Design Museum, Ghent

The museum possesses a comprehensive and trend-setting collection of Belgian design, supported by international top-class objects. The collection includes applied arts and design dating from 1450 towards modern and contemporary design from 1860 till now. The objects prior to 1860 provide the historic basis on which modern and contemporary design are engrafted.

This museum prefers to use a broad definition of design, based on a series of criteria that can - to a more or lesser degree - be found in a design product: contemporaneity, innovation, ergonomics, durability and aesthetic relevance. Both serial products and unique objects can comply with these requirements.

Design Museum Gent originates from a private initiative of a group of industrials and art lovers who united themselves in 1903 in the ‘Union des Arts Industriels et Décoratifs’ and created a ‘Musée des Modèles’. Initially, the collection consisted of some hundred fine examples of furniture, complemented by extensive subcollections of ceramics, copper and bronze, furniture fragments and a large textile collection, but it was expanded all over the years and now it counts about 22.000 objects.

Design Museum, Ghent

Jan Breydelstraat 5, 9000 Ghent, Belgium