Gaston Eysselinck (1907 – 1953) Belgian Architect and Furniture Designer

This article forms part of the Decorative and Applied Arts Encyclopedia, a master reference hub providing a structured overview of design history, materials, movements, and practitioners.

Special Double Desk Attributed to Gaston Eysselinck
Special Double Desk Attributed to Gaston Eysselinck

Gaston Eysselinck (1907 – 1953) was a Belgian architect and furniture designer. He created a limited but influential body of work in a short period. According to Huib Hoste, Eysselinck was one of the most radical figures within the avant-garde.

Education and early career

Both his parents came from Ninove; his father, Eysselinck, had ended up in Tienen as an employee at the railway company. Gaston Eysselinck was educated at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Ghent, where he studied under Geo Henderick, among others. Eysselinck was able to interpret foreign influences personally in a short period. During a study trip to the Netherlands in 1929, he learned about buildings of the Amsterdam School and the work of Dudok, Oud, and Gerrit Rietveld. The facade of the Serbruyns house (1930) at Koning Fabiolaan no. 71 illustrates how he employed the De Stijl design language. 

1930s Tubular Chair by Belgian Avant Garde Designer/Architect Gaston Eysselinck
1930s Tubular Chair by Belgian Avant Garde Designer/Architect Gaston Eysselinck

Around that time, he came into contact with the then-prevailing European currents through Le Corbusier’s work Vers Une Architecture. In 1930, Eysselinck visited the Weissenhofsiedlung in Stuttgart on his honeymoon. There, he viewed Le Corbusier’s Citrohan’s home. In the early 1930s, he synthesised all these elements with his house on Vaderlandstraat in Ghent. 

Eysselinck designed a series of tubular-steel furniture pieces for this house in 1932, which later went into production under the name FRATSTA. This stands for Factory of RATionale STaalmeubelen. Some of this furniture is part of the GentseDesign Museum collection. Furthermore, the museum houses the designer’s archive. The designer was also a teacher at the Royal Academy in Ghent and Antwerp. For a time, he served on the editorial board of the magazine La Cité. In 1937, he won the Van de Ven Prize for the Verplancken/Haerens house in Ghent (Patijntjesstraat no. 44, 1934-35).

Teacher 

Gaston Eysselinck taught at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Ghent from 1933 to 1945 and at the Academy in Antwerp.

Ostend

The owner-occupied home in Ghent (1930-1931) and the Post Office in Ostend (1946-1953) serve as beacons in the Belgian architectural landscape of the 20th century. He used this house as a test station for his first significant public building, the Ostend Post Office. After all, in his own home, he knows how to adapt the ideas of the new building inventively. He did this to meet the building’s site requirements. Additionally, he applied the Five Points of a New Architecture formulated by Le Corbusier in a non-dogmatic manner—the final design emerged from a laborious process. There was a difference in vision regarding the Ostend building administration, particularly with the architect-urbanist Jean-Jules Eggericx.

In 1953, during the construction of the postal building, disagreements arose between the architect and the client (the Telephony and Telegraphy Directorate) over the placement of a sculpture by Jozef Cantré in front of the building. Eysselinck argued that the sculpture’s round forms were necessary. They would break and complement the clean lines of his building. However, he was finally denied access to the wharf. The statue of Cantré was placed ten years after his death. Eysselinck was also very committed to the staff and the workers. For example, he provided the refectory for the staff in the post office at the top with a beautiful view of Ostend.

Death

Eysselinck died by suicide on December 6, 1953, after financial difficulties and marital problems. Two months later, his new girlfriend, Georgette Troy, died of cancer.
Exhibitions, Publications, and Collections

Gaston Eysselinck (1907–1953) is recognised as a significant Belgian architect and furniture designer whose work reflects the influence of modernist principles, particularly those associated with Le Corbusier. His legacy is documented through museum exhibitions, scholarly publications, and the design market.

Museum and Institutional Exhibitions

Books and Scholarly Publications

Market and Design Reference Platforms

1stDibs (design objects and furniture attributed to Gaston Eysselinck)
https://www.1stdibs.com/buy/gaston-eysselinck/

Sources

Byars, M., & Riley, T. (2004). The design encyclopedia. Laurence King Publishing.

Gaston Eysselinck. (2021, June 28). Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Retrieved 09:30, June 28, 2021 from https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Gaston_Eysselinck&oldid=59412138 .

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