write it in bold in your dairies in case your footsteps ever lead you there. The surprise is just as exciting as it is well-hid-den. OK, we are on a central thoroughfare – the Avenue des Combattants – but who would have thought of pushing open the door of a grocer’s to eat, if they hadn’t known? The most banal store-front displays fruit and vegetable in season. The name? “L’Epicerie Gourmande” (“The Gourmet Grocer”). And yet. And yet, amongst the bottles of wine and potted meats there hides a revelation, that of François Gillard, a man mad keen on food and who works wonders with cuisine. The man is a slave to the stove. He gets his buzz from training with the great chefs, to whom he then generously offers his assistance. He has already been through Hardiquest, Résimont and even, in France, Michel Bras, to name but a few.

Getting down to the business of eating

We sit at a little table, charmed by the delightful, homely feel of the place. We don’t take long to understand how François Gillard has totally fallen for Italian cuisine, which he has mastered nicely. Before we have even ordered, a glass of white Sici-lian wine stands in front of us - on the house (see-mingly a tradition) – along with crostini straight from his imagination, this time Scarmozza truffle. Every day, the chef-grocer offers a pasta dish (14 euro). Being in a hurry, we signed the bill but not without a twinge of sorrow in so far as a 36-euro “set” menu – a sort of Italian carte blanche that could be translated as “do what you like” – was calling to us from the blackboard. No matter, for the pasta that combines capers, taggiasca olives,

anchovies, tomatoes, raw shallots and espelette peppers with complete precision certainly did not disappoint. Quite literally nothing but Italian happiness. On the wine side, we erred on the side of caution by sticking to the house wine, but the real way to go is to choose from the list and pay a corkage charge of 10 euro. Conclusive proof that you don’t need much to be happy.

Michalon

****

UL’Epicerie Gourmande, Rue des Combattants, 18, 1310 La Hulpe. Open from 12p.m. to 2p.m.; closed Saturday and Sunday. Tel. 02 652 27 25.

Cheap wine deal of the weekCôtes du Rhône Villages Seguret 2008, Cuvée Le Beau Nez, Domaine Jean David

The composition? 67% Grenache, 12% Mourvèdre, 10% Carignan, 4% Syrah, 4% Cin-sault and 3 % Counoise. The bouquet? Spices and intense red fruits. The finish? A silky and powerful wine that doesn’t lack zing. What should you drink it with? Cold meats as an appetiser or even better, on its own. Who should you drink it with? Friends, without hesitation. Why should we drink it? Not to think about the grind of tomor-row and to avoid the usual plonk.

U 14.90 euro, Winery, 16 Place Brugmann, Tel. 02 345 47 17.

A royal vodka A vodka newly introduced onto the market, Black Queen stands out. Your eyes are transfixed by its dark colour. We are dealing with a first: a naturally dark vodka. Its creators have banked on unique know-how. To achieve this, a special pro-duction unit was devised within a renowned distillery. This one-off arrangement produces a palate of surprising fullness. With its raw materials rigorously selected, the contours of the black pearl are literally polished.

U www.vodka-bq.com. Around 100 euro per bottle.

Food tooWe know that Carl de Moncharline of the restau-rant The Wood is never short of ideas. His latest project? In partnership with Gossipzone, he is proposing that we celebrate the sales by offering a reduction on all 3-course meals (starter, main course, dessert), chosen à la carte. The deal? Ins-tead of paying €56, you only pay €28 – a reduc-tion of 50%. This good deal is valid until 3rd March 2011. It’s the perfect opportunity to discover this address hidden in the Bois de la Cambre.

U Wood, Avenue de Flore, 3-4, 1000 Brussels. Open from Monday to Saturday from 12p.m. to 2.30p.m. and from 7p.m. to 11p.m. Tel. 02 640 19 68. www.thewood.be

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So fresh !g Subtitled Contemporary Japanese Food, Kabu is proof that having fun in a restaurant is not forbidden. Deliciously iconoclastic.

