Eco-Market: Ceci N'Est Pas...

Edited by Karen D. Singh, Text by Karen D. Singh and Mark McMenamin -- Interior Design, 3/1/2009 12:00:00 AM

From René Magritte's paintings to Marcel Lecomte's prose, Belgium's cultural chronicle brims with surrealism. Upholding that tradition is Wallonie-Bruxelles Design/Mode, which grooms on-the-fringe industrial and fashion designers for international trade fairs. At 100% Design last fall in London, the Wallonia-Brussels contingent went all out with quirky seating.

The Draw Me a Sheep collective's BoYoung Jung and Emmanuel Wolfs make communing with the ecosystem as easy as chilling out—the partners cover a hollow plywood frame with natural larch bark and attach a chrome base to form Nature V2.01, a lounge chair that's 31½ inches wide, deep, and high. Daphné Schiettecatte from the architecture and product-design firm Catodon claims that Rive Droite/Rive Gauche, her indoor-outdoor bench, can accommodate anywhere from two to 200 sitters; just attach additional iroko segments, each with a 20-inch-high seat and optional reversible backrest. And a birch-plywood bench, Acte Simple 1.1 by Annick Schotte of HeliumConcept, stands 24 inches tall, cleverly doubling as a shoe rack. 32-2-421-84-42; wbdm.be. circle 409

From top: Nature V2.01; Acte Simple 1.1