Born in Antwerp, Rizon Parein, director of us by night festival, accepted the challenge of changing the format of the classic design conferences for a three-day night festival that was an immediate success. In just four years, it grew to become an international benchmark with live artists, more than 100 participants and 3,000 daily attendees from 53 countries.
This interview is part of "The World Made Local", a global project of Condé Nast Traveler in the seven international editions, which gives voice to 100 people in 100 countries to discover why their own territory should be your next destination.
You are from Antwerp. How would you define it?
You are not always fully aware of what a city means until you go away for a while. Here the quality of life is very high compared to other metropolises. Life is quite cheap and social security is among the best in the world. In addition, it has a rich cultural heritage, one of the largest ports in Europe and yet the city is quite compact. Despite its small scale, it is competitive and dynamic and It is among the most recognized creative destinations in the world of fashion, also for its Academy. It attracts incredible emerging talent from all over the world and this gives it a unique dimension to the creative community: people know each other pretty well, which makes it easy to connect and collaborate, and whether you're an architect, fashion designer, musician, or fine art artist, there's a good chance you'll end up in the same bar, club or restaurant.
If we went to Antwerp for just one night, where would you take us?
We would have a few bites first and a glass of natural wine in Camino, then we would go to Restaurant Veranda , you can not lose this! After dinner we would have a few drinks at showcase and, of course, due to Covid, the club scene is not at its best. The next morning, we would have oatmeal for breakfast at Tinsel. And we would take a tour of it Antwerpen Zuid neighborhood and the old town where most of the shops, bars and restaurants are.
To escape from the city?
For a day trip, I usually go to Brussels or Ghent, both for the food and for the art options they have. For the summer holidays, we go to the beach. And during the winter, The Ardennes is a popular destination. We have a 4 year old son and he loves the sea, so for the next few years the beach will be a regular. It is worth mentioning that the high-speed rail Thalys stops in Antwerp and takes you in a short time to Paris or Amsterdam.
Graphic designer Rizon Parein.
What other Belgian creatives attract you?
I have a weakness for Architecture and the Belgians do it very well. There is a saying that "every Belgian is born with a brick in his stomach. And in the end, we almost need to build a house, at least once in a lifetime. I am a big fan of DVVT, Pierric De Coster, Dries Otten, B-architect, Robbrecht in Daem, AWG, Poot-architectuur, Studio Corkinho, 51N4E, Gert Voorjans, going east, etc. You should also take a look at the maniera gallery in Brussels who works with architects and artists to develop furniture. An incredible collection!
take home...
You have to be attentive to the Antwerp fashion stock sales. Nowhere else can you buy from designers like Dries Van Noten, Ann Demeulemeester, Haider Ackermann, Jan-Jan Van Essche, Raf Simons, Stephan Schneider, etc with these discounts.
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