C.K: Belgian design gathers international interest as new creators share unique aesthetics and avant-gardish collections. Which were your greatest influences when starting your career?

N.P: My point is, and has always been not to follow the fashion-scene. So I don’t have big fashion-influences in my designs. It will block you to grow by yourself. The biggest and most constant inspiration comes from Japan. Not really Japanese contemporary fashion, but more the culture and history.

C.K: When did you decide to pursue a career in the fashion industry? Was the Royal Academy of Fine Arts Antwerp a fascinating laboratory?

N.P: It was a fascinating course to develop yourself as an individual designer, to create your own ideals and aesthetic. I decided to keep making my leather accessories after getting great response on graduating, and keep trying to create something new for myself. Something that would make people happy.

C.K: Your projects could be exposed as artworks, as they already have, how could you describe your creations? What would be your ideal clientele?

N.P: I don’t really see my designs as artworks. I work a lot on functionality too, something which misses in ‘artwork.’ A lot of designers don’t consider functionality anymore when designing. I think it’s important to still understand we are creating things for living objects, not a statue. I create for dreamers that are not scared to stand out, but that appreciate the little cuteness for their own happiness. Not just to make a ‘bold’ empty statement, my intention is not to ‘shock’. I just hope to bring an innocent happiness to our everyday life.

C.K: Do you feel that the Belgian and the Japanese design share common ground?

N.P: I was interested in Japan since my early teens, long before I could understand what Belgian design meant.  Apart from that I do think we both value timeless pieces, Japanese designers and Belgian designers don’t really think in ‘trends’. But just to create and follow their own aesthetic.

C.K: Why you decided to go and live in Paris? What kind of possibilities you enjoy there?

N.P: I moved to Paris for love, I cannot create without love and I think it’s the big essence of our existence.  Of course there are many possibilities and international connections which I might have not had if I would have stayed in Antwerp.

C.K: What kind of collaborations would you wish for the future?

N.P: I’m very perfectionist and for the moment I’m not really looking much for collaboration, as I feel I need to establish my own signature first. Before connecting myself to someone else’s vision. 

C.K: Would you ever consider of joining forces with established houses?

N.P: Joining forces as in designing for the house, yes. But keeping my own label separate from that. 

N.P: On graduating: ‘never compromise’. This is an advice I take very much to heart and live by, so I’m very grateful for those words.

Niels Peeraer’s collections are made out of vegetable tanned bridle leather in combination with brass fittings, carefully crafted but still with the intention to celebrate the natural beauty and strength of the leather.

all photos © Wenn-Kee Hsu for eternal-optimist.com / all rights reserved