REVIEW | The orange world of Design Museum Brussels

I got myself a museumPASSmusées in January 2021. After Coudenberg in Brussels, the Comics Art Museum also in Brussels and the Red Star Line Museum in Antwerp and the Brussels Planetarium I visited the Design Museum Brussels with Thanh.

The Design Museum and the Planaterium are close to each other, in a compound called the Heysel. It’s the area of the Atomium and Brussels Expo event hall.

Established after the Atomium’s acquisition of the Plastic Design Collection in December 2014, the Design Museum Brussels offers an insight on the plastic design from the fifties to the present. The Plastic Design Collection is the permanent exhibition.

There are obviously also temporary exhibitions. When we visited in January, those were

‘Standing Stones‘,
‘Belgisch Design Belge‘;
‘(Un)locked‘.

Orange rules the rooms

The tour presents you many plastic objects and pieces of furnitures. Some are surprisingly old, yet look very 21st century. Others are very, very, very orange. Even the visitors like orange very much.

I didn’t find an answer why orange was so popular for plastic.

Thanh and I were impressed how well preserved the objects are. Plastic can easily lose its nice colours.

Thanh and I both liked the museum. It balances ‘too much’ with ‘not enough’ very well. And it gave me food for design thought as I am planning a renovation of my flat.

And no, I will not include orange.