His name has long been a brand. His work is known in Europe, America, East Asia and Russia. For many years, Axel Vervoordt has been proving that his gaze is worthy of floating freely over geographical and temporal barriers, and his vision of beauty is valuable in itself.

He won back the right to direct antique fashion: his weapon is not a thorough knowledge of the period, but an intuitive choice of things — interesting, meditative, mysterious and attractive. He defines his gift as the ability to recognize. His collection includes antiquity, Gandara, Dvaravati sculpture, paintings by old masters, European porcelain, a lot of diverse art of the twentieth century and gutai.

He is interested in works, not masters, so his proposal includes Vladimir Kagan’s chair and a Neolithic idol from the Sahara Desert, and an ancient Egyptian relief of the Ancient Kingdom and French magnifying mirrors of the XIX century. Axel sells only contemporary art by artists: 29 masters — Chinese and Europeans, recognized stars and young masters, whose works “sound” in a special way in specific empty interiors.

Axel Verwordt became known for his curatorial work: three exhibitions in the Venetian Palazzo Fortuny — Artempo (2007), In-Finitum (2009) and Tra (2011) — entered the annals of art history of the XXI century. How can we explain their fantastic success? Today we are used to the fact that outrageous and avant-garde works of modern art are exhibited in museum halls side by side with old art. Axel Verwoordt was the first to mix the old with the new, Europe with Asia, archaeological shards with video art. In his installations, artifacts from different times and peoples spoke directly to each other with textures, color, lines and shape. And this conversation was obvious and hooked even inexperienced viewers.

In addition to selling works of art and curating, Axel Verwordt has made a big name for himself in the interior industry. It happens that successful antique dealers at first simply advise customers-buyers on how best to hang or place a work of art, and then begin to think about whole rooms, halls, apartments and country residences. Axel works in interiors according to the same principle by which he creates expositions of his exhibitions. Things, works, textures, light, must resonate with each other. In general, he sells to his clients the high culture of Old Europe, which knows how to talk to the culture of even older Asia.

Axel is a native of Antwerp. Everyone knows the story of how his mother, a woman with excellent taste and ability to establish a way of life, bought an apartment near the Antwerp Town Hall, restored the historical interior, made repairs and successfully handed it over. Her sons and husband liked the “apartment tuning”, the whole family was happy to buy and redo real estate. Another well—known fact that reveals the professional development of Vervordt is the influence of England. It was there, in the 1960s, that a young antique dealer bought first-class items at reasonable prices: an inconvenient inheritance tax was introduced in England, and bequeathed treasures flowed into auctions in a wide stream. In addition, in the estates of England and old London mansions, he learned how to work with traditional interiors and saw how a truly comfortable European home is arranged.

When dealers familiar to him, specialists in old masters with first-class collections collected by many generations, decided in 1988 to organize the TEFAF fair, Axel Verwoordt, who did not possess such an asset, thanks to his ability to combine expensive and cheap, managed to join these grandees. Today, the stands of his gallery at the largest international fairs — TEFAF, Fireze Masters, Masterpiece London, Art Brussels, Art Cologne and others — attract art lovers like a magnet.

The businessman’s excellent taste and rare intuition allow him not only to stay afloat for many decades, but also to conquer new territories. Vervordt successfully buys real estate, restores, repairs, furnishes, then either rents it out or puts it up for sale. The family helps the antique dealer: his wife May, sons Dick and Boris. Today, restoration workshops and furniture production work under the Axel Vervoordt brand, and Mae Vervoordt successfully heads the textile department.