Whether he is busy shaping Bellerose’s story on a daily basis or getting some rest over the weekend, Patrick enjoys being surrounded by his family. As the artistic director of Bellerose, he works alongside his son Derek, the brand’s menswear stylist, and his partner Laetitia, Bellerose’s womenswear stylist. During weekends, they like getting together in this house, located at the border between Belgium and the Netherlands, just a dozen kilometres away from Knokke. Patrick made the deliberate choice not to live in this renowned Belgian seaside resort as he feels it has become a little too bling for him. Instead, he decided to choose Holland and the charm of a former farm which is lost amidst the countryside: “We chose this location for its views, its light and how close it is to the sea.”
“We demolished the existing farmer’s house to start off anew and build our very own project, which came to life thanks to a Rotterdam-based architect who happens to be as crazy as we are called Maartje Lammers. She based her work on a plan that Laetitia and I had suggested.” The result is a house with American accents, just like Bellerose, and based off of three materials: (omnipresent) wood, glass and stone: “Our house is a wood skeleton construction which rests upon concrete cones. Seven types of wood were used for its design and different kinds used for its beams, floors, ceilings, walls etc.”
The house hinges on a central thick schist stone wall which runs both inside and outside, left to where our kitchen, living room, dining room and library are located. Everything is surrounded by large picture windows which provide a gorgeous view over the surrounding nature. The incredible bespoke wooden floor also runs both inside and outside: “This floor is the same as the one we used for the Bellerose shop located Rue Jacob in Paris. I tried it out there, and since we had conclusive results, we adapted it here. It is made of over 2,000 laths of Jatoba wood, each of them having been laser-cut and numbered. After that, we just had to assemble them.”
Patrick sees the house as a place for living and as a place that ressembles him: “We designed this place in a very personal style which also happens to be close to Bellerose’s DNA. We decorated it just like we like designing our collections, which means following our own style. I like being surrounded by things I instantly fall in love with, and it doesn’t matter whether they are renowned or not”. Most of the furniture was sourced from flea markets by Derek, who is a fan of Scandinavian, Italian and Brazilian designers. He and Patrick probably like these styles for their minimalist design and unusual shapes which combine the ideas of starkness and sensuality and give them a powerful elegance. Here, Patrick and Laetitia have opted for comfort, aesthetics, light, and views over their surroundings. They love having friends over for dinner and threw a big party last summer to celebrate three birthdays: Patrick turning 60, Derek turning 30 and his brother Jack, 18. A perfect occasion to bring together three generations and to confirm that the story of Bellerose definitely gets written as a family.