This is a moment when “Nippon” rhymes with “carton”. Apart from the smattering of Sushi res-taurants, Brussels no longer has eateries dedica-ted to Japanese cuisine along its main thorough-fares. Unfortunately for the amateur of the genre, things are often necessarily put together with much opportunism and little know-how. Good news: for just under a year, new addresses have been springing up that aim to get the genre out of its rut. Its rut? Yes, needless to say the cocktail of raw fish and cold rice has had its day. As a result, the public is rightly becoming passionate about the ideas that are being unveiled in a new area of dining. Hot on the heels of this movement, Kabu has just opened in the Rue du Pépin. We owe this new eatery to the team at Resto.bar, a fact that becomes quickly evident, for just as with the aforementioned establishment that offers food in wecks and other glass jars, Kabu has fun with containers. Here, the nod to Japan is obligatory: it’s the bento, the Japanese lunchbox that serves as the container for all prepared food. Purists will doubtless take no interest in this gimmick. We found it funny and just fine.

Cool, cool

At the forefront of Kabu is the very pretty décor – that of a chic urban canteen that really comes into its own in the evening. The mellow atmos-phere nurtures a feeling of intimacy between dark walls and the amusing floor covering of artificial grass. Written like that, you might take fright, but don’t worry: you get used to the place very quickly, particularly in the second room, where a high table sets a New York scene under the indifferent gaze of bottles neatly arranged in a rack. The table itself is a relatively succes-sful composition – a zen haiku enhanced by a table mat. After the immediacy of the décor, we are impressed by the service, as friendly as it is relaxed. As for the menu, this is presented as a

sort of colour chart offering 3 categories of dishes (small dishes, sushi-sashimi-carpaccio and fire-place). For €24 you can choose from all three. As an example: a salad of squid with vegetables and ginger, a carpaccio of bass jellied with tobiko and black cod, an Alaskan fish with tender flesh (a speciality of the region). All of it was fantastic, fun and presented in 3 bentos. Just as amusing and quirky is the dessert, a Japanese version of the Dame Blanche made of chocolate mochi and vanilla – a preparation made from sticky rice. A real treat. The conclusion? We will very quickly come back to sample the cuisine of Takao, the Japanese chef living in Brussels who has comple-tely understood the Belgian palate without once taking himself seriously.

Michalon

****

UKabu, Rue du Pépin, 48, 1000 Brusselss. Open from 12p.m. to 2.30p.m. and from 7p.m. to 10.30p.m.; closed Saturday lunchtimes, Sunday and Monday. Tel. 02 514 28 00.

Retrouvez les bons plans restos de Michalon dans La Tribune de Bruxelles et sur www.tribunedebruxelles.be

Recipes

Around the ComtéA noble cheese that comes in different varieties, Comté is a good base for a number of recipes. To persuade us of its worth, the famous French cheese is offe-ring a free recipe book full of nice surpri-ses. Conceived by a group of imaginative Belgian chefs, the recipes in this gour-met booklet are guaranteed to be 100% reproducible. From sweet to savoury, from starter to dessert, Comté can be used in all kinds of ways. To get hold of it, go to any one of the 400 cheese shops participating in this offer.

U A list of participating cheese shops can be found at www.comte.be

To drink

Martini BrutMartini is not done with extending its range of drinks. After the Martini Fiero that sets your clothes alight – if the adverts are to be believed – it is the turn of Martini Brut to take centre stage. This time we have a sparkling variety – Italian of course – that brings out gentle notes of white flowers. In the mouth, it sparkles delicately but skittishly. No doubt, it is this spiritedness that has prompted the brand to pitch this product at the party market. No Martini, no party… as the saying goes.

U Martini Brut, €7.49. In supermarkets.

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Plan anti grise mineg Une journée shopping à Bruxelles, ça se passe bien souvent sur fond de ciel gris. Qu’importe, la plus belle façon de ne pas faire la grise mine est de s’emparer de ce ton qui oscille entre noir et blanc. Alors, focus sur le gris, et on n’oublie pas la pointe de couleur dans les accessoires, histoire de donner un peu de glamour et de fantaisie à nos tenues. Par Valérie Pétillon

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01 Foulard imprimé fleuri. Patrizia Pepe. Prix sur demande. Infos : www.patriziapepe.com

