From Tuesday to Saturday. Closed on Tuesday 01/11.
10:00 — 18:00
MAD Brussels annually awards 10 prizes, each worth 1,000 euros, to graduates of the Brussels creative schools. For the first time, these ten selected students also present their final works during the Graduation Show 2022, an exhibition at MAD. It not only puts the various new talents in the spotlight, but also shows the range of courses that the city of Brussels has to offer. From fashion and interior design to textiles, research and industrial product design.
An exhibition with
Florent Seligmann — Fashion design at La Cambre Florent Seligmann was born in 1996 in Brussels. Florent graduated from ENSAV LaCambre with a master’s degree in Stylism. Through his internships with Eric Bauduin in 2018 and with Natalia Brill in 2019, Florent was able to learn the tricks of the trade. His graduation collection, called Handle with Care, is a revisit of uniforms he grew up with, such as the uniform of a sailor, a biker or a cowboy. The collection is a representation of archetypal silhouettes, but the clothes are reduced to their essential codes. Florent is strongly influenced by the Queer universe or the very idea of stereotypical visuals.
Maxime Trassebot— Industrial Design at La Cambre Maxime Trassebot was born in 1998 in Tremblay-en-France. After studying Object and Space Design at ESAD in Reims, he obtained a master’s degree in Industrial Design at ENSAV LaCambre. Maxime’s graduation project, called Connect, was inspired by traditional Japanese wooden joints that are self-locking, self-supporting and dismountable. Using a machine for laser tube cutting, Maxime designed joints cut directly from metal tubes. He then offers the possibility of creating dismountable, solid and inexpensive metal structures without having to weld. Thanks to a unique industrial process, Maxime offers recyclable furniture packed in flat packs, facilitating the transport and storage of objects.
Helen Decombes — Textile Design at La Cambre Helen Decombes was born in 1993 in Antwerp, Belgium. In 2018, she obtained a master’s degree in Architecture at the KULeuven. Four years later, she graduated from ENSAV LaCambre with a master degree in Textile Design. Although there is a rich history of spatial use of textiles, Helen feels it’s less visible and harder to trace because of its transience and flexible nature. Through her design and research, Helen tries to understand and (re)value today’s possibilities and challenges in tactile materials used in space. She has collaborated on a multitude of public and private projects, XS to XL, for divers architecture offices. Her work was visible in the KUNSTHAL in Gent, at TAZ in Ostend and in the Macro Museum in Rome.
Louise Richard — Textile design at ARBA-ESA Louise Richard was born in 1981 in Paris. After working ten years in Urban Planning in France and Belgium, she started textile design in 2017 at the Académie Royale des Beaux-Arts de Bruxelles. For her graduation project called MultiFelt - Histoire de pulls, Louise works on the revalorization of forgotten wools, such as damaged pullovers and neglected local wool, in the form of a hybrid, multilayered felt. At the beginning of this project, Louise set herself a challenge to create a fabric from reused materials without depending on the industry. In a search for sobriety and respect for the material, she seeks to create textiles and objects that are joyful, playful, to be touched and felt.
Blandine Kosongonda — Fashion design at Ateliers Saint-Luc Bruxelles Blandine Kosongonda was born in 1977 in Bodangabo, Democratic Republic of the Congo. After studying cutting and sewing in Kinshasa, Blandine obtained a bachelor's degree in fashion design at Ateliers Saint-Luc in Brussels. For her graduation collection Heal, Blandine started from unwanted materials with gaping holes which were rescued from the landfill. Blandine feels that just as a wound heals, damaged or punctured clothes and fabrics can be artistically repaired by a skilled hand. Most of the pieces of her collection are modular and adaptable to time, seasons and morphologies, not gender.
Manon Verniers — Interior Design at LUCA School of Arts Manon Verniers was born in 2001 in Deinze, Belgium. After studying at the Ghent Secondary Institute of Word Art Drama, Manon graduated from Luca School of Arts with a bachelor’s degree in interior design. During her studies she combined her passion for theater and design through a two month internship at the decor studio of Toneelhuis Antwerp. Her graduation project Thousand Shades of White aims to get visitors out of their routine behavior by creating an abstracting white reality. The loss of routine creates a confrontation that leads to awareness. This creation of conceptual projects, where she brings people and design together, is the common thread throughout her entire portfolio.
Steven Da Cruz Gonçalves — Interior Design at ESA Saint-Luc Brussels Steven Da Cruz Gonçalves was born in 1996 in Luxembourg. After studying Visual Arts in Luxembourg and General design in Lisbon, Steven obtained his master’s degree in Plastic, Visual and Spatial Arts at ESA Saint-Luc in Brussels. Using the art of faience, Steven tries to convey controversial facts in a poetic way through his modern murals, combining the beautiful and haunting with a more raw and ugly truth. His subjects often revolve around the LGBTQIA+ community, women, immigration, minorities and environmental issues. In his graduation project called Fagot, the phallocentric society is symbolized through an orgy of men; representing powerful men flattering each other and deciding the fate of women and oppressed minorities. Detaching the work from the wall and placing it on the ground symbolizes the fragility of the concept of masculinity.
Mélanie Chillaud — Textile design at Haute Ecole Francisco Ferrer [HEFF] Mélanie Chillaud was born in 1980 in Paris. She graduated from textile design at the Haute Ecole Francisco Ferrer in Brussels. During her studies, she completed internships with Elodie Antoine and Analepse Felt Design. Through her graduation project called Beauty is Everywhere, Mélanie praises what we try to make invisible in our lives: the everyday, the banal, the ugly, the destroyed, the broken, the insignificant, the unspectacular and the boring. She believes that the everyday and the small things can be joyful and above all liberating. To appreciate one's daily life is to free oneself from the social pressure.
Rosamilia Lea — Fashion Design and Model Making at Haute Ecole Francisco Ferrer [HEFF] Lea Rosamilia was born in 2001 in Charleroi. Lea graduated from the Haute Ecole Francisco Ferrer with a master’s degree in fashion design. Her graduation collection, called Not in My Name, addresses the current refugee crisis. Lea was inspired by the many yough people she met over the past four years who were forced to leave their homes, hoping to find a better and safer life. Her collection is meant to convey hope, solidarity, inclusion but also revolt and injustice.
Emilien Maree —Interior Architecture and Design at College of Art and Design Brussels [CAD] Emilien Maree was born in 1995 in Namur. He graduated in architecture and design at the College of Art and Design in Brussels. During his studies, he completed internships at architecture and design studios such as: Ateliers Lionel Jadot, Zazie Maquet, Studio Iceberg, Tallier architecte, Chantiers Navals, Michel Penneman and Studio Aisslinger. For his graduation project, Emilien created a bicycle seat that can easily be detached from the back and be used as a chair. Emilien came with the idea during one of his many bike rides when missing a place to sit to enjoy the superb view. Lacking comfort, he realized that either he had to take a seat, or he had to adapt the existing one. Thus, his Tripod was born.
