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On February 11th, 2025, PAF and Design Museum Brussels join forces to organize the conversation ‘Rebalancing: gender bias in the design world’, accompanying the exhibition Untold Stories- Women Designers in Belgium 1880-1980. Together with the speakers and the audience, we discuss themes represented in the exhibition ranging from professionalisation versus domesticity, (un)visibility, authorship, and collaboration. We invite everyone to join the conversation and share experiences and ideas to build a more equitable and inclusive (interior) design sector.
Due to the patriarchal forces that historically shaped design, the work of women designers is often absent or invisible in collections, archives and academic literature. How do gender bias and inequality still work today? How have patriarchal mechanisms shaped the (interior) design sector, from gender-coded education to ideas on professionalisation and authorship? What is the experience of women designers in Belgium today? What do they still come up against and what tactics or strategies do they use to flourish in their design practice? And are there any tactics we can learn from the women designers who came before us? In this conversation, we reflect on these questions with Nina Serulus (co-curator of the exhibition Untold Stories – Women Designers in Belgium 1880-1980), Benoît Vandevoort (PhD researcher on the professionalisation of interior design), Mathilde Pecqueur (textile designer, Maak&Transmettre) and Stefanie Everaert and Caroline Lateur (Doorzon interior architects).
Speakers:
Nina Serulus (co-curator of the exhibition Untold Stories – Women Designers in Belgium 1880-1980)
Benoît Vandevoort (PhD researcher on the professionalisation of interior design)
Mathilde Pecqueur (textile designer, Maak&Transmettre)
Stefanie Everaert and Caroline Lateur (Doorzon interior architects).
Program:
19:00 – 19:15: Introduction
19:15 – 20:00: Conversation with the speakers on rebalancing gender bias and inequality in the (interior) design sector.
20:00 – 20:45: Conversation in small groups on
Professionalisation <> Domesticity
Visibility <> Unvisibility
Collectives/Collaboration <> Autorship
20:45 – 21:00: Conclusions