André Verroken

"André Verroken is a Flemish furniture artist, for whom the social and aesthetic aspect of a piece of furniture has just as much value as its usefulness. Verroken has gradually developed its own style and enriched the world with furniture that also has a cultural load, which are sober and radiate warmth, which are at the same time a piece of furniture and a work of art, and which carry a poetry that you rarely find in other furniture." (Lies Kerkhofs, former director of Landcommanderij Alden Biesen, 2007)

"André Verroken, as the only representative of the 1970s, continues to design stubborn and quirky furniture. Now, almost 30 years later, he is close to the top. He created beautiful furniture, such as the storage box 'Centipede' (1988), the table "Homage to Eduardo Chillida '(1994) and the case' Kontener '(1995) with which he obtained a bronze medal in Japan in 1996. From 1980 to 1995 he continues to work as a pure furniture designer in a constant and inventive way. ” (Sarah De Keuster in her book “André Verroken - Meubels” published in 2000 by Stichting Kunstboek)

Verroken grew up in the Flemish Ardennes in Flanders (Belgium) where he, like his father, was trained as a furniture maker. After marrying Françoise Willecomme and moving to Brussels where he follows an education at Sint-Lucas School of Architecture and becomes an interior architect and furniture designer. In Brussels he became the father of 3 children : Hendrik (1964), Jan (1965) and Inge (1970). In 1967-1968 he teaches Interior Architecture at the Imelda Institute in Brussels. In 1968 he expanded his career as an interior architect from his home and office in Schaerbeek. In 1969 he designs seating furniture for Spectrum in the Netherlands and meets the Dutch designer Martin Visser whom he will call his first great teacher. In the same year he also befriended the constructivist painter Marcel-Henri Verdren. In 1983 he moves to Ghent, with his new partner and manager of a fabric store Arlette Gesquiere, and starts making visual work as a derivative of his furniture designs. In 1983/1984 he became one of the founders and managing director of the Association of Flemish Designers (VVVO). In 1985 he befriends the Basque sculptor Eduardo Chillida to whom he will dedicate a table and furniture design, which in turn will result (in 2007) in a partly posthumous double exhibition Chillida-Verroken. Eventually he moves to Maarkedal where he converts a small warehouse into a design studio and further focuses on designing furniture and visual work. In 2002 he received the Henry van de Velde Prize for Career from the then Flemish Institute for Independent Entrepreneurship (VIZO). In 2016, the municipal council of Maarkedal created a "Special Prize André Verroken" in the context of Z +, a competition for designers, awarded once in 2017.

André Verroken (Oudenaarde 21 May 1939 – Ronse 5 April 2020) was a Flemish and Belgian furniture designer and interior architect.