In 2007, after nearly 40 years of dispensing his aesthetic views to private clients, Vervoordt decided to share his ideas with a wider public through a trilogy of exhibitions exploring the universality of art. This view is reflected in his love of poor, “ugly” objects, like a shepherd’s rough-hewn table or a raku tea bowl. In fact, he found he had a strong affinity for wabi, the Zen notion that true beauty is imperfect, incomplete and impermanent - in other words, as evanescent as life. Now he recognized the potential for creating analogous conversations with Eastern objects. He had already been playing with aesthetic polarities in his design dialogues between rustic and Baroque furnishings and between ancient statuary and modern paintings. The stillness of the Buddhist art and the serene architectural spaces of the temples resonated deeply with him. I still work in a similar fashion.”ĭuring the early 1970s, Vervoordt began making buying trips to Thailand, Cambodia and Japan. Only after their purchase would I do research on them, buy books and consult experts. “There was no better time for buying antique English and European furniture and domestic art, because England’s inheritance taxes forced so many families to strip their country houses of the troves they had accumulated over centuries.” He acquired objects “that I loved with my heart. “The taste then was classical, so there were many pieces for me, and they later became quite valuable,” Vervoordt says. At 14 he traveled to England for the first time to bid directly on pieces with a loan from his father - who demanded interest! Some of what he bought he resold to his parents’ friends to repay that debt, but he managed to hang on to some marvelous works, such as the portrait of a Hanoverian princess attributed to Gainsborough that hangs above the tub in his master bath.ĭuring this period he developed what would become his trademark practice of purchasing against the prevailing fashion. As a teenager he haunted salesrooms in search of curiosities like treen (small woodenware pieces), turned-ivory objects and memento mori early on, he demonstrated a knack for spotting overlooked gems. One taught him to appreciate the different characteristics of various woods others educated him about antique books and silver - instructing him not only in recognizing the rare and the good but also in distinguishing the fake from the authentic. The young Vervoordt got swept up in all his parents’ activities, even their socializing. Clients may go to him in search of a splendid antique armoire or for help renovating and furnishing an 18th-century villa, but the most valuable service they receive is instruction in his highly evolved yet quite fundamental philosophy of living. To some, expressing the lofty in the material might seem contradictory, but Vervoordt believes that, as in a Zen koan, truth can be contained in paradox and ambiguity. Inquiries into the nature of being and concepts of time and space are what most compel him he conveys his views through his inspired arrangements of objects and interiors. Yet he has little interest in “style,” at least as it is currently defined, because essentially, Vervoordt is a metaphysician. Tall and elegant, with a serene smile, this 62-year-old may be one of the world’s foremost tastemakers. He counts among his clientele royalty, rock stars, financiers, tech tycoons and artists. Axel Vervoordt has earned renown as a collector, antiquaire, interior designer and, most recently, curator.
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