The Word Blog
Launched in January 2008, The Word is a luxury and lifestyle bimestrial publication. A fresh and heavy-hitting take on neighbourhood life and global style, its purpose is to present a different facet to our beloved little country Belgium, one which goes beyond chocolate, beer and the Manneken Pis whilst also reporting back on some of the most exciting global goings-on in the world of design, style and ideas.
The magazine caters to an Internationalite and Urbanite audience: internationals living in Belgium, or Belgians with an international itch.
Industry profiles, fashion series, design features, travel guides, neighbourhood institutions, consumerist selections, visual essays and artistic "carte blanches". Crafted by a tight-knit group of writers, photographers, illustrators and designers, The Word is the missing link in today's bland and over-saturated media landscape.
Hettie started writing regularly for The Times in the mid 1990s, and became a frequent contributor to many British newspapers before leaving London first for Washington DC then Istanbul. Since coming to Brussels she has been the Lifestyle Editor for The Bulletin Magazine, a post she resigned at the end of 2007. As well as her work for the Word, she currently writes about design for the Financial Times and contributes profiles to the International Herald Tribune's Weekend Business section.
When we first approached her with the idea of launching a magazine, Delphine instantly thought to bring in Pierre and Damien of pleaseletmedesign to complete the skill set brought to the table. She is a La Cambre graduate whilst her males counterparts are luminaries from Liege's Saint-Luc Higher School of Arts. Together, they form an explossive trio of graphic designers with an attitude. Delphine has since partnered up with Flore Van Ryn to create graphic agency face to face design whilst continuing to work with pleaseletmedesign on a wealth of projects - embellishing The Word being only one of them.
Central Design is a small studio founded by interactive designers Geoffroy Delobel and Ali Nassiri. The duo have been designing websites and other interactive stuff ever since the web ran at 28.8kbps.
www.centraldesign.be
Miss Wazen started off as our intern, although she quickly grew tired of making us tea (yeah right, as if that ever happened) so decided it was time for her name to grace the magzine's pages. Of half Turkish half Lebanese descent, this rock-and-rolla chick is pure Word: from the interviews she secures, the 'punch and words' tone and, more important yet, the 'work hard, party even harder' attitude. Although she'll soon be off to London for bigger, and better, things, rest assured her name will still remain a firm staple in The Word's masthead.
KVG, as we refer to her in the magazine's pages, is a double-edged sword. Adept at deciphering new technologies, and making them easy-to-understand for us common folk, the fashion world is where her heart truly lies. Somewhat of a celebrity in the online sphere (her blog fashionisallthereis.blogspot.com is quite the hit with leftfield alternative hipsters whilst she also commands a certain Twitter following as KarenVG83), lady K is also a down-to-earth treat in the real world.
We've taken the habit of calling Sarah our cover girl, such is the amount of covers she's nailed. Having captured everything from ailing football clubs and caravan parks to Peter Pan collectors and lazy eyed anti-heroes, she's travelled the country for us, often bringing back much more than we had bargained for.
www.saraheechaut.be
Part of The Word team from day one, 'Gordjin' as he has affectionaly come to be known, seems to have already done it all for the magazine: perched atop a crane to get the perfect highway shot, down on his knees for a beauty shoot or even digging deep underneath Brussels' canal, our man isn't one to back down - although the starting line might at first be difficult to cross. They say half of all good photography is access, and Yassin gets it.
If there ever was a caricature of your archetypical photographer, Sarah would be it: reserved and timid, she's nonetheless steadfast in her vision and uncompromising in her approach. Architecture is where her heart is at, although she's gone beyond that for The Word, documenting everything from places of worship to centres of research.
Bubbly to the bone, Ulrike has slowly but surely become the missing link in The Word circus. A take-no-prisoners kind of lady, you're as likely to find her in the moshpit of some hardcore concert as you are shooting the next catalogue of some oh-so-trendy fashion brand. For us, she's done everything from charting the making-of a nightshop feast to capturing scared faces.
ulrikebietsphotography.blogspot.com
No issue would be complete without the canny and right-on-the-spot pencil touch of our man of many talents. One day a performer, the same night a DJ and the next day an illustrator, Biche's work inhabits a complex world of fearsome bearded beasts and funky frollicking beats. For The Word, he's reflected upon everything from tri-generational employment claim families to professional leaches. He's a doll, and a genial one at that.
www.jeanbaptistebiche.com