02 Sac en cuir blanc. Gérard Darel. 255€. Infos : 02 538 02 84

03 Robe aux formes géométriques. COS. 79€. Infos : 02 503 53 68

04Chapeau. Rue Blanche. 85€. Infos : 02 481 50 81

05 Robe impressions graphiques. Caroline Biss. 220€. Infos : www.carolinebiss.com

06 Collier. Les Précieuses. 245€. Infos : 02 343 10 85

07Veste en lin. COS. Prix non communiqué. Infos : 02 503 53 68

08Combinaison bustier. Essentiel. Prix sur demande. Infos : 02 513 18 91

09 Lunettes de soleil. Miu Miu. 144€. Infos : www.miumiu.com

10 Intropia Pull. Hoss Intropia. 169€. Infos : 03 289 95 75

11Escarpins. Hoss Intropia. 234€. Infos : 03 289 95 75

12 Jupe géométrique. Hoss Intropia. 179€. Infos : 03 289 95 75

13 Sac en cuir Laguna. Nathan Baume. 330€. Infos : www.nathan-baume.be

14Robe bicolor. Pinko. 210€. Infos : www.pinko.it

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Au Bon ReposHome Furnishings department store. Family company, created in 1898, managed since its creation by the Dekock family, still fully invol-ved / 12.000 m2 de décoration, d’ameublement, de linge de maison. Entreprise familiale, créée en 1898, dirigée depuis sa création par la famille Dekock, encore impliquée totalement.

U Place de la Chapelle, 10 – 1000 BruxellesT 02 511 43 98 – F 511 36 36)

Bodart OpticiensOpticians in Brussels for the past 50 years, the most important selection of glasses, lenses, contact lenses, binoculars, magnifying glasses, material for defective sight in a splendid shop of 850 sqm. The family is still involved. / Opticien à Bruxelles depuis 50 ans, le choix le plus impor-tant de lunettes, verres, montures, lentilles, jumelles, loupes, matériel pour basse vision sur une magnifique surface de 850 m• . La famille est toujours impliquée..

U Rue Royale, 33 – 1000 BruxellesT 02 219 30 60 - www.bodartopticiens.beinfo@bodartopticiens.be

Biscuiterie DandoyMaintained for almost two centuries a unique “savoir-faire” in the making of many traditio-nal Belgian and Brussels’ specialities / Perpétue depuis bientôt deux siècles un savoir-faire arti-sanal unique dans la fabrication de spécialités traditionnelles belges et bruxelloises.

U Rue au Beurre, 31 – 1000 BruxellesRue Charles Buls, 14 – 1000 BruxellesPlace St Job, 22 – 1180 BruxellesRue de l’Eglise – 1150 Bruxelles

DegandTailor and shirtmaker.. Pierre Degand, with professionalism and passion, is attentive to the needs of his customers. / Tailleur chemisier. Attentif à ses clients, Pierre Degand l’ est avec passion et professionnalisme.

U Avenue Louise, 415 – 1050 BruxellesT 02 649 00 73 – 02 649 23 20www.degand.bedegand@degand.be

Teinturerie De GeestExperts in dry cleaning since 1846. Not only clothes but also curtains, carpets, chairs... / Pro-fessionnel de la teinturerie et du nettoyage à sec depuis 1846. Les vêtements mais aussi, les tentu-res, tapis, fauteuils ...

U Rue de l’Hopital, 37 – 1000 BruxellesT 02 512 59 78

Maroquinerie DelvauxLeather of only one quality, the best, and a true passion for expert craftsmanship since 1829. Since 1933 the family Schwennig have been fully involved. / Des cuirs d’une seule qualité, la meilleure, et une véritable passion pour l’ex-pertise artisanale depuis 1829. Depuis 1933 la famille Schwennig a pris la succession de la famille Delvaux.

Les bonnes maisons bruxelloisesg We do the rounds of some of the Old Established Houses of Brussels. Some of them have been in existence for more than 100 years. And still today, they are still in the hands of the same family who are still very much involved! Their reputation is often established beyond Belgium’s borders. / Nous faisons un tour des “Maisons” bruxelloises. Certaines d’entre elles existent depuis plus de 100 ans. Et encore aujourd’hui, elles sont souvent encore dans les mains de la famille fondatrice encore très impliquée ! Leur renommée dépasse souvent les frontières belges.

For more Brussels suggestions and tips join us on www.facebook.com/expatsinbrussels or visit www.expatsinbrussels.be / Pour plus de trucs et astuces rejoignez-nous sur Facebook via

www.facebook.com/expatsinbrussels ou visiter le site www.expatsinbrussels.be

Dandoy

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19Expats in Brussels

Don’t miss the charming book « Souvenirs de Bruxelles” / Ne manquez pas le charmant livre “Souvenirs de Bruxelles”

Fotos/photos from/de Valérie Weill and Philippe Chancel.

