Antwerp is truly is an underrated city, punching well above its weight culturally. It’s a place where fresh ideas and cutting-edge design inhabit grand, centuries-old architecture. But unless you’re operating in the top rungs of the design industries, it may well have flown under your radar.
Small and perfectly-formed, it is home to design titans such as Dries Van Noten, Axel Vervoordt and Pieter Mulier — the city’s Royal Academy of Fine Arts is known for churning out the next generation of notable designers. It’s also well known for its diamond trade and the docks along the river Scheldt that bought in all those 16th century riches still rattle and clank.
