Belgian designer Michaël Verheyden creates objects that feel familiar, yet are never self-evident.

With a distinctive focus on stillness, materiality, and ritual, he has built an internationally acclaimed practice over the past years, bringing together marble, leather, bronze, and wood in pure, refined objects that only grow richer with time.

During Design Nation 2026, Verheyden will deliver a keynote in which he takes the audience through his journey—from his first intuitive steps as a designer to the way his studio operates today. He will share how ideas are translated into objects, how collections come into being, and how his work finds its way into international projects and collaborations.

The role of his own architectural projects will also be explored, as spaces where new ideas and collections take shape.

"What seems self-evident is never truly self-evident"—a thought that runs as a common thread throughout his work.

In a closing reflection, Verheyden will consider how our relationship with objects and materiality has evolved over the past decades, and where it may be heading in the future.

In collaboration with Trendvision