Dirk Van Saene
Dirk Van Saene is a fashion designer, artist and instructor at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts, Antwerp. Van Saene began selling his designs in his Antwerp shop, Beauties and Heroes, in 1981. Two years after opening the shop, he won the gold medal at Belgium's prestigious Gouden Spoel contest. Four years later, he presented his collection in London as a member of the "Antwerp Six", along with Walter Van Beirendonck, Dirk Bikkembergs, Ann Demeulemeester, Dries Van Noten and Marina Yee. Van Saene has enjoyed wide recognition, and is cited as a formative inspiration to a generation of younger designers. He maintains a small company and scale of production, distributed through a limited selection of shops worldwide. Van Saene lives and works in Antwerp. In addition to designing collections under his name, he maintains the shop Walter, together with Walter van Beirendonck. As Workshop Residence's first artist in residence, Dirk created seven unique bisque-ware sculptures and a collection of slip cast porcelain inspired by his collection of wooden masks from Mali, and The Flintstones television show.

 

Related: Walter van Beirendonck, Bernard Willhelm