Text/texte by/de Patrick Roegiers

Margaux Publishing/Editions

U Boulevard de Waterloo, 27 – 1000 BruxellesT 02 513 05 02 - www.delvaux.com delvaux.brussels@delvaux.com DemeuldreTableware, crystal, porcelain, silver and gold work and repair shop since 1830, wedding list./ L’art de la table , cristal, porcelaine, orfèvrerie et atelier de restauration depuis 1830, liste de mariage.

U Chaussée de Wavre, 141- 143 – 1050 BruxellesT 02 511 93 73 - www.demeuldre.com demeuldre@demeuldre.com

Bougies GommersHandcrafted candles since 1863 / Bougies artisa-nales depuis 1863.

U Chaussée de Waterloo, 994 – 1180 BruxellesT 02 375 34 38 - Bougies.gommers@skynet.be

Maison HayoitHousehold - table -and bathroom linen since 1898. / Linge de maison depuis 1898

U Chaussée de Louvain, 56 - 1210 Saint-Josse-Ten-NoodeRue Ravenstein, 30 – 1000 BruxellesChaussée d’Alsemberg, 726 – 1180 BruxellesRue de l’Eglise, 113 – 1150 BruxellesChaussée de Bruxelles, 137 – 1410 Waterloo www.hayoit.com - info@hayoit.com

Droguerie Le LionHardware trade since 1875, more than 4000 articles. Also products for restoration. Don’t miss this place! / Droguiste depuis 1875, plus de 4000 articles. Produits de restauration. Ne manquez pas cet endroit !

U Rue de Laeken, 55 – 1000 BruxellesT 02 217 42 02www.le-lion.be

Bijouterie LeysenThe Leysen family - jewellery designers since 1855. Prestigious creations. / Depuis 1855, les Joailliers Leysen sont des metteurs en scène de pierres et de matières sélectionnées pour des créations prestigieuses

U Place du Grand Sablon, 14 – 1000 BruxellesT 02 513 62 60

Manufacture Belge de DentellesReal handmade Belgian lace manufacturer. The art of lacemaking since 1810. Located in Galerie de La Reine since 1847, Irène Mallit, who was an

employee for several years, took charge of the business and created the “Manufacture belge de dentelles”. The family is still involved / L’art de la dentelle depuis 1810. Dans les galeries de La Reine déjà en 1847, Irène Mallit, employee depuis quelques années a repirs l’entreprise et créé la “Manufacture belge de dentelles”. Sa famille y travaille toujours.

U Galerie de la Reine, 6-8 - 1000 BruxellesT 02 511 44 77 - F 02 513 09 17www.mbd.be - info@mbd.be

La Papeterie AnglaiseStationery, printing since 1877 / Fournitures de bureau, papeterie depuis 1877.

U Avenue Louise, 92 A - 1050 Bruxelles T 02 512 18 71 – F 02 512 88 41 www.papeterieanglaise.com info@papeterieanglaise.com

Patisserie WittamerThe House of Wittamer was established in 1910 by Henri Wittamer, on Place du Sablon. Wittamer’s Master Pâtissiers are re-inventing the secrets of a successful blend between fame, innovation and craftsmanship / La Maison Wit-tamer fut crée en 1910 Place du Grand Sablon. Les maîtres pâtissiers réinventent les secrets d’un mariage réussi entre notoriété, innovation et artisanat..

U Place du Grand Sablon, 6 – 1000 BruxellesT 02 512 37 42 - www.wittamer.com cafe@wittamer.com

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Chaussée de Louvain Leuvensesteenweg 369 - 383 Bruxelles 1030 Brussel Tel.: 02/743 81 81 Fax: 02/736 27 09volvo@garage-louis.be www.garage-louis.be

LOUIS BRUSSELS

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Give priority to the security. Environmental classification AR 19/03/2004: www.volvocars.be2/KM

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Louis Brussels means “value for money” the price of the product that customer bought is worth of it.The result, the price paid was fair and their need and expectations has been meet.

LOUIS BRUSSELS

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