Mark Manders x Pieter Mulier | Two Men in Chairs
Nestled in Ronse, a small town in eastern Belgium known for its hilly, picturesque landscape, rich history, and vibrant culture, Mark Manders’s studio is just minutes away from his home. This Sunday, under typical summer skies with scattered clouds and gentle winds, Mark awaits a special visit from his friend Pieter Mulier, the creative director of Maison Alaïa. As summer draws to a close, both Mark and Pieter are wrapping up their work—Mark preparing to leave his studio for a vacation and Pieter finalizing his upcoming collection.
Pieter drives in from Antwerp, where he spends his weekends away from his hectic Parisian workdays. Though he arrives without his loyal dog John John, his signature style is unmistakable: a non-logo white sweatshirt and dark jeans, stylishly cropped above the ankle. Speaking in Dutch, the two friends embark on an almost spontaneous tour of Mark’s spacious studio, a treasure trove of artistic wonders. At the center stand Mark’s iconic face sculptures, the huge space functionally divided into different areas with desks full of sketches, multiple chairs, walls of clipped photos, and rooms filled with tools tailored to the artist’s needs. Despite his typically shy and reserved demeanor, Mark leads Pieter around with confidence and enthusiasm, using expressive body language to explain his books, sculptures, drafts and chairs, and the laughters echoing between the ceiling and the walls, delightfully.
Beyond his role at Alaïa, Pieter is deeply entrenched in the art world as an avid collector. Conversely, Mark is candid about his lack of knowledge in fashion. Their first encounter was at a show in Pieter’s house in Antwerp, followed by a dinner in front of a collection of Peter Paul Rubens paintings—an artist whom Mark jokingly refers to as his “enemy” due to Rubens’ dynamic compositions and vibrant colors, which starkly contrast with Mark’s own artistic style. Yet, as their conversation unfolds, unexpected commonalities emerge, extending beyond their shared obsession with chairs.
Pieter’s journey in fashion began as Raf Simons’ right hand, a 16-year path blending mentorship and friendship. Just as he contemplated a pivot to furniture design, Alaïa’s offer arrived—a house renowned for its timeless elegance and artistic esteem. Taking the helm in February 2021, Pieter embraced the legacy with the same small team and artisans who had been with Azzedine Alaïa since 1981. He values time and timelessness, meticulously crafting each piece to bridge past and future in an enduring, human manner. Although it’s often said that fashion is another form of art, Pieter distinguishes between the two. He deeply respects artists who have the freedom to create without boundaries, whereas fashion inevitably comes with many constraints.
Even so, as Mark walks Pieter through his creative process, he presents a compelling counterpoint with his structured approach: Mark reduces objects to precisely 88% of their original size, “earns” specific colors before using them, and ensures all creations align with the timeless year of 1986—the year he decided to become an artist at 18 years old.
As a Dutch artist happily living in Belgium, Mark has been shaping his unique artistic vision since 1986. Initially aspiring to be a writer, Mark conceptualized the idea of “Self-Portrait as a Building,” starting with an imaginary structure in his writings that gradually incorporated large-scale sculptures and installations. In Mark’s world, where his identity as a fictional artist leads the way instead of the person Mark Manders, a single word can extend into a room, a Greek myth can transform into a fabricated history—nothing is impossible or meant to be fully understood. It’s often unclear whether one is conversing with the fictional artist Mark or the shy person Mark, but does it matter? The certainty lies in his constant exploration of the relationship between humans and objects, reality and illusion. As the chairman of his own creative world, Mark challenges the current status quo with his own magic tricks, like a calm symphony resonating amidst the clamor of the world. And this time, it’s Pieter who’s sitting in another chair, feeling the strings hit his heart.
Read the conversation between Mark Manders and Pieter Mulier in noisé 04 Prism Fall/Winter 24 issue.
Documented by Benedict Brink. Words by Murphy Guo.