From waffles to Walter Van Beirendonck, Belgium has made some massive cultural contributions (especially considering its size). This year, during OC's year of Belgium, we invite Tom Tack and Stijn Verlinden of the blog I Love Belgium to introduce us to their country's most attention-worthy faces and places.
We’re Tom and Stijn (pronounced /stɛin/) and we started I Love Belgium because we wanted to give our quirky little country a creative voice. Our educations led us to Italy, Estonia, the UK, the Netherlands, the USA, and beyond. Everywhere we went, we noticed that Belgium was largely unknown and sometimes even unloved. The clichés that came up were, of course, beer and waffles, and the adjective "boring" was used more than once.
We wanted to break this circle of clichés and establish Belgium as a creative force to be reckoned with. Belgians are very modest (now that’s a cliché that is true). We’re not boastful like our French neighbors—La France c’est magnifique!—or as loud as our Dutch friends—Hup Holland hup! We’re quiet. That's what makes us charming, but it’s also not helping our country's marketing. So we started writing.
Three years and 629 articles ago we never would have imagined that a blog about one little country could have such an impact. But today we get mail from all over the world, from non-Belgians who love Belgium, Belgians living abroad, and from Belgian creatives writing to thank us. Artists we've written about have been contacted by international galleries, a photographer's work ended up in the permanent collection at MOMA, and a jewelry designer received e-mails from buyers all over the world.
When we heard the news about Opening Ceremony's year of Belgium we were super excited. Finally, somebody else who puts Belgium in the spotlight! So you can imagine we were two happy campers when OC reached out to us to blog together with them. Throughout the year, follow the OC blog for designer interviews, behind-the-scenes visits, and everything you always wanted to know about Belgium. And, if you can’t wait, you can always have a browse through the I Love Belgium archives.
![]()
Photo by James Parker
We’re Tom and Stijn (pronounced /stɛin/) and we started I Love Belgium because we wanted to give our quirky little country a creative voice. Our educations led us to Italy, Estonia, the UK, the Netherlands, the USA, and beyond. Everywhere we went, we noticed that Belgium was largely unknown and sometimes even unloved. The clichés that came up were, of course, beer and waffles, and the adjective "boring" was used more than once.
We wanted to break this circle of clichés and establish Belgium as a creative force to be reckoned with. Belgians are very modest (now that’s a cliché that is true). We’re not boastful like our French neighbors—La France c’est magnifique!—or as loud as our Dutch friends—Hup Holland hup! We’re quiet. That's what makes us charming, but it’s also not helping our country's marketing. So we started writing.
Three years and 629 articles ago we never would have imagined that a blog about one little country could have such an impact. But today we get mail from all over the world, from non-Belgians who love Belgium, Belgians living abroad, and from Belgian creatives writing to thank us. Artists we've written about have been contacted by international galleries, a photographer's work ended up in the permanent collection at MOMA, and a jewelry designer received e-mails from buyers all over the world.
When we heard the news about Opening Ceremony's year of Belgium we were super excited. Finally, somebody else who puts Belgium in the spotlight! So you can imagine we were two happy campers when OC reached out to us to blog together with them. Throughout the year, follow the OC blog for designer interviews, behind-the-scenes visits, and everything you always wanted to know about Belgium. And, if you can’t wait, you can always have a browse through the I Love Belgium archives.
Photo by James Parker