During this workshop, you will get hands-on with a classic platen press from the first half of the 19th century. You will print a domino, an early form of wallpaper, using a wooden block.
After printing, you will finish your print with color, applied using a stencil and brush. For this, you will use an ink prepared according to a historical recipe, based on gum arabic and pigment.
You will learn how printed matter was constructed in the past: applying ink, positioning the paper, setting the print, and finishing. No theory, just doing.
You will work with authentic materials: wooden printing blocks, traditional inks, and Arches paper.
Afterwards, you will take home a unique, handmade sheet.
Everything happens continuously: you can join in, participate, and move on. Short, tangible, and direct.
Atelier V.V. creates hand-printed wallpaper using a technique that had disappeared from Belgium for more than half a century: printing with the slab. Dimitri and Vicky print their patterns block by block, color by color, using large wooden printing blocks and paint they make themselves based on historical recipes.
Where industrial wallpaper is flat and uniform, here a surface emerges with nuance, depth, and small variations — visible and tangible.
In addition to rolls of wallpaper, Atelier V.V. also prints dominoes: early forms of printed paper that served as precursors to wallpaper. These are printed sheet by sheet, just as in the past.
The atelier works on both new interiors and restorations, always with respect for materials, techniques, and history.
Dimitri Vermeylen is the driving force behind Atelier V.V., which he founded together with his wife Vicky Vermeire. After a career of more than twenty years in the business world, he returned to a craft practice, with a strong focus on historical printing techniques.
He immersed himself in the subject through volunteer work at the Industrial Museum in Ghent, among other things, where he worked with typography and lithography. Today, he and Vicky combine that technical craftsmanship with their own research into historical dyeing and printing methods.
Atelier V.V. has grown into one of the few studios worldwide that prints wallpaper in this way again.
During workshops and demonstrations, Dimitri shares his knowledge in a direct manner: not academically, but by doing, with attention to materials and techniques.
Thanks to Erfgoedcel Vlaamse Ardennen (Variant), FILA Benelux for sponsoring the Arches paper, and thanks to Patrick Goossens.
Are you curious about how to safely care for fragile paper objects – such as old letters, photos, or documents? In this accessible workshop, you will be introduced to the basic principles of paper restoration. You will learn how to gently remove dust from paper (dry cleaning) and how to carefully repair small tears without damaging the material.
Through demonstrations and practical exercises, you will discover which materials and techniques restorers use to protect paper heritage. You will get hands-on experience and receive tips that you can also apply at home when preserving personal documents or collectibles.
The workshop is suitable for everyone aged 16 and over; no prior knowledge is required. An interest in heritage, art, or caring for old documents is sufficient!
A paper conservator and restorer ensures that special paper objects are preserved for the future. Think of old books, drawings, prints, maps, photos, and documents. These fragile pieces can be damaged by age, light, moisture, or use.
The conservator first carefully examines the material and the damage. Subsequently, he or she cleans, repairs, and strengthens the paper using special techniques and materials that are safe and reversible.
The work is a combination of science, craftsmanship, and patience. Sometimes tears are repaired almost invisibly or discolorations are reduced, so that an object is stable again and can be better preserved or exhibited. In this way, the paper conservator helps keep valuable stories, artworks, and historical documents accessible to researchers as well as the general public, today and in the future.
Alexander Vander Stichele
After an initial education in psychology and sociology and several years of research experience, Alexander decided to retrain as a paper restorer and conservator. By regularly attending workshops at home and abroad, he continues to deepen his knowledge and stays up to date with the latest developments in paper restoration and conservation.
Alexander is the manager of La Route du Papier, the Belgian specialist shop for supplies related to paper restoration and conservation.
Storm Calle
Storm Calle (b. 1980) is a photographer and heritage worker specializing in historical photography, conservation, and paper restoration. Since 2006, he has been active within the Ghent City Archives, where he documents, digitizes, and conserves photographic collections. His daily interaction with fragile archival material led to intensive training in paper restoration at Syntra Brugge (starting in 2018), allowing him to further deepen his expertise in repairing, stabilizing, and preparing paper heritage for digitization, loan, and exhibitions.
In addition to his restoration work, he has contributed to numerous publications, photo-historical research projects, and exhibitions in collaboration with STAM, KIK, FOMU, and various archival institutions, among others. With his combined expertise in photography, historical processes, and restoration, Storm has established a unique position within the heritage field as a specialist in preserving and making accessible fragile photographic and paper-historical material.
Artists Lindsay van Vliet and Daan Wille have joined forces as Team Blazin. Both have mastered calligraffiti, a fusion of calligraphy and graffiti.
With the renowned graffiti artist Shoe as an inspiration, Lindsay has also become an all-rounder in giving workshops, ranging from Stencil like Banksy, Doodle like Keith Haring, and, of course, calligraffiti. Together with Daan, she also regularly creates murals.
In this workshop, you will watch Blazin at work up close and, with her help, create your own artwork with your name on it.
We first offered this workshop in 2015, in collaboration with the Street Art Museum Amsterdam. Daan also gave workshops during Craft in Focus New York in 2017 and 2019. This year, due to popular demand, it is back in Brussels, with Lindsay!
Ebru is an ancient painting technique that has existed for many centuries. With this technique, we paint on water.
Marbling works with a wet base layer on which the artist applies patterns. These patterns are created by allowing colors to float on the surface of water, after which the colors are transferred onto a sheet of paper (or textile).
This type of ornament has been used throughout the centuries to decorate all kinds of surfaces. It is often used as a support for writing official texts or in calligraphy, for posters, and for endpapers. Each creation has a different pattern, giving the object a unique character.
Participants go home with the marbled paper they made themselves.
Demet Unlu Ancion was born in Ankara in 1971. In 1987, she studied art history and archaeology at the University of Ankara. During her art studies, she participated in drawing workshops. She began practicing Ebru art at the Esengul Inalpulat studio in Ankara.
Everyone has put scissors to a sheet of paper at some point, but in this workshop, you take it a step further. After a brief introduction to paper art, you will learn the basic techniques from an experienced paper cutter. You will then apply these to create your own cutout from silhouette paper. You will learn how to carefully mount it afterwards.
For centuries, thousands of people worldwide have enjoyed paper cutting. It is fun and relaxing, and young and old alike create the most beautiful works of art with it. Paper cutting is essentially drawing with scissors. With your scissors, you liberate your own design, decorations, and letters from the paper. And with so many cutters, there are so many variations.
You will go home with a framed work of art. Go ahead and reserve a spot on the wall at home!
The Dutch Association for Paper Art is the meeting place for amateur paper cutters as well as professional artists. The workshop instructors are members of this association and are specially trained to teach interested individuals the tricks of the trade. Most of them exhibit their work regularly. Paper cutting art has been included in the Inventory of Intangible Cultural Heritage of the Netherlands since 2013.
