Partnering With Zara Home, Vincent Van Duysen Brings the Past to the Forefront

Van Duysen values authentic connections as much as quality, an aspect of the series that he is overwhelmingly impressed with. There is a significant level of detail rendered in the objects, which embrace earthy materials such as Campaspero limestone and linen, showcase notable joinery skills, and possess “understated, simple, recognizable forms,” as Van Duysen puts it.

In the line are comfy boucle sofas and armchairs imbued with British sensibilities, sleek stools with subtly curved seats, and sculptural side tables fashioned out of heat-treated Thermo ash. Along with leather-adorned oak lounge chairs, stark, low-slung coffee tables, and accent consoles, there are also graphic table lamps, accessories, and hand-knotted rugs that reference Van Duysen’s affinity for the herringbone pattern.

To achieve such a lineup, Van Duysen began by taking stock of his own abodes in Antwerp and Portugal to explore the materials, textures, and hues that define his oeuvre. “I started to pick out some items, revisited them, and made them even purer, stripping off anything excessive,” he says of the process. “There are also my bone colors, my warm browns, my dark greens, and my smoky grays that I took out of the palettes from my homes for the upholstery.”

As each reimagined mock-up was completed, it elicited the “feeling of coming home, which actually is the purpose,” Van Duysen points out. Currently, he is enmeshed in plans for the year’s second release with Zara Home. Dropping in the fall, it will be devoted to dining room furniture—and once again, the past will be at the forefront.

“We all have our basics, these essential elements that live in a room. It was nice to look at them from the beginning and see what I was doing 30 years ago,” says Van Duysen, “but I never stepped away from where I initially started. I’ve always been consistent.”